5th May 14: Center Parcs, Longleat Forest

I have always wanted to go to Center Parcs.  I have visited for a few Spa days in the past but have never experienced a holiday there.

So this year we decided to bite the bullet and book ourselves a holiday there for our 10th Anniversary. My nearest Center Parcs is Longleat Forest which is about 40 minutes away from where I live. We stayed Monday to Friday and the following is a brief run down of what we got up to each day.

Monday - We arrived at 10:45 and there were only a few cars in front of us waiting to check in.  It saves a LOT of time if you check in online before arrival as they require a lot of details (car reg, full names, contact numbers etc.).  We parked up and wandered around getting our bearings and found our accommodation. At 3pm the gates open and you are allowed to bring your car on site to drop off your luggage, you then need to return it to the car park afterwards.

We stayed in a Woodland Lodge and were very impressed with the accommodation, it was clean, spacious and modern.
Woodland Lodge Lounge Area
Master Bedroom


Once we were settled into our accommodation we got changed ready to go bowling and drove the car back to the car park which is right next to the Plaza.  Bowling is cheaper on a Monday so we had it pre-booked for 7:35pm that night. My partner won twice & then I won the final game.

Tuesday - I slept like a log (pun intended!) Monday night and did not wake up until 8:45am!  I am usually a 7am kind of girl on weekends/days off as I have to be up at 5:15am for work on weekdays.  I expected it to be a little noisy with the sounds of the forest outside but apart from a cat screeching just before bed I heard very little and slept so well.
We decided to have an Omelette in the Pancake House for lunch, which, while nice, was nothing spectacular and for the price it should have at least come with a side.  Later that evening we had a BBQ.  There is a brick built BBQ which you need to add a disposable BBQ to.  We had almost finished cooking when it started to rain. So we retreated inside to eat and had a night in, in front the log fire.

Wednesday - Today we visited the Subtropical Swimming Paradise.  The pool was even better than i expected it to be, indoors there was a small (but very fast) rapid, wave machine, 4 slides and a children's pool.  Outside there was a large hot tub and heated rapids. It was great sitting in the hot tub with the cold rain falling on your face.
We got rather hungry so had lunch in the Cabana Cafe & Bar.  I can heartily recommend the milkshakes!
When we came out it was still raining so we went back to the Lodge on the free land train. In the afternoon we went for a walk through the woods & around some small lakes in the Fir area.


Lake with lodges behind the trees

Thursday - Weather was heavy showers so we headed to the Jardin des Sports and had a game of pool before heading to the amusements.  We then sat in Starbucks with a hot chocolate and a muffin while watching people play tennis and badminton.  We walked back through The Cascades which is a winding path up through the woods.  We cooked pasta & dough balls for lunch, then we headed to the Aqua Sana for our Twilight spa package from 4pm-9pm.  A great way to spend the last night of our holiday.

Friday - We had to be out of the lodge by 10am. A top tip is to go and collect your car early as the spaces outside the lodge soon fill up.  We left Center Parcs at 10am and headed across the road to Longleat Safari.

Carrot Cake from Parc Market Bakery
During our stay we saw rabbits, coots, a cat, ducks, lots of squirrels, robins & various other birds!  The Parc Market is well stocked and reasonably priced.  I thoroughly recommend the carrot cake from the bakery!
Squirrel at the patio doors of the lodge

The holiday was great, neither of us wanted to come home.  There were lots of families there but also couples, young and old.

We can't wait to go there again some time for some more Forest R&R!


If you have any questions feel free to ask below!

This is my personal opinion and not a sponsored post.

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