Center parcs - sherwood forest - anyone been?

RoxieW

thanks for the replies so far Just holding out for a winter code - if anyone has one that'd be good? Have tried all the old ones and SAVE, but they dont work the week i want. Apparantly, some xmas ones are released september.

daveyjp

WifeofDJFLP wrote: »

Hi There

we went to center parcs Whinfell forest this summer and my advice is-

Don't go!!

Unless

You have no imagination
You want to be "active" but somehow feel you need permission to do so
You really really like swimming pools
You are researching the work of Solzhenitsyn


I know that some people love it but for us it was awful, there was lots of wildlife at Whinfell (squirrels, rabbits etc) but i bet if you picked them up and turned them upside down they'd have had the center parcs logo stamped on their tummies.

Sorry not to be much use.

WifeofDJFLP
xxx

It's so refreshing to read of someone else who has this opinion of Centerparcs.

Our one and only visit was to Sherwood about 7 years ago - only bonus was my parents paid and me and my wife had to go somewhere on the Sunday so we could escape for a few hours!

clarencemonkey

Hi

We go to Sherwood Center Parcs twice a year and I would highly recommend it.
The new style woodland lodges are very nice and are ideal for people with young families. I wouldn't bother paying extra for executive villa unless you are sharing with friends or family as they cost a lot more and you really want daily maid service. (There is a vacuum provided in each villa which my three year old loves helping out with if there is any mess!)
We haven't asked for specific villa numbers in the past as you have to pay extra, but we have never been disappointed with villa location, and we have never been more than a fifteen minute walk away from the pool, which is where we always spend most of the week!
Sherwood is all relatively flat so ideal for little ones on bikes if you are a little further away from centre.
Hope this helps. :rolleyes:

daveyjp

"we have never been more than a fifteen minute walk away from the pool"

15 minutes is almost a mile and that was one of our main issues, whenever we wanted to do anything we had a 2 mile return walk.

In summer it may be OK, in November when its cold, dark and throwing it down it's no fun whatsoever.

74jax

I have just been sent a promotional code - SAVE - to save over #100 off short breaks. Don't know if this will help anyone.

born_blonde

Sorry to take so long to get back Roxie, we are staying in number 5 this year.
Ring up to book and ask the staff which is the closest. They do their best to help.

RoxieW

Thanks everyone - SAVE doesnt work for the week I want so am gonna hold out another week or so and see if anything else comes out

clarencemonkey

daveyjp wrote: »

"we have never been more than a fifteen minute walk away from the pool"

15 minutes is almost a mile and that was one of our main issues, whenever we wanted to do anything we had a 2 mile return walk.

In summer it may be OK, in November when its cold, dark and throwing it down it's no fun whatsoever.

Whats wrong with a bit of exercise? Get your wellies on, jump in some puddles and have some fun, that's what holidays are all about!

My three year old never seems to mind the walk, he must be made of tougher stuff than you!!

RoxieW

well the date i wanted has gone up in price today so booked the weekend before then quickly to avoid this happening again. Used code pppz and got 15% off which is better than nothing.

Went for one of the new style woodland lodges - didnt bother with booking a section as it was extra cost so thought i'd just wing it. Dont know the differences between the areas anyway.

Really excited though - the kids are going to love it and I'm going in the Spaaaaaaaaaaaaa

katchambers

Hi,
Myself and hubby love Centre Parcs, each to their own (the person who wrote the second post) but I love it! Maybe there are cheaper alternatives where I could do the same thing, but I do love having everything on one site, like a caravan park. Centre Parcs is definitely a classier version, with no cars, lots of nature and better behaved kids and parents - no offence but I actually grew up in a caravan park and most of the kids and parents were awful, noisy, often drunk and broke and stole things, complete opposite of centre parcs, it is so relaxed and quiet, I love it.

I have stayed at Sherwood and Elveden, we now go to Elveden each year as it is slightly closer, but mostly because it is not as spread out as Sherwood, but if Sherwood is the only one you can go to I would say, try your hardest to get a lodge that is as close to the centre as possible, because I stayed in a standard lodge, that was not only a 15 minute walk form the main central bit, but also a 20 min walk from the spa and at least 30-40 min walk from the country club that did golf and sunday dinners and nice brekkie, we only walked there twice and it felt very long! Although I have to say I am not a good walker, so you may want to disregard my feelings about the distance.

What you can do though to is choose your villa, and to do that you can actually go right through the booking process online but just don't pay at the payment screen. They will ask you to select a villa, when they give you then villa number on that screen, open up a new screen and go and search for the pdf of the sherwood village map, then zoom in and you will be able to see how far you are from the main centre, that is where most of the activities, including the pool , the sports centre and most of the restaurants are so being close to that is the best advantage, although this late in the game you probably won't have as much choice. They usually give you a choice of 3 villas, so match the number of the villa on the map and choose the closest one you can, that's what I do.

In terms of the villa standards, if you can afford an executive and you plan to spend some time inside then I would go for it, because it is really nice, but some of them don't have self catering, whereas the standard ones always do (I think), so depends if you want to eat out every night or not. We eat out every night because its our holiday and we also can use tesco vouchers so spend less. The standard villas look nice from the outside but are very basic, standard shower over the tub, sofas made of foam, that kind of caravanny wall, so depends what you want.

We went last year the week before christmas (elveden) and it was excellent. It was too cold to do too much, so we played crazy golf, did indoor roller blading, a pool/snooker competition, bowling, spa day thing (£20 for 2 hours!) went to the club in the evening, most of the day times outside of the above we sat in the sports club on the comfy sofa's drinking hot chocolate and reading and looking at the nature, we walked around the lake a couple of times, beautiful albeit very cold. A lot of walking is involved so please pack you very warmest clothes, for sherwood I would recommend the bike as it is more spread out, much quicker on the bike and no colder really.

The christmas decorations were really nice and it wasn't very busy. I love all the restaurants but particularly the revolving one, which is pricier but worth it!

Keep a look out for discount codes on the online discount code forum, people are not allowed to post the codes on this one, I used one for this year and saved about £80 so was very happy, again we are going the week before christmas, this time with our border collie puppy, she will be 9 months by then, really excited to take her with us!

Have a great holiday, don't forget your tesco vouchers to save money on food, and if you are going to cook your own, try and take as much food with you as it is expensive (and limited) in their supermarket.

You will have fun, and if you have kids they certainly will!

Kat x