A (Not So) Magical Stay At Center Parcs Whinfell Forest

If you’ve ever thought about going to Center Parcs Whinfell Forest, whether for Winter Wonderland at Christmas or just a normal break, this post brings together my experiences and photos. Did we have a magical time at Christmas, was it a nightmare or was it perhaps both? Let’s see.

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Just before Christmas 2023, we travelled with friends across the North Pennines to spend a week at Center Parcs Whinfell Forest at the magical Winter Wonderland. It was the first time I’d ever visited Center Parcs after, and I’ll be honest, years of thinking it was far too expensive both to book and whilst you were there. However, now with little Evelyn, I am much more open to experiences that are designed for families and for creating special memories. What better place to do that than at Center Parcs’ Winter Wonderland with all of its Christmassy magic. Right?

Before we dive straight into our experiences, let’s address the title. Let’s be fair to Center Parcs, it’s a little more than tongue in cheek. Looking back now, I think I’m able to see the funny side (maybe) and the magical side especially for Evelyn. What we’ll talk about, and I’m sure everyone with kids will know, is what really went down and how I’m not so sure you can really have fun running on four nights with no sleep and with a poorly little one! Perhaps not so magical after all!

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CENTER PARCS WHINFELL FOREST

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THE LOCATION & OUR LODGE

As we were visiting with another family, we opted for one of the 3 bedroom detached ‘New Style’ Woodland Lodges. I’m not too sure how the allocation of your lodge works though I think you can actually pay extra to be closer to the Village Centre. Luckily, we ended up with lodge #64 in the Seven Pines section which was a pleasant 10 minute walk to both the Village Centre and to the Winter Wonderland area.

The setting was beautiful there’s no denying that. This Center Parcs location is, you guessed it, within Whinfell Forest in Cumbria, on the outskirts of the Lake District. Pooley Bridge and Ullswater are less than 10 miles away though once you’re in Center Parcs you’ve got everything you could ever want and need so that you don’t need to leave.

Expect tall pine trees, endangered red squirrels, a beautiful lake and a real sense of being out in the middle of nowhere. I always had expectations of Center Parcs simply imposing their architecture on the environment but I was completely wrong; everything is designed to work with nature and embrace it, though you will of course find the glass domed Village Centre/Subtropical Swimming Paradise and the massive tropical Cyclone water ride popping up out of nowhere.

Back to our lodge now. As I said above, there were three bedrooms; two upstairs with a shared bathroom and one downstairs off the living area with an ensuite. This was the perfect size for two families to share especially as Evelyn was small enough for us to attempt to sleep in the same room as her in her travel cot. It didn’t quite work out like that unfortunately as Evelyn wanted to be in our bed and that mean four nights of pretty much no sleep whatsoever. Not for me, not for Emma and not for Evelyn which made for some very grumpy humans!

The living area was also brilliant too. Entirely open plan we had a dining area with a large table, high quality kitchen for the nights where you don’t want to eat out and a lounge with two sofas for chilling out. There was also a downstairs toilet and a little patio area at the back with a few chairs. I can imagine it being an incredible BBQ spot in the summer!

OUR EXPERIENCE

As I mentioned above, we visited Center Parcs Whinfell Forest in late November 2023 and stayed for four nights. This was my first time visiting Center Parcs so yes, whilst I had some preconceptions, I was open to the experience.

Things didn’t get off to the best start when Evelyn didn’t nap at all in the car on the drive across the A66. At the time this was extremely unusual so we probably should have realised that all would not be well. We never let Evelyn eat in the car either but she was clearly hungry at one point so Emma gave her a bit of banana to eat. Well, what do you think happened? Of course, she started choking and was sick so we had to do an emergency stop on the side of the road! We were already therefore pretty stressed by the time we joined what felt like the longest traffic jam ever just to gain entry!

Evelyn did not take to her travel cot either as presumably it was in the same room as us and we must have been annoying her! She ended up in our bed for the first time too, for the entire four nights, and you could probably count the amount of hours we all had to sleep across the week on two hands. I’ve never been so tired in my life.

