Potential centreparcs virgin - advice needed

Sounds obvious, but don't go in the school breaks if possible. Centerparcs is extortion during school holidays.

Codes here http://www.hotukdeals.com/all/vouchers/new?expired=false&mf=2352

I have been to Sherwood and Elveden. I much prefer Elveden. Oasis Whinfell always has the best discounts and offers but is quite far for us so we haven't been.

Food at Centerparcs is worse than diabolical. Go with Self Catering entirely in mind to avoid disappointment.

Is it worth it? Well yes, we have enjoyed breaks there but I wouldn't want it as my main holiday.

HTH

I love centre parcs so disagree with some of the things mj said but that's obv personal choice

yes go out of school holidays if you can

fill the villa, go with friends etc as then the price per person is much more reasonable

the spa prices etc are highish but then they are pretty good spas and you would pay that if you had a treatment elsewhere and I've always had good treatments

the pool is good fun and free and there are cheaper activities like badminton & bowling etc again the more of you that go the better

I've always found the food ok, not fantastic but pub quality I would say. They have recently started doing take away service to your villa with the choice between italian, chinese & indian and when we went in march with the kids we did this two evenings and it was great and really good value for money and delivered to your door

I've been to Sherwood & Elveden and both are very good and I've been with kids and without and had great times both time. Withou kids we've been out for meals, for lovely walks, to the spa etc and with the kids to the pool and playgrounds more

We've only been to Longleat, but been there 3 times, so yes, it's pretty good. We've got 2 pre-schoolers, and they love it, but I could see the appeal for anyone really.

We've stayed in a variety of accomoodation dependent on deals on at the time, and the only one I wouldn't stay in is the absolute basic one (although not seen one - it's just that for such a small amount extra, you get quite a lot included).

May be worth calling them - if you book within 28 days of your last holiday they guarantee best rates, so I don't see why calling them cold wouldn't generate a deal as well. You may well get 25% off.

I wouldn't worry too much about location unless you have an issue with using bikes. If you can, take your own bikes - saves a bit of money, and their bikes are prone to losing their chains a lot!!

I wouldn't book loads of activities beforehand (unless you're going in school hols, I guess). We generally find we don't need to do much "formally", as there's plenty to do just wandering around, and swimming.

It's loads of fun if you go with friends as well.

We've been to Longleat, Sherwood and Elveden, my favourite is Sherwood, not been there for a few years though, I think that they are much of a muchness though really. I've stayed in basic accomodation and executive and think for the amount of time you actually spend there basic is fine. I always find discount codes on the internet, I booked a few weeks ago and used the code "family" and got about £100 off, there are never codes for the school holidays though. If you want to do specific things book them before you go, I found that most things were full when we got there and the queue's can be huge. I agree that the more people you go with the better time you have. hth

Thanks for the tips. The first quote that gave me a heart attack was in the school holidays. Second quote for sept was a lot cheaper. We don't really have any friends with kids who haven't already got their hols sorted so just 2 adults plus a littlen (3) but I think we would enjoy. We usually go abroad for 2 weeks every year so I think anywhere in the UK would be a small shock to the system.

I am pretty sure that if you go during term time with an under five that you get an extra 20% discount. Maybe someone else can confirm this?

I went to Whinfell Forest for my first ever Center Parcs holiday in jan this year and am an absolute convert. We stayed in a comfort plus lodge. 4 adults and 2 tiddlers and we had a fab time. It was cheap for us because the kids weren't of an age to be able to demand to do activities as that would soon add up. We took all our own food, but next time we will just take enough for 1st day as the supermarket was great and not over-priced. Restaurants were Cafe Rouge and bella Italia (usual high stree prices). Tropical pool was brilliant - you can hire towels at £1 a pop.

I tell people it's like butlins for posh people.

Going again late Sept for a mon-fri stay and can't wait!

I think NHS staff get good discounts too.

We're going for the first time next week. I wouldn't pay the school holiday prices, but we got an email just after Christmas about specific weeks that they were doing cheaply, and so we booked one. Basic accommodation, £250 for the week.

We have booked one activity per day - this tots up to about another £100, but one of the activities was just for me & WTP, so we had to book a babysitter, which boosts the cost.

My sister was staying at the Nottingham one just before Christmas and we had a day pass - the kids loved the swimming pool.

Supermarket is apparently not that bad, but prices are akin to shopping at your local Spar, so my friend tells me. They go all the time for weekend breaks, but then again, they aren't short of a few quid. ?

I will report back next weekend about what I thought, anyway ?

We go at least once a year and love it. We've been to Elveden and Longleat and both are as good as each other. We usually book the standard accomodation but the last time we booked the new woodland accomodation and the beds were really comfy. we alwasy do far too much with regards to activities but we still love it. We also tend to go to the pool in the evening as it's a lot quieter. I'd say the pool and rapids are better at Elveden than at Longleat, also everything is closer together and the routes flat, whereas at Longleat the different areas are spread out and some of the walkways are quite steep.

I'm trying to convince my OH that going back in October is a good idea and we'll probably go for longleat as it's closer to us.

We took the Wii with us and DVDs for the evenings. You buy special smoke-free logs to burn in the fireplace. Oh, I'm wishing I was there again!

Use the pool on the last day, but hire towels to save lugging a bag of wet towels around with you.

Comfort plus accommodation had a DVD player and fully equipped kitchen with dishwasher (and a small supply of dishwasher tablets.

We took too much stuff - even the slow cooker came along for the ride.

I only used the spa to go to the hairdressers for a haircut - again high street prices £33 for a cut & blow.

Lake District site had about 3 starbucks on site. If you do go to Whinfell Forest then I'd recommend a stop in Tebay services (Westmoreland farm shops). It's the best motorway services ever - locally produced food and a deli to die for. We spend £17 on cheese alone. The southbound services has a full butchers counter.

Another Center Parcs top tip - only go on the rapids in a cheapy swimsuit. I knackered a really expensive Freya Tankini on the rapids at Elveden. Had great fun doing it though.