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Sherwood Forest Holiday Village, Rufford NG22 9DN England
Center Parcs Sherwood Forest
15,061 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
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Center Parcs Sherwood Forest receives mixed reviews, with many visitors charmed by its festive atmosphere and picturesque setting amidst natural beauty. Guests appreciate the friendly service and a range of amenities, including a well-equipped swimming pool. However, some guests call out the lodges for being dated and not adequately soundproofed, leading to noise disruptions.
While the array of activities is a plus, reviewers warn of high costs, with several noting the value for money could be better. Cleanliness levels also seem inconsistent, according to guest feedback.
Location
Picturesque
Atmosphere
Magical
Rooms
Dated
Value
Expensive
Cleanliness
Mixed
Noise level
Noisy
Service
Attentive
Amenities
Well-appointed
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Upon our arrival we was happily greeted, our lodge was easy enough to find and on first appearance it looked nice and tidy and well presented. However for a 2 bedroom new style lodge it was a little on the small side and we was unsure about what made it "new style" but suited our little family of 3. Cots and highchair are provided you do need to bring your own cot sheets for your little ones. On the second day we started to notices just how unclean the lodge was, not wanting to cause a fuss I happily wiped a few things down, after staying in a few centre parks locations I was a little disappointed as it seams the standards has slipped in terms of cleaning (under the sofas) (windows and glass doors) even gardens looking very unloved. On the 3rd day of our stay we found am item belonging to people who stayed before us in the sofa which we handed in as I'm sure the item would be missed by its owners. The lodge was well equipped even with a tea towel, cloth, sponge and a little packet of washing up liquid and 3 dishwasher tablets which didnt match the 4 nights we stayed so I ended up washing up on the last night (ild never leave the lodge messy with things not washed up). The swimming pool changing rooms are having some work done on them and what a nightmare is was on tuesday but on thursday there was a staff member permanently helping them to run smoothly so it was much quicker getting in and out of the pool. The park market offers a wide range of food and essentials however it can be pricey if you havnt took any food with you and your just using that shop. The pancake house was very fast when we ordered our food even though the restaurant was full and very busy. Very tasty as always and our little one loved the food too. Also a beautiful view of the lake whilst you eat. On the last evening we used the dine in service, it was excellent. Delivered on time, food was piping hot and tasted very nice. We all enjoyed it. Overall our stay was lovely as if your staying at centre parcs you make your stay how you want it. We had well earned family time.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
6 of us stayed in an executive lodge. The lodge was ok but looked tired. Whilst the bedrooms were fairly spacious and confirtable the living area was far too small for 6 people, for instance when 1 person was in the kitchen there was no room for anyone else to be in there and do anything. We have been a number of times and take our own food, 1 because we find it more relaxing and 2 because the 1st time we went we found the food eating out to be poor quality and very overpriced. Whilst the kitchen was well equipped there was no where to store your food and a very small under the counter fridge. We used the boiler room in the end as storage for food. Our type of lodge had a sauna but it would only accommodate 4 people and we are not large people. Also toilet roll we had to ask every day only very few and small rolls provided - for how much centre parcs cost surely enough should be provided without needing to ask. The swimming pool we also felt needed some attention, whilst refurbishment is being undertaken in the changing rooms and new slides cleaniless was a problem and grouting was dirty. We did hydrobiking which we really enjoyed however this was 9am till 9.45 we were then not allowed in the pool until 10am whilst we able to sit on chairs in your swimwear can be a little cold, seemed a bit daft getting changed and coming back later when we had already been in the pool. Also the new slides didnt open till 11am can't understand why really when everything else opened at 10am i can imagine during busy times this would cause uneecessary queues. We really enjoy centre parcs find in very relaxing and have been a number of times. sherwood is nice big and spacious but can't help feeling that money is being spent on new types of lodges and facilities but what is already is there is not being maintained. cleaniless in public areas and toilets could be alot better and why the bar staff felt it was necessary to use nearly a whole blue roll to clean up a small spillage on the floor- what a waste!!We wpuld like to return but think we would go to Woburn a newer parc and feel better value for money.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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We have previously stayer here a few times about 18 years ago and loved it. We returned for a family retirement party in Feb 2020. Although we enjoyed the stayed it is nowhere as good as was previously. There appears to be more lodges but not much infrastructure added so you have to book well in advance anything you want to do. The place is looking a bit scruffy, litter left and no policing the car park policy. You are meant to load/unload and go back to the main carpark but no one seems bothered. The lodge was clean but of the two toilets one had a seat which made you seasick and the other needed 10 flushes to clean up the debris. For £600 for 3 night I would have thought you could leave us some dishwasher tablets and toilet roll to last longer than 5 minutes. The safe was locked shut and 4 lightbulbs were out. Yes we could have got these fixed but we are only here for 3 nights, these should be picked up at the cleaning stage. We like to play table tennis and at £16 for an hour felt a bit ripped off. The place you play isn't that great anyway with kids and people walking behind you when taking a shot. Didn't try the pool but it always looked packed. Overall we enjoyed it but it has lost some magic due to the crowds. Food wise take what you can, the market did seem overpriced but was well stocked.
