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Travel: So Much on Menu at Leisure Complex

Posted on: Saturday, 9 April 2005, 15:00 CDT

THE New Year's Eve menu was superb.

Smoked venison with celeriac remoulade and spiced peach pears, fillet of beef wellington with wild mushrooms and port sauce, roast breast of pheasant on braised leeks wrapped in pancetta with juniper berry sauce.

These were just a few of the courses to choose from.

But we were not celebrating the start of 2005 in a pricey five- star hotel, but in La Sapiniere in the middle of Center Parcs in Longleat.

Now as a first time visitor to any Center Parcs complex I had a number of pre-conceived ideas - but most turned out to be wrong.

I had, for example, expected most restaurants to be fast food outlets. And while there is plenty of choice for people looking for hamburgers and chips there is - at the other end of the spectrum - La Sapiniere, offering fine dining.

In between there are a whole host of other eateries offering something for all tastes.

The premier restaurant is situated in a discreet corner of the 400 acre complex alongside the less formal but equally impressive Grand Cafe, and both are ideal if you prefer to eat in a quieter environment.

For your self-catering needs there is an excellent supermarket and despite the fact that youare a "captive audience" you will find prices very similar to home, so there is no need for a last minute big shop before leaving the Midlands.

Chatting to other guests about how impressed I was with the facilities on offer I found I was preaching to the converted.

So many people had been coming year after year. Many since childhood.

"My children prefer it to going on holiday to Spain," one satisfied dad told me.

"There is just so much here for them to do come rain or shine, and you don't have the hassle of airports."

And it's not hard to see the appeal. Take our accommodation, for example.

Our executive villa had three bedrooms - each with en-suite bathroom - ideally suited to our party of three married couples. Believe me it's not only children who can enjoy Center Parcs.

Each bedroom was tastefully decorated and came with its own television and radio alarmclock in addition to the TV and mini hi fi in the lounge.

The villa had its own private patio area that looked out onto woodland as well as its own private sauna.

And bearing in mind that this was the end of December-early January and temperatures were pretty low we could not have been more snug, thanks to superbly insulated timber clad buildings - which also eliminated any sounds from neighbouring villas.

Having unpacked your car andreturned it to the main car park you can either get around on foot or hire a bicycle from the 4,000 on site. These range from mountain bikes and tandems to cycles for tiny tots and bikes with enclosed "pods" on the back for toddlers.

Cycle paths through the woods make it hassle free and, if like me you haven't been on a bike since school, allow you to relive your childhood in safety.

If you really don't like bikes or if it is raining there is a land train circling the site every 20 minutes or so.

We found the only real problem with Center Parcs was deciding which of the many facilities on offer we wanted to try out, not all of them sporting. A two hour walk with one of the forest rangers, for example, let me into to some of the woodland secrets of the estate and revealed just how much work is being done there to protect the environment.

Thanks to careful planting and forestry there are something like 25 song thrushes in the woods as well as a good population of goldcrests to name but twospecies of birds thriving there. In many parts of the country song thrushes are dying out but the number of pairs in Center Parcs is growing.

In fact the resident bird population is so strong just the addition of the lesser spotted woodpecker would allow Center Parcs Longleat to be declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Larger animals in the forest include roe deer and badger, but you have to be lucky to see them. Down by the lake the giant sports dome offers youngsters and adults everything from fencing to soccer, squash to golf, T'ai Chi to yoga.

On the lake you can, as we did, take out a leisurely four man pedalo - only the two in the rear seats get pedals and surprisingly our wives sat in the front - or opt for a more energetic canoe or wind surfer. You can even go fishing.

In the separate subtropical swimming paradise known as the Plaza you can swim all day, both indoors and outdoors but equally you could sign up for everything from silk painting to creative writing. A week isdefinitely not enough. My advice is study the information before you arrive and book at least some activities in advance. You can always cancel two hours before hand if you have to.

And if you really want to relax book a spa sensation at Aqua Sana. Around pounds 23 buys you three hours of sampling everything from a Turkish Hammam to a Tyrolean Sauna - not to mention the ice room. Having shaved ice rubbed on my back certainly woke me up quickly.

But while Center Parcs is open all year round special celebration times are well worth considering because they do them so well.

The New Year's Eve fireworks display over the lake after the superb dinner at La Sapiniere is unforgettable whatever your age

FACTFILE

For a Center Parcs brochure call 08705 200 200 or to make a booking call 08705 200 300 or see the website www.centerparcs.co.uk

Source: Evening Mail; Birmingham (UK)

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