And after saying "I'm back" months ago, I'm actually now getting around to writing some blog posts!
I think what happened is that I decided to return to blogging, announced it and then realised I didn't know what I wanted to write about. So, after a bit of a busy final term at school and a few weeks of relaxing and planning some posts, I am now writing again.
In today's post, I'm recapping a recent weekend away to Center Parcs Elveden Forest...
At the end of July, Cameron and I went on a long weekend trip to Center Parcs Elveden Forest, Suffolk, staying Friday to Monday. We opted to stay in the new Breckland Apartments rather than a woodland lodge as it was just the two of us.
Annoyingly, I didn't take any photos of the inside of the apartment myself. We decided we wanted the break to be as phone-free as possible, so there isn't a huge amount of photos. However, you can watch a video of the apartment accommodation below, where the double room looks identical to the one we stayed in:
After arriving just before check-in time on the Friday, we went to collect our pre-booked bicycles from the Cycle Centre. Pre-booking meant that we were guaranteed a bike each on the day of arrival and we got free bike locks. I would definitely recommend doing this as we watched people turn up on the day to book bikes and there wasn't enough of certain sizes.
Then we took a slow cycle around the village to get our bearings before heading back to our apartment when check-in time arrived. If you watched the video, you can see that these self-catering apartments are modern, fresh and have everything you need for your stay. We had a ground-floor apartment, giving us a lovely patio area, which we used a lot. I was particularly impressed with the kitchen and bathroom spaces. In the kitchen, we had little luxuries such as a wine cooler and a coffee machine. The bathroom had a great vanity area for getting ready and included a huge mirror and hairdryer. It was clean, comfortable and just what we needed after finishing teaching for the school year!
This first day was mostly spent riding our bikes around to explore and unpacking our things, before getting ready to go out for dinner. We booked ourselves into Las Iguanas on the Friday night, which we were both excited about as we love Latin American food. I ordered the veggie enchilada and Cameron had the Copacabana burger, plus we shared some nachos. We even had our food delivered to our table by a robot!
With full stomachs, we headed back to our apartment to relax on the patio and then get some sleep before our breakfast booking the next morning.
On Saturday, we headed straight for The Pancake House. I kept it pretty basic (but delicious) with their SImply Maple pancakes, while Cameron added bacon to the mix and went for The New Yorker stack.
After breakfast, we headed to play a round of crazy golf with a pirate theme. We'd only played crazy golf together once before and I won, so I would have to work to keep my crown... Well, long story short: I lost. But I hit some great shots towards the end. It's just a shame this wasn't enough to catch up. Now it's 1-1 so we'll have to have a rematch at some point! The photo of me below was taken at the beginning as I looked a bit grumpier at the end:
To try and redeem myself, we went to play a game of pool... I did no such thing! I hit the ball off the table a few times and potted the black very early in my first game. However, the pool tables were badly positioned, which did spoil it a bit. Our table and the one next to us were very close together and we often had to wait on each other to take our shots. Both tables were also very close to supporting pillars, which made some shots nearly impossible. We did spot a few other tables in much better positions so we must have just drawn the short straw, but it wasn't great.
Then, after a little cycle around the outskirts, we headed back to our apartment to have afternoon tea on the patio. I know, so sophisticated! The afternoon tea was an M&S gift box from a friend at school as an end-of-year gift, but I decided to save it for our trip. We bought some scones and clotted cream - and took the adorable jar of Tiptree jam that was gifted to me by a student in my class - and set up our afternoon tea:
We also had some biscuits and mini shortbread in the giftbox but we knew this would be enough! After a little afternoon nap (I'd eaten too much!) and the rugby (which Cameron watched), we decided to check out the swimming pool. The Subtropical Swimming Paradise is one of the main attractions at Center Parcs. I'm not really one for water slides but I liked the rapids and the wave machine in the main pool. We spent a bit of time in one of the hot tubs but it was just too warm to stay in there for long. The whole pool area is constantly heated to 29.5°c, which is nice in the main pool but a little unbearable in the hot tubs if you're already feeling a bit toasty. However, I was brave enough to have a go on one slide before we got out. This was mainly because I refused to go on the Tropical Cyclone, which was described as "gravity-defying". Nope. No, thank you. Cameron wanted to have a go but you can't ride solo. Luckily, a very lovely family had a space and offered to let him go on with them. For this reason, I felt like I needed to at least try it. He picked a slide that he told me would be fine and said I probably wouldn't even go under the water at the end. Dear reader, I did go under the water. My eyes were open because I was unprepared for the end of the slide, I didn't hold my nose in time and my mouth was open and ready to inhale water. Annoyingly, the slide part was fun. It was just the swallowing-half-of-the-pool part that wasn't great.
When we got back we were lucky enough to see a couple of muntjac deers around our patio area. We had seen them on our bike rides and briefly outside our windows but these two stayed for a while and came so close.
That evening, we decided to have a relaxed night in the apartment. We basically had an indoor picnic, played a couple of board games we brought with us and watched a bit of rubbish Saturday night television. It was perfect.
On Sunday, we slept in slightly later before heading back to the pool in the morning. Feeling braver, I tried two other slides (still no Cyclone) and was well-prepared with my nose pinched and mouth shut. I also didn't push myself down the slides, I just let the water take me (even if Cameron said he had to wait for ages for the green light to tell him to go because I was so slow!)
After a morning swim, we went to play tennis. The sun was shining and we were ready for a run-around. Again, I lost. But it was still lots of fun, even if I did pull a muscle in my neck towards the end; that's what I get for being so competitive.
We ended the afternoon with a long cycle, stopping beside the lake for a bit, before heading back to get ready for dinner.
For our final night, we went out to Huck's American Bar and Grill. Both Cameron and I love American food - mainly because most of it is smothered in cheese - but this meal was a little disappointing. It was nice, especially the veggie burger, but neither of us were that happy with our starters of veggie-loaded skins and burnt ends. Cameron went for the mac 'n' cheese as his main, which he said was nice but not the best. It was a shame as this was the restaurant that we were most excited to come to. If I came back, I would probably try a different restaurant here but would most likely go back to Las Iguanas.
On our final day, we woke up to a rainy Monday morning. We had to be out of our room by 10am as people staying Monday-Friday would start arriving that same day. We also had to return our bikes by 10am. Once we had done this, there wasn't much we wanted to do. It was too wet for a walk and we didn't want to go in the pool as it was very busy because of the weather. We hung around the main Village Square for a bit, then decided to head home before the new arrivals started coming in.
Overall, we had a fantastic trip. We got to relax, explore, swim, play sports, eat lots of good food. We would definitely book again in the future.
Have you ever been to Center Parcs? What was your favourite thing? What activities should I try if I go back?
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