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Date of stay: February 2020
Value
Rooms
Service
Room Tip:Its extra to book a specific lodge, we went with pot luck.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
As a visitor to centre parcs yearly for the last 10 years this year was so disappointing. It seems they have a lack of care,responsibility and customer service. You are no longer a guest you are just a number nobody cares about. While the new children's pool is great my kids loved it be careful you don't come across something that shouldn't be in there. The pool itself has gone down hill it's dirty and cold. The changing rooms are currently under going a refurb but unless you research you wouldn't have been told, certainly doesn't reflect on the price. We waited 25 mins to get changed and people barging past and in front of you, it's not the best. You villa may also have recently been painted like ours was, the fumes were so strong we had to sit and freeze with all doors and wi doors open, certainly not what we went away for. Lastly you deal with customer service regarding this they offer you day passes (worth over £100) but when you explain this is not good enough they offer you £35 of your next booking........ No thanks how does over a £100 then equate to £35. When you explain this is not good enough they then just go on to ignore you.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Sharon_Center_Parcs, Guest Services Executive at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest
Responded 24 Jan 2020
I'm sorry that you remain disappointed and feel we’ve ignored your concerns. However, we have addressed the issues raised in your correspondence and there is nothing further we can add. Kind regards Sharon
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Absolutely loved having Friday to Monday here and so did our 2 year old. A lodge in the woods was the perfect setting for us, waking up to the geese coming to our door / window entertained our toddler daily and squirrels in the back garden too! It was nice to be able to have several walks a day through the forest spotting wildlife and the lodge itself seemed to have everything we needed- the coffee machine was a great touch, sauna, driers in each room and a fully stocked kitchen (enough to cook our roast dinner on Sunday). The only flaw was that our dishwasher wasn't very good so we ended up hand washing after it didn't clean pots well, which we can live with! The village was lovely. I love that it has a supermarket and a little river running through with ducks and fish. We visited the subtropical swimming pool every day for around 2 hours and it was so much fun, our boy gained lots of confidence swimming and there were copious amounts of slides for all ages. It was also great that there were buoyancy aids for free for the less confidence swimmers. Great idea having starbucks and a bar in there too although a charge card idea would have been better as opposed to having to go back to lockers to get cash then back again to put wallet back etc when getting a drink in there. There were several shops, I visited a home store which I loved, and the sports shops were great too as well as a yummy treat shop! Slightly overpriced but as it was a treat we only got something little, once. Restaurants were one of my peeves to be honest; I really was bothered by how much it cost us to eat out in comparison to the quality of food we received. A standard burger van burger for £12 in Hucks (i was exoecting a flame grilled American meat place) and the sort of chopped and shaped basic chicken nuggets (again for £9 a kids meal if have expected proper chicken goujons). Dexter kitchen, same, a chicken burger for £12 ended up being just a small chicken fillet in a breadbun like a chicken sandwich really. The breakfast we had at the Forrester was actually really nice, but again, sausage bacon beans etc on a plate can only be so good so is never going to be worth over £12! So learning from this, we would not eat out next time. But we would for sure be visiting again because all staff were lovely, the park is wonderful and it's lovely to be at one with nature. I'd rather spend that extra money on activities for the children next time, as he was too young to participate in most th is time. Having said that we had a packed schedule and most was free for our little one I.e. swimming, parks and soft play. The only activity we paid for was bowling split with another family so that wasn't too bad and was great fun !
