Centre Parcs

Following on from yesterday's child wet suit question we are hoping to book our first family holiday: a short break to CP. we are looking at Longleat as it's not too far away from where we live, so the drive won't take up too much of the holiday.

The last holiday I went on was August 2008, just before Luke was born. Ironically we went to CP (Sherwood Forest) as my BP was starting to creep up and we decided that we should have a UK holiday in case I became ill.  I spent most of the week having naps and gentle walks. Didn't quite expect that things would go very wrong and I would deliver a few weeks later.

Anyway, we've obviously never been with children so i was looking for tips about managing with a 3 year old. I've been and bought Luke a poncho type towel for pool side and will get him one the wetsuits that i asked about. I've got myself a plain black swimming costume. Do I need a pool side cover up? I'm about 2 sizes bigger than I was the last time I wore a costume and not very confident about my body.

Is is worth paying extra to have a central lodge location? Luke's walking but tires easily due to his condition. I'm guessing that it's useful to pop back to your lodge in beween acitivies or do you stay out for whole day? We plan on self catering in the lodge or getting a take away as a treat. Taking Luke to a resturant is quite stressful as he doesn't eat and is still developing a relationship with food and learning social conventions etc. Can you get take out from the resturants?

Are there any free or paid bookable activities that you think Luke would enjoy?

May think of more questions later. I'm very excited.

CP is FAB.  We are going in a few weeks.  Youll love it, and so will your son.

Yes get him a wetsuit costume and beach towel.  You will want a beach towel as well.  You can get life-jackets for the kids at the pool side to wear (no charge).

We have never paid extra to get closer - the walk to the centre and pool have never been more than 15 minutes for us (its a nice walk through the woods and no cars).  We will take our sons scooter this year.  However, Im not informed on your sons condition, so I guess this is up to you.

Yes you can get take-aways from the restaurants. 

Enjoy

I wouldn't bank on the takeaway.  We had the CHinese one in January.  It was expensive and dsigusting! 

We did buy pizzas from the store one night and had them and they were fine (bought extra toppings for them!)

Sounds fab. I've not been to CP yet, but my friends go with their children and love it. 

This might sound completely obvious but the first time we went on holiday when my daughter was 18 months, my H didn't really take on board that we'd have to organise everything for her meals, etc just as we do at home. He admitted at the time that he hadn't thought about how it would be different having a child with us. Now I'm sure you have thought this through much more as you're probably not as dense as my H . But you'll need to structure his days in the same way as you do at home. If he needs to have a rest/nap in the middle of the day at home, then yes, you'll need to do that at CP too. 

Walking - I think the distances (from what my friend says) can be quite far at Longleat so I would pay extra to be closer if you think that Luke might find it a bit much. You don't want a whingy three year old if you can help it!

They put their children into the creche (or whatever it is called there) so that they can have a morning off. Children love it. Would this be something you'd consider or be able to do with his condition?

Thank you so much MrB for the info about kids life jackets. i was looking at arm bands today and wondering if we needed them. I think 15 mins is quite far for Luke to walk and Longleat is supposed to be hilly so we will probably try and reserve a lodge close to the centre.

GeordieBarbie:

I wouldn't bank on the takeaway.  We had the CHinese one in January.  It was expensive and dsigusting! 

 

We did buy pizzas from the store one night and had them and they were fine (bought extra toppings for them!)

 

Thanks for the warning! Will do a big shop on the way there.

thank you for your holiday tips Cedar. Luke is a very routine boy (all that time spent in hospital) so will be sure to try and keep to one. He doesn't nap anymore but does need time at midday for his tube feed and quiet time watching some TV so i think we will try and break up the day like that.

I don't think we'd be able to leave him in the creche because of his feeding tube, but perhaps he'd liked to do one session and one of us could sit close by with a coffee and a book.

I've not been with children (yet - will be in November when E is 6 months), but I have been to the longleat one. 

Location - longleat is very spread out and it can be a long way from your villa to the pool, shops and restaurant. I don't know about Luke's condition but I'd probably pay to be closer to be honest. There is a land train that goes round but it takes a while and gets busy at times. 

