Center Parcs

Yay, Center Parcs time again!! I've been going to Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest since just after it opened in 1987. I think we first went in October 1987, when Dan was a toddler and I was pregnant with Luke. Then we started going in January as me, Dan and Luke have our birthdays within 5 days of each other and it seemed a good way to celebrate. Now we go with grown ups - 4 couples in a luxury villa with a steam room, sauna, games room and a wonderful hot tub. And I try and make sure we're there for my birthday. We slightly over-cater on the booze (and there was a wine fridge full of wine and fizz as well as this shelf...)


Monday - met for lunch on the way there at the Rose Cottage Pub, got to the villa, unpacked, a nice walk round the lake and the forest, and back for some singing and playing of pool, after a great meal of venison casserole!



There might have been quite a lot of time spent in the hot tub as well....

Tuesday - hungry squirrel waiting on our patio at breakfast time for us to feed him,


And lots more wildlife it he garden. Any food we put out went very quickly!


Walked to the bird hide just by our villa, and the pond was frozen, but still saw a lot of birds


And then went for a walk....


To Rufford Park. Lovely place - nice old hall, coffee shop


Interesting gardens with lots of sculptures



And a lovely lake to walk round, which was frozen.


Back to the villa for lunch, and of course, straight into the hot tub. Liked this photo of my flowery back tattoo.


The hot tub is a very popular place - at all times of the day or night...

In the evening Stuart was on Strawberry Daquiri duty, his specialty cocktail

And we walked round to the country Club for dinner.

Wednesday. Segway day!  It was snowing but that didn't put anyone off. These were off offroad Segways, very different to the ones you have in cities. Big wheels, and after a quick practice we were off through the forest.

It was very, very cold and wet, and miraculously Stuart didn't fall off!  One of our number did though,
twice ;-) Lunch in the village square, then we went to the Spa, whilst the others went back to the villa.

The Spa is very relaxing - an outdoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, and 16 different spa areas, different saunas, steam rooms, different temperatures, and lots of relaxing places - including water beds, and an outdoor area where you can wrap yourself up n a blanket. My favourite is the Laconium, which is the picture at the side.  Very gently heat, very comfy, very quiet. I fell asleep! We even had a free facial in there.

Back to the villa for another evening in, with an antipasti starter...


More pool more cocktails, more hot tub, more music.

Thursday. Gentle walk to the bird hides, all three of them. Saw lots of birds,


And I loved this cheeky Lesser Redpoll - so cute.



In the afternoon we went bowling - some of us are better than others :-)


And in the evening, in honor of my birthday the next day - a meal in Cafe Rough


Back for more hot tub, and even I played pool...

Friday
Early morning. Yuck! Packed, got out. Walked round lake, which was lovely


sat in the bird hide again


and then we all had brunch - eggs benedict and Prosecco. Made even better because they gave me the Prosecco free as it was my birthday, and that morning the manager had given us some free food vouchers because our hot tub alarm had gone off late at night. Admittedly while we were still in it...

Flying owls, cocktails and pool

Wednesday was my birthday, so woke up to a coffee and glass of bucks fizz in bed. Very nice!  Opened my presents which included perfume, a gothic mirror for the garden, a candle holder made out of a silver ladle, and a whole day's falconry experience!  Fab.

Got up to find bacon sandwiches had been cooked, so we washed those down with more Bucks Fizz, and then I set off to my falconry hour as a birthday treat. Love flying falcons, owls and hawks. Flew a brown owl, a harris hawk:

 

A buzzard and a young kestrel who was spooked by the snow and flew into nearby trees for about 20 minutes. My favourite was a Great Grey Owl. He was lovely.

Looks like I'm holding a glove puppet doesn't it? He was only a baby, about 4 months old, and he let me stroke his head which was really soft.

Owls have very bad eyesight close up, and rely on movement to catch prey, so when he flew to my glove he couldn't find the food on it, and had to feel around with his beak till he got it. Birds of prey live up to 30 years, so build up a real bond with their handlers, but one of them was not in a good mood - the last couple of times I've done this I've flown Shadow, the Golden Eagle, but this time she was in a bad mood, and Darren didn't want any of us to hold her because he didn't want any of us to end up in hospital! But we did get to see her close up and take pictures.

Really enjoyed it, and looking forward to my whole day. Then it was back to the villa for tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cake. Some of the hot chocolate might have had additives in!

