Five Things Friday – the CenterParcs addition

Now don’t moan you all knew this was coming.  It had to happen; I spend a whole 3 and ½ days there, admittedly over half of it in some form of alcoholic inebriation.  So I thought what I would do this week is five things I liked/love about CenterParcs.

The surroundings

I live in what can be considered to be a small town compared to some; famously (somewhat) known to be one of the most deprived towns in the country but ignoring that there are lots and lots of buildings.  You could argue there are lots of buildings at CenterParcs and there are but they are cabins and made of wood so don’t count.  The others are admittedly buildings but they contain wonders such as pancakes, fajitas, ice-cream, alcohol, bowling alleys, spas, swimming pools and not necessarily in that order.

We will ignore the fact that I am incredibly stupid when after driving up to the reception gate/desk and being welcomed with “Hello Mrs D, how are you today?” I responded with “Wow, that is really clever!  How did you know it was me?!” as Hubby looked at me in complete amazement at my stupidity and instead concentrate on how my shoulders relaxed as soon as me and my little car drove up the winding road surrounded by trees.

We will ignore me bouncing up the drive after parking the car (as much as asthma would allow) saying in a sing song voice “Hello little squirrels, where are youuuuuu?”  It is no wonder really that none of them were in sight for the whole stay except the one time a lonesome squirrel deemed it safe to pass by our wooden home because I was sleeping.

Demonstrating no low branches and some green, shut up!  It was April!

It was clear that the lower branches of the trees had been cut off.  Not really thinking the reason through I was most disappointed that being 5 ft nothing meant that even craning my neck to look at the higher branches I was unlikely to see any elusive squirrels.  I will admit, grudgingly, that it does make sense to cut off lower branches to curtail any young whipper snapper of boys trying to alternatively climb trees and break legs and such.

The huge shower and Jacuzzi bath

An added bonus because despite picking a higher spec wooden home than C and A would normally book for a holiday I had neglected to check nearer our holiday what was actually provided so I excited to say the least at the discoveries.  It was a good job young whipper snappers were not about as I my head and mouth had disengaged from each other and my mouth obviously felt the need to just provide a running commentary of what was going through my mind when I forgot that people were near when I verbalised the benefits of such a huge shower. 

Nor is it a good job to ignore the advice you provide your Beautiful B with when shopping, that being that things should not be touched unless you intend to buy/use them because when you discover that the bath is also a Jacuzzi going “Oooooh” at the same time as pressing a button means the Jacuzzi function will engage and you will dance around the bathroom trying to turn it off because there is absolutely no water in the bath!

You will also be disappointed that no-one had realised it was a Jacuzzi bath when it was full of cold water trying to cool the beer bottles down because that would just have been WICKED!

The Spa……..OBVIOUSLY

Being on holiday means that you can ignore the inflated price of all things, especially those that provide a nice relaxing back, neck and shoulder massage!  While A and I partook of the spa Hubby and C played pool.


You can then plot with one of your best friends A to find a way of being able to afford a spa session at least once a month.  Now if only I can get Hubby to realise just how bad for him 2 bottles of Rose wine are for him each month – I mean, it doesn’t even have the benefits of reducing heart disease like red wine. 

The Alcohol….and pancakes

Not together because…just urgh!

Added Alcohol!

Alcohol was plentiful and as we were childless we did not have to worry about drinking during the day or too much at night.  Having packed a couple of crates of beer and a bottle of vodka with plentiful amounts of lemonade and coke we thought we were well stocked – not so much it appears.  Despite buying copious amount of alcohol each afternoon and evening we not only managed to deplete our wooden home’s stock but had to buy more! 

Being a big kid I was more than excited by The Pancake House on the complex but had to wait 2 whole days before everyone agreed to go.  Granted I could have gone on my own but that would have eaten into valuable drinking time.

Playing safe on the first visit I settled for a banoffee pancake but insisted on going back on the morning we were travelling home to have breakfast to sample the forest fruits one.  I was quite proud of being the only adult in there, for a while, eating a pancake with fruit, ice-cream and cream for breakfast instead of a savoury pancake.

I have to admit that a sweet pancake with a side of nachos, cheese and salsa for breakfast is a little strange.

Friends and Family

Partners in crime

A much needed holiday for my brother C who has lost his mum and dad within 6 months of each other (good idea to mention here that he is my ex brother-in-law but will always be my brother) and A who has helped him through it all.  Watching him relax and enjoy himself was good enough for me and as Hubby is his best friend he was surrounded by people that love him. 

All I can say is that I am grateful that the one night I took myself off to bed before everyone else (after falling asleep on the couch and not being woken up by the popcorn thrown at me for 10 minutes) I slept soundly enough not to hear Hubby and C get louder with each vodka they drank; unfortunately not the case for poor A.

A taking a photo of me taking a photo of her..

I am completely relaxed with C and A; and of course Hubby.  I tend to completely revert to being more than a bit mental and dizzy when around C because besides Hubby, Beautiful B, Rachel, Angel and A he truly accepts me for who I am and strangely enough finds me more than a little amusing and loves me for it.  

Although technically I am older than him (by all of just over 2 months) he is my big brother and surrounds me with love and huge bear hugs every time he sees me.  He is also incredibly laid back and if we heard “Whatever you like” once this weekend we heard it 20 times. 

Hubby's addition to the birthday message

Hubby was 40 on the Sunday of our stay and not being one for the centre of attention a quiet trip away with loved ones was just what he needed and much more his cup of tea.  We gave him his wish except for the 5 minutes he had to stand in a crowded restaurant while everyone sang Happy Birthday to him.   Oh and lets not forget the bowling where his name on the scoreboard was “Birthday Boy” instead of Hubby and a tickertape message ran across all screens wishing him a wonderful birthday – not that I had anything to do with that [whistle].


Not great focus - blame the laughing



A weekend being myself surrounded by love, laughter, fun and games – not much more you can ask for.