Arrival and Lodgings

Arrival was smooth and straightforward. We waited around 10 minutes to check in, which felt efficient given the volume of guests arriving. The car park was well laid out, with plenty of spaces available and a good number of electric car chargers, which was reassuring to see.

The 3 bedroom Woodland Lodge was spacious and well designed, making it a comfortable base for our stay. The open plan living and dining area felt welcoming and both the sofa and dining table had seating for 6 people, while the large windows gave us a lovely view of the trees outside. The kitchen was equipped with all the basics we needed for cooking, though we did bring a few extras from home. Each bedroom was a good size, with comfortable beds and enough storage space for bags and clothes. The bathrooms were clean and modern, although the eco shower heads made for quite an unpleasant showering experience due to extremely low flow rate. Outside, the private patio area featured an outdoor table and seating for 6 people and a BBQ stand. This is a perfect space to relax and enjoy the woodland setting. Overall, it struck a good balance between practicality and comfort.

Maintenance/Privacy Issue

Upon arriving at our lodge, we were disappointed to find a letter informing us that our accommodation would need to be accessed at some point between 10am and 6pm for a couple of hours for essential maintenance to the TV and Wi-Fi. This struck us as completely unacceptable. Guests pay a premium for privacy and uninterrupted use of the facilities, and having tradespeople enter the lodge for a couple of hours during a booked stay undermines that. When we called guest services, we were told that as Center Parcs operates 365 days a year, maintenance sometimes needs to be carried out while guests are present. In our view, lodges should not be rented out if they require planned works, even if that means a temporary loss of revenue for the company. Customer services did listen and ultimately agreed to reschedule the works, but it left us feeling that another guest would simply be inconvenienced instead.

Subtropical Swimming Paradise

Upon entering the swimming pool, we discovered that the outdoor pool and rapids were closed for a majority of our stay, arguably the best feature of the complex. We had not been informed directly in advance. While we later found a discreet blog post on their website mentioning the closure, which was published only a week before our stay, there was no email or text notification. This lack of transparency is poor, especially as we had paid extra for flexible booking and could have changed our dates if we’d known. We did get to use the rapids on our last day when they reopened, however they were extremely busy as everybody wanted to have a go before their holiday finished.

That said, we did still enjoy our time at the pool, particularly during evening sessions. Despite the closures, the indoor lazy river, wave pool, and all slides remained open from 10am to 9pm. Queues were either short or non-existent, allowing us to try every slide daily without much waiting. The pool uses saltwater rather than chlorine, which was surprising at first but proved to be much gentler on skin, eyes, and hair. For refreshments, there’s a Starbucks and the Canopy Café inside the pool area. The café offered hearty fast food options like burgers, hot dogs, and chips, which were convenient and satisfying after a swim. The Starbucks in the pool seemed to be closed every time we visited.

Dining & Food Options

On the first morning, we visited the Pancake House. Service was quick, polite, and the restaurant wasn’t too crowded or noisy. Prices were in line with what you’d expect at Center Parcs, and the pancakes themselves were excellent. We tried the New Yorker stack and the strawberries and cream stack, both of which we’d happily recommend.

The Parc Market is located just outside The Plaza. It has a very similar offering to the Parc Market at the other Center Parcs locations. It’s effectively a rebadged co-op that offers nice co-op branded food. We manage to purchase everything we need for eating at the lodge most nights, without needing to bring too much food or go outside to a supermarket. The pricing is quite expensive, but this is to be expected. We tend to bring from what whatever we can, then use the Parc Market for fresh and frozen food for the convenience.

Activities & Facilities

Electric Boats

We booked a four-seater electric boat, which was good value and very enjoyable. Gliding across the lake for 30 minutes gave us a chance to take in the scenery and watch the ducks. The lake is smaller than the one at Sherwood Forest but was just enough to not be too congested with all of the other people doing their water sports activities. The water quality of the lake was very poor, although we had seen signs around the lake stating that recent weather had impacted the lake water quality and steps were being taken to improve the water quality.

Puttify

Puttify was a really fun activity. Reasonably priced too. The 9 interactive holes were creative, engaging, and kept us well entertained from start to finish. It’s perfect for both kids and adults, and added something a bit different compared to traditional mini golf.

Bowling

We booked a 45-minute bowling session at the Sports Café. There are actually two bowling locations at Woburn Forest. One inside the Sports Café and another in the main Leisure Bowl centre. The Sports Café bowling area is smaller, with just a few lanes. It was quiet during our booking, and we ended up being the only group playing, which made it feel relaxed and private. The lanes were well maintained with the choice of having bumpers up or down. A variety of size and weight balls are available. The overall atmosphere was casual and family-friendly, with food and drinks available to order directly from the café while you play.

Wildlife

The wildlife at Center Parcs is always one of the highlights of our trips, and Woburn Forest didn’t disappoint. During our stay, we spotted muntjac deer, squirrels, pheasants, hedgehogs, and a variety of ducks and swans, and likely more we didn’t catch sight of. Compared to Sherwood Forest, the overall wildlife population at Woburn felt smaller, but it offered different encounters. Sherwood has a noticeably larger squirrel population and plenty of Greylag and Canadian geese, while Woburn had no geese at all. We also only saw two swans on the lake at Woburn, whereas Sherwood tends to have several. That said, Woburn makes up for its smaller numbers with the presence of deer, which Sherwood lacks. One of our favourite surprises was seeing hedgehogs visiting the patio of our lodge in the evenings which is something we’ve never experienced at Sherwood. We also noticed that the wildlife at Woburn seemed a little more cautious and wary of people compared to Sherwood, which may be because Woburn is a newer site. Over time, it’s likely that the animals will become more accustomed to visitors and a little more confident around humans as the forest continues to mature.

Accessibility, Terrain and Layout

One thing to be aware of is that Woburn Forest is quite hilly. Some paths have steep gradients, and there are areas such as the Plaza with a fair number of stairs. While most facilities are accessible and mobility-friendly, guests using manual wheelchairs may find the gradients challenging in places. Of all the villages we’ve visited, Woburn is easily the hilliest.

The layout of Woburn Forest differs slightly from other villages, with the Plaza and Village Square separated by a walk of around eight minutes. While this means facilities are a little more spread out compared to Sherwood, the site overall is smaller and more modern. Being the newest Center Parcs village, everything feels fresh and well maintained, from the lodges to the pool and restaurants. Staying here really highlights how much Sherwood and Elveden are now in need of refurbishment to bring them up to the same standard.

Final Thoughts

Despite some frustrations, particularly the poorly handled maintenance issue and the closure of the outdoor pool and rapids, we still enjoyed our stay overall. The lodges and facilities are modern, the pool (when fully open) is excellent, and the site feels fresh compared to older villages. With better communication from Center Parcs and more consideration for guest privacy and providing all facilities that were paid for and expected, Woburn could easily have been a 5-star experience.