Whilst we’ll get onto details about the Winter Wonderland, all of the normal every day kind of stuff available at Center Parcs was really good. Despite the tiredness, we still loved the swimming pool (I obviously enjoyed the water slides), long walks through the forest and the playgrounds. It was a good introduction to Center Parcs with toddler; I’m sure having kids that little bit older would be incredible given the activities on offer (laser combat would definitely be my first choice).

Evelyn obviously topped it all off with projectile vomiting milk in our bedroom on the last night! Awful.

CENTER PARCS WINTER WONDERLAND

This is really what we and everyone else came for; to experience the magic of Christmas through Center Parcs’ Winter Wonderland. We were coming up to Evelyn’s second Christmas and felt that she would understand the entire concept of Christmas and get joy out of the experience. Evelyn didn’t really enjoy meeting Father Christmas at the Treehouse at Alnwick Gardens in 2022 but this time we thought we really could create some magical memories.

The Winter Wonderland at Center Parcs runs from early November to early January (check the website for this year’s dates) and you get to experience Santa’s Woodland Village and the Enchanted Light Garden as well as lovely other little additions. Evelyn enjoyed posting her letter to Santa (and getting a reply), completing her Elf Explorer Passport, waving to Santa in his sleigh as he ‘flew’ around the forest. There were ‘paid for’ activities too; we met Santa in his workshop and painted a reindeer which was glazed and fired so we can display this at home each Christmas.

We visited from 20th to 24th November and, with all of the Christmas activities and decorations across the Village Centre and around the park, it didn’t take long to get into the Christmas spirit. Even with all of the tiredness, looking back now honestly it was far better than I thought at the time. Time does wonders doesn’t it?

WHERE WE ATE

The Pancake House

The Pancake House is one of the most famous of Center Parcs’ restaurants and is available at all of the UK locations. You can expect savoury and sweet pancakes, French toast, waffles as well as omelettes too if you don’t fancy something too sweet! I went with the Banoffee American style pancakes which were pretty good to be fair with sliced banana, toffee sauce, chocolate sauce, crushed Flake and whipped cream. Not the best pancakes I’ve ever had and the children’s meals (pasta in particular as we went at lunch time) couldn’t be amended or adjusted as we were told they came pre-made.

Huck’s American Bar & Grill

This is the place that I was most looking forward to eating. I love American BBQ food and, if you’re a first time reader, let’s just say I love burgers so much so that I nearly always order them wherever I’m eating (these are the best burgers in the North East). It was very busy when we ate there, probably as expected, so things took quite a while to come out. I went with the Cowboy Chilli burger & Emma with the fajitas. I wouldn’t rate the food as high as my expectations, probably a 6 out of 10. I fully appreciate that the food is never going to be out of this world at Center Parcs, they have to cater for a hell of a lot of people and be relatively consistent across every location each and every day.

The Lakeside Inn

We headed to The Lakeside Inn for what we hoped would be a comforting carvery lunch whilst enjoying beautiful views across Whinfell Forest’s lake. Unfortunately, we were more than disappointed with the food on offer as it turned out we were apparently on rations; half, yes HALF, a Yorkshire pudding each. The meat was dry but the sticky toffee pudding for dessert at least left us a bit happier at the end. We didn’t try any of the other food but I would hope that things improve if we were to eat there again!

Self-Catering

We decided to eat back at the lodge on at least two nights which is such a good idea. We had pizzas on the first night that we brought along with us before outdoing ourselves with a cracking Christmas buffet reminiscent of a classic Boxing Day spread. I highly recommend spending some time in your accommodation and sorting out your own tea. It will really allow you to decompress after what will no doubt be long, busy and tiring days.

MY OVERALL THOUGHTS

At the time, the lack of sleep really messed up with my perceptions of Center Parcs Whinfell Forest. I thought I didn’t enjoy any of it but looking back we still made some lovely memories and I would now contemplate returning especially for Winter Wonderland. It could even become a Christmas tradition! The food wasn’t the best but, when you take time to do the simple things, like walks through the forest, enjoying the swimming at the Subtropical Swimming Paradise and just enjoying your little ones, you really will have a good time; whether you know it or not!

Let me know your thoughts on Center Parcs, whether generally or specifically the Whinfell Forest site and Winter Wonderland, in the comments below. If you have any questions or would like to know more information, again, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

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