All in all, great experience- come with extra cash to spend in shops/ restaurants if you need but if you really wanted to be tight you could get away with not spending anything ! We did a Tesco shop and brought it with us to cover 2 nights meals, snacks, lunch, drinks and breakfast and were so glad we did.
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Date of stay: March 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We visited Sherwood with family during the recent half term. We booked a basic four bedroom Villa (741) which was cleaned to n exceptional standard on arrival, and contained everything we needed for our stay. The Park was very busy, but saying that, it did not stop us using any of the facilities. HOWEVER, the pool area was absolutely jam packed every day we were there. Kids still enjoyed the experience, but seating was always a problem for the adults.
We ate in several of the on site restaurants, and although expensive when there are 7 of you, we found the food acceptable, and the staff always polite and helpful.
We have been to Sherwood several times now (as well as other Center Parc venues) and all in al, we always enjoy our family time together in any of the Parcs.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: February 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Always book the best lodge you can afford, it does make a difference
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I am writing as I wanted to share the disappointment we had this weekend with our accommodation & pool facilities. I had sent an email to customer services but I have received absolutely no acknowledgement of my email reply.
Firstly, the lodge that we paid extra for (in order to be closer to the village) was in need of some serious TLC. The toilet flush button had the chrome nearly all chipped off, the skirting boards were thick with dust & there were questionable water marks around the bottom of the shower room toilet & bathroom sink wall & on to the floor. There was some sort of mould/muck on the vent in the twin bedroom of our villa. There were also lots of scuff marks/spill marks on the walls of the double bed room. I don’t expect accommodation to be in this state when paying to stay at Center Parcs (I have been coming to Center Parcs for over 26 years). Only after unloading our suitcases & luggage we saw all of this. We did discuss calling guest services and request a move however my sister is now 33 weeks pregnant and did not want to go through the rigmarole of packing everything up and moving again. I wanted to draw this villa (38) to your attention as we believe this needs work doing to it. We have been really looking forward to this trip & were really disappointed in the villa.
Secondly, the changing facilities in the subtropical swimming paradise was absolute chaos. I have seen on comments on trip advisor that apparently there were meant to be staff directing people in to changing rooms. This was not the case at all on each attempt/visit. On our first attempt we found that we were queuing for a long time and were unable to get a changing room & so we bailed on swimming. On the second instance we wore our swimming gear under our clothes and got changed in the area outside the lockers. Which in all honesty was undignified and awkward. After our swim we spent over 15 minutes standing with my cold soggy heavily pregnant sister praying to get a cubical to change in with her partner. Myself and my partner had to wait a lot longer than this. We went again today & it was once again chaos and we had to abandon our mission to go swimming because it was too stressful. I understand it must be difficult to under go large renovations whilst the swimming facilities are open however this could have been organised a lot better & could have caused a lot less stress and upset. We were not informed at all that these renovations were going to take place during our stay. Had we have known, we would have gone a later in the year.
After our defeat in the changing rooms I felt too drained to then queue up in Guest Services & make a complaint.
The food was nice, the activities were good we did have a nice time but it was spoilt by the accommodation and the organisation of the changing room refurbishment.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We’ve been frequent visitors to Centre Parcs since the 1980’s.
Over 30 years with two generations of kids.
I know all the complaints about how expensive it is but have always balanced it up against the positives of the holiday.
We’ve just got back from our latest holiday today.
It’s difficult to explain to the kids why they can’t go to bed yet because the builders haven’t cleared away after themselves.
Or why we can’t empty the baths and sinks because the plugs seem a little cheap and nasty and don’t work all the time.
It’s difficult to explain also why we are having to carry them up and down dangerously slippy and steep stairs to try and find any sort of changing room for the pool.
It’s also difficult to explain why grown ups are threatening to get changed in public because of the lack of changing rooms.
Or why when you strike lucky and get one of the few family changing rooms you have to stand on the bench because the floor is filthy.
Or why fully dressed people are wandering around the wrong side of the changing rooms with no CP staff to guide them.
