Taking the smooth with the very smooth at Center Parcs

Five years ago if someone had told me that I’d be heading 20 minutes down the road to Ballymahon for a three-night family break that costs as much as a week in Lanzarote, I’d have told them that there was more chance of my native county, Leitrim, winning the Sam Maguire Cup.

However, that was before Center Parcs spent hundreds of millions of euro transforming a 400-acre forest in rural Longford into a state of the art holiday resort.

Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, since its opening in November 2019 the resort has firmly established itself as one of the most popular destinations in the country for families looking to get away from it all without the stresses of foreign travel.

Our trip to Center Parks Longford Forest (to give the place its full name) over the October bank holiday weekend was a case of third time lucky for my family. Our initial bookings for June and October 2020 coincided with the first two lockdowns, so it was with much trepidation that we watched the daily updates on Covid figures throughout October 2021.

Thankfully, for one of the first times since the start of the pandemic our worst fears weren’t realised when it came to lockdowns and on the Friday afternoon we packed up the car, hung the bike rack and made the gloriously short journey down the R392. It honestly took us longer to unload the car and get settled in our comfortable lodge.

The resort’s USP and I am sure most families’ reason for booking is the Subtropical Swimming Paradise. Heated to a balmy 29.5c all year round, it probably won’t win any sustainability awards, but it was undoubtedly the highlight for everyone in our extended group, which aside from my crew, included my three sisters-in-law and brother-in-law and my wife’s three nieces and nephew aged between four months and seven.

Without wanting this to read like a promotional feature – we all paid for our trips – much to my surprise the Subtropical Swimming Paradise and Center Parcs as a whole exceeded my expectations.

When it came to the swimming complex, there were something for everyone in the audience, so to speak. The youngest children in our group had plenty to occupy them in the two water play areas for little ones. The play areas provided plenty of thrills and stimulation for the four youngest in our group while still remaining extremely safe.

The play areas were a little “babyish”, according to the older children is our group – my eight-year-old daughter and her two cousins aged six and seven. The girls were more interested in the more high octane options that the Subtropical Swimming Paradise offers guests, such as the wave pool and especially the Typhoon and Tropical Cyclone water rides.

For us adults, the hot whirlpool was a popular draw when you got five-child free minutes to yourself, but the big winner was the heated outdoor pool. The contrast between the outside air temperature and the heated water was glorious and the perfect place to recharge our Covid weary minds.

Because of Covid restrictions, when we visited guests had to book two-hour slots for the Subtropical Swimming Paradise. We were initially told that we could book two slots during our stay, but were informed on the day we were travelling there that we could book a third slot.

While the kids would have liked to stay for longer, two hours was enough as it’s thirsty and hungry work playing in the pools and hurtling down water rides.

There is an extensive list of indoor and outdoor activities that guests can avail of at an additional cost and which book out quickly online. When we went online to look at the options, most were booked out. In the end, we booked the three girls in our group in for a nature trail walk, which they missed due to some mix up, and we got refunded, while my four-year-old twin sons had a good time driving miniature 4x4 Land Rovers around a gravel track for half an hour.

Perhaps because they are still very young, the kids were happy hanging out, going for walks in the forest and trying to spot the resort’s seemingly quite large deer and red squirrel populations, and, when the weather gods allowed it, playing in the two big playgrounds in the central hub or “village”.

Happy children equals happy parents and the adults in our group were delighted to be able to get away for a few days and unwind with family after what has been a fairly stressful few years for everyone.

We had been advised by friends that the bars and restaurants were only fair to middling and the prices steep enough for the standard of fare on offer, so we decided that we would do most of our eating and drinking in our comfortable, open-plan chalets.

One morning, though, we took the kids to the Pancake House, where they ordered the ‘Ultimate Chocolate Waffles’. They didn’t each much of their waffles but they devoured the very generous amount of ice cream and toppings that came with them.

I went down the savoury route and got an ‘All Day Breakfast’ pancake, which was a pancake filled with bacon, egg, sausage and mushrooms. Sadly, it didn’t taste any better than it looked, and was definitely one of the more memorable dishes I ate out in 2021, but for the wrong reasons.

Thanks to my sisters-in-law Aisling and Ruth, who kindly offered to mind their nieces and nephews, on our second evening the parents in our group got to go out for a meal in what we’d been told was the best restaurant in the resort, the Rajinda Pradesh Indian restaurant.

We weren’t disappointed. While I am no expert when it comes to Indian cuisine and wouldn’t dare offer a judgement on the authenticity of the dishes, I do know that all of our starters and mains were tasty, our plates were empty at the end of our meal and everyone went home happy after a few children-free hours.

The quality of the customer service that we encountered at the restaurant and everywhere else in the resort was top quality and a standout feature of our trip. The mostly young staff always greeted you with a smile and managed to accommodate all of our requests, from asking for a bag of ice to take back to our lodge with us from the Indian restaurant to fitting us in for a fourth slot at the Subtropical Swimming Paradise on the morning we were leaving.

Credit where credit is due.

One of people’s main gripes with Center Parcs is that they feel it is a bit on the pricey side. We paid €1,200 for our three nights during the midterm break, which undoubtedly is far from cheap.

However, family rooms in any half decent hotel will also set you back quite a bit. When we did the calculations afterwards, because we cooked in our lodges most of the time and did not have a lot of add-ons in terms of activities, it worked out around the same as if we had gone away for a three-day break in Kerry or Wexford.

While there is a large and reasonably well stocked supermarket on site, one way to keep costs down is by bringing all of the day to day items you’ll need, from salt and pepper to toiletries.

We quickly ran out of the few toilet rolls our lodge had been supplied with and had to pay a visit to the supermarket. Our only option was to pay €4.50 for a four-pack of luxuriously quilted rolls. It stuck in my craw having to pay such a high price for an essential, but sometimes you have to take the very smooth with the smooth, I suppose.

It undoubtedly felt a bit odd packing up the car to go a few miles down the road for a break, but despite the costs, Center Parcs has enough to offer to ensure that we will make a return visit in a couple of years.

Because it is a self contained mini-universe – none of our party left the grounds during our visit – you completely forget that you are minutes’ away from home.

We will just have to remember to bring plenty of toilet roll with us next time!