Center Parcs, Oasis Whinfell Review

Overall Rating

The accommodation was lovely, very clean, well fitted and comfortable, the site was beautiful and the staff were polite and friendly

The only thing I found less than ideal was that when we wanted to book a meal in a restaurant we could not book it direct with the restaurant, we had a ring a central booking line, which was closed in the evening. Having said that we were booking the meal a day ahead anyway so just rang the number the following morning and booked it without a problem.

We had had a bad experience recently with a different holiday company (not Center Parcs) so were very wary about our trip to Winfell Forest, or any holiday for that matter. We had actually booked to go to Sherwood forest but changed it to Winfell Forest after reading the reviews on this website. When we got to the site the staff were very helpful, the site was lovely and our accommodation (a 3 bedroom original style executive 2 storey lodge) was fantastic. It was warm, spotlessly clean, well fitted, and very comfortable. The beds were very nice too.
My wife and I had our 8 month old son with us. We put him in one of the upstairs bedrooms and we had the other upstairs bedroom to be near him. The main bedroom was downstairs, and it had a large Hyrdobath and seperate shower en-suite. We didn't use the bedroom but did try out the Hydrobath which I certainly recommend after a busy day.
We were a bit limited on what activities we could do as we had our baby with us but we aren't the most sporty people anyway. We went swimming twice, went for walks, meals and basically just enjoyed spending a few days at a slower pace than normal. Having said that, there seemed to be plenty of activities for people to do and everything seemed well thought out.
We went for "a taste of India" meal on the Thursday evening. The beer was quite pricey but the amount and quality of the food for the money was very good value indeed. Especially good was the staff at the Indian restaurant. They made us feel very comfortable, and had no qualms about seating us at a table that we could put our baby in his buggy next to. It was so nice to feel welcomed with children compared to other places where if you have a child with you you are stared at as if you have some contagious disease. I think that the were more families in the restaurant than couples, what a refreshing change!
We were really sad when it was time to leave, we enjoyed it that much. Having a baby to get ready and a car to pack meant that we weren't out of the lodge by 10am as you are supposed to do. One person came and dropped some fresh linen off; we said we would be out soon and he was fine with that. When the cleaner turned up shortly afterwards I explained that we were nearly packed and would be out as soon as we could. He said "that's fine, take your time, I'll go and clean one of the other lodges and be back in a bit", which we thought was a really nice friendly attitude.
All in all we had a fabulous time. We will certainly be going back next year hopefully. I can't comment on the standard of other accommodation or sites but based on our experience I totally recommend it to anyone.
Top Marks Center Parcs.