Takeaway - I think there's pizza, Chinese and Indian. They're ok, not great though and quite expensive. I'd get bits from the shop that you can bung in the microwave instead. Some of the restaurants are very child orientated (like hucks the American one) and have play areas. 

Activities I'm not as familiar with as only been with adults, but there's loads from things like mini golf to organised craft activities. Some are more expensive than others. The swimming pool is brilliant - we tend to go every day when we're there and never get bored. I'll be getting a cover up for myself when we go as I'll be out of the water lots with Evie but most people don't bother. 

Youll have a brilliant time - I love center parcs! 

Thank you Marmite.

I've never been to Longleat, but have been to Whinfell, and we're going back there this summer.  I'd assume they are all similar though in terms of activities.

We got the activity booking form in a few days ago, for M (who'll be 2) there's messy play sessions, something called toddler time I think which is a music type thing and another couple of things she can do.  There's also soft play areas, face painting every day and things like that.  There's ten pin bowling too, you can get the support things to help the younger kids to bowl - you know when you put the bowl on the top and the kid can push it and it rolls down the support and down the lane - I've no idea what they are called!  Plus I think there's a cinema but the times didn't suit whatever we were doing.  there's plenty of playparks and stuff too.  And depending when you are going, I think all the lodges have a space for a bbq so that might be an option for tea one night although i know that Luke's not ready for that, just thought more for you and your H as a wee change from sitting in the lodge, we took a wee disposable bbq and used that

You could also hire bikes and look into getting the trailer for on the back for Luke?  I would also book for something more central, i had a walk around Whinfell last time we were there and it took me a few hours, our lodge wasn't far from the centre and it was really handy I thought it was worth the extra £40 or however much it is.

Hope you manage to get booked up, I think it'll be great fun and Luke will love it! x

Just a quickie but don't worry about hiring closer - hire a car for him instead - that's what we did and B loved it, although everyone kept trying to car jack him I hope that makes sense? We haevn't been to the Llongleat one but the Cumbria one.

Definately worth paying extra for the central lodge location. We were out a bit more but still fairly close and we hired bikes and a trailor and got to and fron the swimming complex using the pram or bikes and trailor.

Yes there is a take away service (we didn't use it but it is available) however we went to the resturants earlyish and they were relaxed and not too full so you could probably take Luke no problem. Our youngest was only 9 months so you can imagine what her eating habits were like and I didn't feel at all uncomfortable.

The only activity we booked in advance was the swimming lessons (well they are sort of lessons)

Have fun. We will probably go back next year when we've saved a bit of money :0)

Oh also forgot. You mentioned about doing a big shop. They have a supermarket on site that although we didn't cook for ourselves, because we were too lazy, was very reasonable cost and stock wise. We bought breakfast and lunch and snack stuff. H was pleasantly surprised because we were expecting it to be overpriced.

Sorry, just read my post and it sounded very abrupt!  Was rushing.

We'd planned to pretty much just have takeaways all week (4 nights - went with friends) but after the Chinese on the first night that plan was abandoned!  It was awful.  We had took food for breakfasts and general essentionals, but also shopped in the parc shop for dinner stuff.  Like Caz said, it wasn't the crazy prices you might have expected and well stocked.  We bought the pizzas (fresh style ones like you get in Asda) from there with some extra toppings and salad stuff and also ingredients for spaghetti bolognaise (the herb selection wasn't great - thought they'd have a mixed herbs jar but we did manage to get tinned tomatos with herbs.  Did the job!)

As mentioned, there is a land-train but we didn't really use it, just occasionally on an evening to get back quicker.  We were in Firs and it would take us around 30-40 mins to walk to the plaza.  It is a lovely walk though through the woods.  And yes, it is hilly very!

Thank you weekender all the advice. Messy play and music sounds fun. Last night we  booked and paid for a central location close to the water park/shops area.

Pittabre- what is the car hire for kids???

Thanks Caz. We might try a meal during quiet periods. The problem with Luke is he’s too big to be contained in a high chair now, so when he gets fed up he wants to run off! I think i read that some places have soft play in the restaurants so that might be a good option for us.

If anyone else has any other tips please add them. I'm very excited and I've started a list.