Or why when you strike lucky for the second time and get a family changing room again that there were then actually no lockers available in the area and people were just leaving their belongings piled on top of the lockers.
Or when you came out after the same problems with changing rooms you found it difficult to find your way out and there was inadequate directional signs or staff to help.
It’s difficult to explain to the kids how vulnerable you would be in the case of an emergency evacuation given the above problems with exiting.
Finally it’s difficult to explain that people seemed to be being told there was a queue to enter the pool at lunchtime today, did I really see that?
Finally it’s difficult to explain how it was impossible to find a table to eat at any of the bars and restaurants on site at lunchtime today. I know it’s changeover day but that happens twice a week so it shouldn’t be a surprise.
We went home and spent our money with someone who seemed to care more for their customer than eaking out the maximum profit from the site through having more guests than the facility can cope with and trying to upgrade the changing rooms on the run rather than closing down and doing the changeover professionally.
It won’t be difficult to explain why we holiday elsewhere next year.
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Date of stay: February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Sharon_Center_Parcs, Guest Services Executive at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest
Responded 19 Feb 2020
As a regular visitor, I’m sure you will agree the changing rooms were in need of refurbishment. I am however sorry for the inconvenience caused by the temporary situation. Whilst we had thought the temporary changing facilities were sufficient to meet with guests demand, we do appreciate this has not worked as planned and we’ve already made a number of changes to rectify the issues raised. I do hope that base on your previous visits, we will get the opportunity of welcoming you back again. Kind regards Sharon
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Have visited Sherwood Forest a number of times and after this visit have decided we won’t be returning. The accommodation is definitely in need of refurbishment. There was a large patch of mould on the wall of the bedroom, a pile of dirt outside front door, dirty grout on bathroom tiles, smell of urine from bathroom, poor quality sheets and towels and lots of other niggles. We did report to customer service who did organise the mould to be cleaned but this shouldn’t have to be done if the lodges are cleaned properly in the first place. We also ate out for Sunday dinner and felt the quality of the food had gone downhill and certainly wasn’t value for money.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Sharon_Center_Parcs, Guest Services Executive at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest
Responded 27 Jan 2020
Please accept my apologies for your disappointing experience. Clearly this is not the experience we are wanting for our guests. I do hope that my colleagues were able to resolve everything to your full satisfaction, but if you wish to discuss things further then please get in touch via the ‘Contact Us’ section on our website. Kind regards Sharon
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Pros - Accomodation nice, Good kitchen faciltiies Hot tub + sauna good Clean Good bathrooms (we had 3 bathrooms, 2 had nice showers, 1 had a jucuzzi bath) Great swimming Good slides Play pens in small kids swimming area super handy Free to use life jackets for all ages Great for cycling Park felt very safe
Cons Poor directions throughout park Pine area is too far from village Unbelievable hassle with parking car (30 minutes walk back at 9pm in the dark without decent directions!) - need to introduce a minibus or something for the arrival day Unpractical for single parents because of the parking Bedding not provided for cots Activities over priced Not enough things for older and younger children to do together Changing rooms are awful at the pool Pool is defintiely not as warm as advertised! Kids area is so separate from main pool you cant see older children in the main pool, which means me and my partner had to separate looking after 1 child each
Overall Nice break. I would go again but would pay to be close to the village. We got last min £600 price, would not pay full price as the break is comes with far too much hassle for the £2000 pricetag. Not long enough either - 5 days is really only 3 days. You have to be out of accomodation by 10 am, which an very early start to get the car and drop bikes back etc. Check in is not until 3.
Tips. If you plan to cook your own food, get a tesco click and collect order for the day you go. So much cheaper than the supermarket. Plus you can only drive to your lodge once, so its much easier than doing shop whilst you are there.
Don't stay in pine with small children, its too far from the activities.
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Review collected in partnership with this hotel
Date of stay: February 2020
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:don't stay in pine with small children
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Rufford area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
center parcs sherwood forest hotel rufford, center nottingham parcs, centre parks nottingham
LOCATION
United KingdomEnglandNottinghamshireRufford
NUMBER OF ROOMS
7
Prices are provided by our partners for one room, with variable occupancy rules as provided by the property, and reflect nightly room rates, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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