LITTLEBIG LOVES… Center Parcs. Yes, really.

By Jenny Dalton

“I THINK IT’S LIKE a secret club,” says Tara Bernerd of interior designer outfit Target Living. “The more people you ask the more admit they’ve been, but no one really talks about it.”

No, we’re not talking rehab, but Center Parcs. This, says Tara over lunch, includes her nephews and nieces who have been with Bernerd (her sister isn’t brave enough), who herself fell for the place during her research into Center Parcs’ major interior re-design renovation project, which her design company is spearheading. It also includes one of Tara’s new clients: the head of a huge telecommunications company, who took his son for his birthday.

Yes, you heard right. Center Parcs, in a bid to seal its status as the new, cool eco destination for caring parents around the country who are keen on lowering their carbon footprint whilst giving their kids a traditional yet safe ‘outdoorsy’ holiday, brought in the fashionable design team behind Marco, the Marco Pierre White restaurant in Chelsea, and Aspinall’s casino last year to renovate a good proportion of its more upmarket lodges. And luckily Tara, who loves a luxury development, gets equal kicks out of lower-budget design challenges, which she manages to carry out in her own inimitable style whilst avoiding a ‘changing rooms’ style hatchet job. Her style is boy-sy, comfortable, hip but not exclusive. So the new lodges (the renovation project is ongoing) feature red baize pool tables (yes, most have one in-house), warm wooden floors, forest-print wallpaper on the living room walls (as seen above), giant wall-mounted chalk boards so the kids can get creative with the shopping list, and simple, modern bathrooms and kitchens. She has a sense of humour and it shows.

And Center Parcs needs it. Well kinda. Because despite the fact it is a pretty blissful experience (no cars for the week! You start to feel like you’re living in pre-war Britian cycling around the substantial grounds) where popping to the shops or the local restaurants is the most taxing thing you have to do in a day, the average reaction to the idea of a holiday camp is one of sheer panic.

My partner, who admits to being part of the Boys Brigade when younger - so he can’t claim he’s completely anti-the group holiday experience - is all nervy with visions of red coats, enforced participation, prescribed ‘fun’ and tacky entertainment. And an admission: it IS tricky being bothered enough to book all your Center Parcs activities form a catalogue BEFORE you leave for your holiday. It is worth, however, picking a couple of things, particularly if you’re after a specific golf lesson or quad bike experience.

My partner’s nervy, ‘what are we in for’, feeling isn’t shaken on driving in to Center Parcs either (in our case, the Sherwood Forest site), which on a checking-in day (your stay runs from either Friday to Monday or Monday to Friday) is packed with cars and milling people unpacking. But just one look at our lodge, pictured left, which is at a very private end of the complex, and his simultaneous twin reactions are: “Wow” and “Why on earth didn’t we invite anyone to come with us?”

Our (executive) lodge is huge. Far too big for the two of us and our then 2-year-old. It has a games room AND a sauna. We spread out across the four bedrooms - one of which is on the downstairs floor, so would be perfect for grandparents or friends. All the bedrooms have ensuites, and so of course the three of us, feeling like naughty children (including our naughty child), can’t decide which to try first. The downstairs is open plan with a garden at the back that leads down to the forest below. We could be in France. The toddler is thrilled at “living in the jungle.” We don’t want to leave the house.

This other-wordly feeling is perhaps, admittedly, down to the weather. Our week’s visit coincides with, unusually for Britain, five days of uninterrupted sunshine. We sunbathe, bar-b-q, and when we do leave the lodge, spend hours cycling, walking, milling round the grounds, visiting the many free playgrounds hidden among the trees, and ordering (and not eating: toddlers, eh?) the ice-creams at the bar just yards from our lodge.

And then in the spirit of journalistic endeavour, we do embark on a pre-booked activity or two. And we needn’t have worried. There’s no sense of red-coatishness about Center Parcs. The socio-economic mix, meanwhile, judging by the cars, is a positive one: from Mercedes to Fiesta, it’s a nice even slice of Britain, only here everyone’s friendly and relaxed and seeking the same kind of calm, happy experience instead of being narky and uptight.

Our highlights include the golf lesson (although my partner has since forgotten all the genuine insights into his game he learnt). The organised toddler art and play events (yep, he loved them even if this was the only time we felt a tad institutionalized). The ten-pin bowling (hadn’t done it in years or possibly decades, pulled a thigh muscle; is surprisingly fun with toddler). But mostly the spa. I’ve been to quite a few, but this was just the business. A whole three hours of plunging into indoor and outdoor pools, dry/wet/steam rooms inspired by spa rituals from all around the world, and a treatment if you so wish. We were light-headed and giddy on leaving, which helped assuage the guilt we felt at leaving our toddler in the crèche. Which is just added impetus for tempting along friends and relatives on your Center Parcs holiday to babysit instead. It would also help justify the cost of an executive lodge - which equates to cheap flights abroad for a family of four. Which, in these cost-cutter times, is beginning to look like a bit of a bargain…

Our tips: Order the organic welcome box (full of delicious local produce), and the maid service. Get the bike trailer for the wee-ones (as seen top) - more exciting than a bike seat. Don’t, whatever you do, miss the spa - treatments are optional. 

*www.centerparcs.co.uk or tel: 08708 400 220. Prices at Center Parcs start from £499 for a 3 bedroom woodland lodge, sleeping up to 6 people, at Sherwood Forest in Nottingham. Price is per lodge not per person. To book visit www.centerparcs.co.uk and use CPWEB code.