Center Parcs | Whinfell Forest
- It's A North World
- Apr 12, 2023
- 6 min read
Hi everyone. Hope you are all doing ok.
A few weeks ago we visited Center Parcs for the very first time and we wanted to share our experience of Whinfell Forest with you.
So just jumping straight into it, we LOVED it! There were a few things we would bear in mind for next time, but I will touch on those as we go.
We booked this trip 12 months beforehand for Estella's 4th birthday. We had to pay a deposit to secure the booking, and the balance was due a few months before our stay. Once our balance was paid we were then able to book and pay for any of the activities available, and also make restaurant reservations.
Note some restaurants require a deposit per person to book.
We decided not to book any activities and just use this trip as a 'get to know you' trip, and make use of the trails, park and waterpark. Plus, it was nice to just chill out rather than pound it like we do at Disney. We did book the Pancake House for the morning of Estella's birthday, but didn't end up going as the kids just weren't up for it that day, so we ended up having a nice brunch in the lodge.
Arrival
We made the hour and a half trip after the kids had finished school and nursery, but hit traffic on the way so arrived much later than we expected.
As we arrived after the main arrival times we had to check in at security. As we understand usually you would have to go to the drive up check in where there are multiple bays and then you drive round to your lodge. You get given a rubber band per adult that is your lodge key and also is used for the free lockers in the waterpark. It was also dark when we arrived, which did hinder us being able to navigate round, the lighting was very dim and it was difficult to see, so do bear this in mind. But after driving round in circles the security officer was more than helpful directing us.
Once we located our lodge it was clear that there weren't enough places to park for every lodge, but as we were later this was ok, and we found a spot not far from our front door.
Do note that not all lodges are close to a parking spot, when we checked out, we could see lots of people carrying and wheeling luggage to their cars, so I would advise preparing to be further away. They do have accessible cabins where you can park and leave your car if you need this.
When we entered our lodge it was very clean and a lovely message had been left on the chalk board from Lottie who had cleaned our lodge.
You can arrive from 10am on your arrival day, and just park in the main carpark until your lodge is available at 4pm, and use all the facilities.
We decided to leave our car parked over night as some other guests had, as it was so dark we didn't want to drive and get lost, and moved our car to the main car park first thing the next morning.
Our Lodge | 25 Badger Wood
We were allocated a lodge, but when booking you can pay extra to pick your own.
We had a entrance way with a toilet and cleaning cupboard as you walked in. There is a master light switch also, plenty of coat hooks and space for shoes.
The main area of the lodge has a living room with corner sofa, TV in the wall, log burner fire, and sliding lockable patio doors out to your patio, which had a BBQ, table, and chairs. There is a small kitchen area with gas oven and hob, toaster, kettle, microwave, dishwasher, and fridge. It also has all the pots, plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, knives, and utensils. We had a table with 4 chairs and a highchair as well.
The two bedrooms had plenty of storage, and a dressing table area with hairdryer which were really good. In the master bedroom there was a double bed and TV, and the other room had two single beds, but these could be pushed together.
There were a few items we brought with us to make us feel more at home, and also that were useful, and some we thought we should have brought with us, but I have popped all our Center Parcs Essentials in a nice list for you at the end of this blog post. and you can always watch our vlog series to see what we packed for our trip.
Center Parcs itself
So, after spending four nights at Center Parcs we had a good idea of how it would work for us as a family. We didn't feel we needed to book any activates as we found plenty to do, and also spent a lot of time just relaxing.
We loved walking round and looking out for wildlife, and in our opinion it wasn't too big to get about. There are inclines, but nothing too steep, and we noticed that you could hire mobility scooters if you needed the use of these. Our lodge was about a minute walk away from the Village Center where all the shops, restaurants, and water park was located.
As we mentioned, we didn't book any restaurants. We may book on a future trip, but do bear in mind that if you have a booking and for some reason can't go, it doesn't necessarily mean you could just go another time, as you have to book and the restaurant may be full. You can keep checking on the website for availability though. For us this was a negative, as with kids and family we feel there needs to be some flexibility, as much as having things booked and knowing what's coming can be an advantage, it can also be a hindrance as well. But hopefully we can report back on this on a future trip.
The Village Center can get quite busy and noisy too. We visited during school term time, so it wasnt peak, and this was a good level of business for us around the park and water park.
The Parc Market is very well stocked, so if you do forget or need anything while you're there, they will probably have it. It is a little pricey though, but around the same as your local Co-op or Spar I'd say.
The shops are small, but have lots of lovely things in them. Avoid the toy shop if you don't want to leave penniless!! Our kids had bIrthday and Christmas money to spend so took full advantage.
The sweet shop was also well stocked, and they also sold ice-cream where we visited after each waterpark session!
There is so much to do, and we didn't see or experience it all, so don't feel you HAVE to book activities you really don't want to.
We were really lucky to get snow while we were there, which was amazing, and made everything look so beautiful. We did see some wildlife such as deer, red squirrel, various birds, ducks, and rabbits.
The Subtropical Swimming Paradise
For us this was a great water park. There was a kids area which had two slides, a splash pad, a bubble section, small water fall, and a seperate baby pool. The water was a good temperature too, and so was the whole of the water park. The main pool had a wave feature that came on at regular intervals, which Hayden loved.
There was an indoor lazy river, and an outdoor one, plenty of slides for the older kids, and the Tropical Cyclone, which is relatively new and was a huge hit with us. There were also two heated outdoor pools, which we really enjoyed. Plenty of Jacuzzis, including one in the kids area, which I really appreciated as us adults often miss out having to stay in the kids area.
Departure | Leaving day
You need to be out of your lodge by 10am! You can bring your car back up to your lodge from about 4am I believe. We made sure we were all packed up and ready to load before fetching the car, and manged to get a space close by. We ;left at around 9.30am, and to check out you just post your band in the special bins all along the road as you exit, it was really simple!
Our Final thoughts
We loved our stay at Center Parcs and would definitely go back again. For us this would be a relaxing break, and we wouldn't necessarily book activities to fill our time; we don't think you need to. We would book a restaurant next time, just to see how it all works, and maybe try the Pancake House we missed out on. We would also like to try out a different location, and may look a Sherwood Forest for our next break!
If you would like to see more of our trip then check out our Center Parcs Vlog Series on our youtube channel.
There is also a great eye spy sheet we have created for the kids to use while there, which add another element of fun. This can be found below, and also on our activity sheet page along with many others. As mentioned earlier, below is also our Center Parcs essentials list, which you might find helpful.
Thank you for popping by and
See ya real soon!
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