Centerparcs

Today we got back from a week at Centerparcs (a ‘holiday village’) in Sherwood Forest, about half an hour from home. It was a great week except both kids had bad coughs and colds and runny noses. We went with grandma, grandpa and Auntie Jane - a regular traveling circus. The villa/house was right in the forest and we had lots of visitors including squirrels, pheasants and all sorts of other birds. They were all a little too tame for my liking, I suspect in the past, there had been other little girls who were happy to share their breakfast with them too!

On the first day we weren’t really sure what to expect as none of us had been before so we headed straight for something to eat. The restaurant we chose was called ‘The Pancake House’ and was in a lovely location right next to the lake. None of us are that keen on pancakes (other than for breakfast with loads of syrup) but we figured there’d be other things on the menu. We thought wrong! It was a very bizarre collection of meals . . . I had the brunch pancake, it was a pancake cooked with mushrooms, bacon and sausage mixed into the batter then baked beans and a fried egg on the top. Everyone else had similar concoctions of varying degrees of ghastliness – it actually verged on comical. I think I will have to invent my own menu item and send it to them. I’m thinking of a Hawaiian/seafood theme with chunks of tuna and ham baked in with dollops of mayonnaise and pineapple on top, yummeeeeee. ;)

There were lots of playgrounds and areas to explore. Even though Beth wasn’t quite herself, she managed to spend hours (and hours and hours) playing. First she played on the windsurfers, and then on the swings, unfortunately the slide was a little too wet to venture on to. Toby also went on a swing for the very first time and was rather unimpressed though we did manage just a little smile. Beth’s playing continued with grandma’s introduction of role-play using a tree they found down behind the house. To begin with it was a house with a bedroom and a kitchen but then it developed into being Robin Hood’s (grandpa) prison (in Beth’s mind Robin Hood was the villain). I’m guessing that after 50 minutes of the same 30-second routine, grandma was beginning to regret the initiation of this game!

We also spent quite a lot of time playing hide-and-seek. Auntie Jane seemed somewhat bewildered that Beth could shrink herself small enough to hide behind a leaf or twig (glad to see she has good body image). When in the house, the play continued with cooking sausage and mash (bobbins) and serving them in delightful little dishes (eggcups). Meanwhile Toby did get to join in some of the fun and got to play with the foliage (well anything within his reach really) and experimented with lots of new food. His favourite was grandma’s leek and potato soup, which he inhaled.

There was a children’s disco every night but unfortunately we didn’t quite make it to any of them. With being ill and up in the night, we decided that going to a loud disco with lots of other kids hurtling about just before bed would not really encourage Beth to have a calm night. Instead Beth donned her party dress, grandpa played Jane’s guitar and we all danced to nursery rhymes and other unidentified songs. I think she probably had just as much fun but without the intimidation of lots of other kids.

One of the only upsets of the holiday was when we realised that Molly had been left behind at home. It could have resulted in a quick trip back home but thankfully Beth wasn’t too upset as there were lots of other distractions and daddy picked her up later in the week. The week was wrapped up with a Fab ice cream for lunch.

Couldn’t resist including this pic showing Beth and Toby in matching hoodies courtesy of grandma and her clicky sticks. They are affectionately known as their rainbow vomit tops.