More pool was played, then some of us set off to the spa, whilst the others headed for the sauna and hot tub. The spa is great - about 11 different steam/sauna rooms, as well as a heated outdoor pool, foot spas, a zen garden and an outdoor balcony where sat wrapped in blankets looking over the snowy forest. We even had a lie down on the water beds which was a weird experience, don't know how people sleep on them! Very relaxed, we walked back for champagne and nibbles before going out to eat:

Then back to the villa for the funniest hour of the holiday. One of our party was having a bit of a moan about playing games on Christmas Eve with his wife and her family when he'd rather be in the pub, and describing the worst game of all - Winkles Wedding. His wife then produced it, and we played it.

It was absolutely hilarious. Not particularly the game, but everyone's reaction to it. Annie was in stiches reading the story, and Pete was really keen to play it!

Basically, someone reads a story, written I think around 1920, and there are blanks in it, which the players have to fill in by reading what it says on the first card they turn over. Some examples are a pickled onion, and a giddy kipper. What a good time was had by all!
More late night pool and a very late night in the hot tub, and some of us were a little delicate in the morning, so we went for another walk, this time round the lake, but finishing at the bird hide again.
This time we were rewarded with a woodpecker.

We were directed to another hide which we didn't know about, and saw a nuthatch

and a beautiful Bullfinch which looked so bright against the snow

Slow wander back, coffee in the village coffee shop, back to the villa for a rest, and them some of us went into the Dome. Very warm, we swam outside,  tried some of the flumes, then sat in the hot  tub and the tropical atmosphere chatting.

Back for another home cooked meal, more pool, more cocktails, more hot tub, more games.

Next morning we had to be out by 10, so up earlier than we had been before, skipping breakfast, but calling at Cafe Rouge later for eggs benedict, which was lovely. Then another walk round the lake, which was still frozen

More wildlife spotting

Coffee in the Country Club which had been closed all week for maintenance but was now open, and a last look at the bird hide, where there was a flock of long tailed tits

And then home. A great week with friends - lovely company and a great way to spend a birthday.

Center Parcs in the snow

Time for another Center Parcs trip - being going here for about 25 years, usually in January for two reasons, mainly because there's a lot of family birthdays, and also because its cheap!  Booked a villa with a hottub, steam and sauna suite and a games room, and set off on Monday to meet our 6 friends who were joining us. arrived early and had lunch in Strada, then went off to find the villa. There was a lot of snow!

Whilst the men sorted the cars out, me and Jane went to hire a couple of bikes. The bikes were a bit buried:

Luckily there were some undercover so we didn't have to dig them out. we were told to keep only to cleared paths, and bring the bikes into the villa to thaw the brakes out before using them. The view from the villa was stunning

and we didn't go out for the rest of the day, just unpacked - we hadn't coordinated bringing drinks, and I think we all brought enough for all of us! Good job the games room had a long shelf.

Had a great afternoon and evening playing pool, drinking Prosecco  in the Hot Tub, and having a lovely home made meal.

Woke up on Tuesday to bright sunshine, there had been no wind, so the snow was still on the tees. this was the view from our bedroom window, taken whilst having a lovely coffee in bed.

Our garden had been visited in the night by a largish animal, the paw prints were too big for a fox, so we thought it might be a badger. We decided to go for a walk, round the edge of the forest, everywhere we went we saw beautiful frozen ponds and trees.

Eventually we reached the bird hide

Sat for a while watching the birds feeding, and I loved the trees which are full of little patches of different colours

We showed one of the rangers a photo of the pawprints we'd seen in the morning, and she confirmed that they were from a badger, and that there was a set near our villa. Then we walked back through the forest, which was beautiful.

Had coffee and lunch at The Pancake House overlooking the completely frozen lake, then back to Villa, and straight back into the hot tub!

Then we went bowling, the the bright, neon lit bowling alley. It's fair to say some were better than others, but we had a fun time anyway!

Back to the villa for another home cooked meal, beginning with champagne and canapes. Then we made our own entertainment - lots of pool was played. Stuart mixed cocktails - mainly banana daquiris and white russians. We played games, including doing a couple of pub quizzes and some board games. The hot tub got some more use, and two of us stayed in it till the early hours, hoping to catch sight of the badger, for whom we'd left food out. Needless to say, we didn't see him!