Booking your stay 

We booked for a stay over the festive period at Whinfell Forest, Monday 16th – 20th December. We paid £759 for a 2 bed detached woodland lodge. It was really quiet and a great time to go to do all the Winter Wonderland Activities. 

• Consider how much space you need in your accommodation – you could opt for a cheaper 1 bed apartment as a couple with a small child, or if you go with a bigger party you could get a bigger lodge with a hot tub and divide the price. 
• Consider a term time weekend stay (if you are confined to the school holidays) over mid week or weekend stays in the school holidays – it’s twice the price and far too busy. 
• Assess prices in advance on the Center parks website so you can decide what accommodation is best for you and if you want to go with a larger party. 

Prep & packing 

This may not appeal to you if you’re not a planner, but chances are you are if you’re a parent! This isn’t gospel, hopefully you can take any tips you need from it! 

• Book your activities in advance – there is plenty to do on the Center  Parcs website and a lot require a booking, you don’t want to miss out!Centre Parcs website will build your activites into an itinerary. 
• Plan your meals for staying in and book for going out – take your food with you! There is a fridge and small freezer. This takes the thinking out of meal times for you and more time to explore!
• Click and collect your food & supplies on the way to your stay from your usual supermarket – this will save you a bomb at the shops at Center Parcs with the same items for 3x the price.
• Bring firewood logs – to avoid the inflated cost in the center parcs shop, but they have to be smokeless – you can get them at B&M and Home Bargains
• Bring a laptop or fire stick – the lodges only have basic tv. This was essential for us on an evening. 
• Bring a lamp – there were no lamps in the lodge – just ceiling dimmer lights, so it was either too dark or too light. 
• Bring an air fryer – if you usually use one. The oven in our lodge took FOREVER. This is a common complaint at Center Parcs. A handyman came to fix ours twice as it wasn’t working properly. 
• Call the help desk if you have any issues – they will come straight out to fix any snags. 

The drive 

We’re already up North so it only took about an hour and 40 minutes to get to Whinfell Forest. 

• Get there an hour before check in to avoid long queues. You can take your luggage with you until you check in, or leave it in the car and drive the car to the lodge later (there are allocated times for this) to unload it and return the car to the car park. 
• You can pay for earlier check in but we didn’t find it necessary. It could be helpful if you want to book more activities and further avoid any queues.
• Book your car charging point, it is a decent rate compared to service stations.

The Pool – a must do!

we’d go back to Whinfell Forest – or any Centre Parcs – solely for this! It is huge, with lots of different pool areas, a wave machine, slides, and splash pads. Suitable for all the family. 

Here’s our tips to optimise your time at the pool : 

• Consider timings – early and late afternoon are the best times to visit. 
• Utilise the family changing rooms they are limited but the first on the left as you enter. 
• Get a swim lanyard for your phone – they’re about £20 in the shop right outside the pool, but you can get them cheaper on Amazon beforehand. I used this one.
• Note your pool locker number in your phone, we spent ages trying our wrist band on every locker. We tried our own locker in the process but the bands are temperamental – so if you are unsure which one is yours you can be looking a while. A staff member sorted it easily for us so don’t panic if you do forget.

Our Recommendations: Restaurants & Play Areas 

• Sports Cafe – located in the sports hall, good food and has a free soft play inside the restaurant while you wait for your food. There is large screens to watch the sports too.
• Pancake house – we had brunch here after swimming – it’s located right outside. The food was really nice and a decent price. 
• Lakeside inn – has a free soft play inside which is quite big, our boy loved it. The food was lovely but to fit the general theme of Center Parcs the food was more expensive for what it was. 
• Sports Hall Outdoor play area – just outside the sports hall is a large outdoor play area suited for all ages. Grab a Starbucks from in the sports hall and you can chill while your children play. 

We hope you enjoyed our guide on Whinfell Forest!

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