Erperheide CentreParcs in Belgium via Brugge next week

Questions, tips & observations about taking your Bongo over the water.

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cookan
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Location: Elstead, Surrey

Erperheide CentreParcs in Belgium via Brugge next week

Post by cookan » Sun Mar 15, 2015 4:05 pm

Hi Guys,
someone tipped us off about european CentreParcs being so much cheaper (albeit not as plush maybe) so we booked a half term week at Erperheide for £400 which seems like a worthwhile punt !

We're leaving a day earlier than we need so we thought we'd split the journey and likely candidate is Brugge...noticed there's what looks like fairly large Aire just outside Brugge at 15 EUR a night and I expect it'll be pretty quiet this time of year also...

anyone with experience stopping around Brugge....anyone got any alternative/better ideas for a stopover on the way or any tips for Erperheide, things to do around the area ?

also looking forward to an earlier in the year restock of vino on the way back....should ease the pain of a major restock in the summer after a month long free camping on the Atlantic coast with the kids (and the long last minute belt up the motorways to get back to the tunnel) too !


Ant.
1995 M reg 2WD AFT in green/grey (and an Oakley Thermonuclear Protection decal for some reason!)
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matt drastik
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Re: Erperheide CentreParcs in Belgium via Brugge next week

Post by matt drastik » Sun May 31, 2015 6:18 pm

So how was the trip Ant?

Be interested in how you found it?

cheers
Matt
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cookan
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Joined: Tue May 08, 2012 9:41 am
Location: Elstead, Surrey

Re: Erperheide CentreParcs in Belgium via Brugge next week

Post by cookan » Sun May 31, 2015 9:28 pm

Hi,
Erperheide was excellent. We haven't been to a centreparcs for about 8 or so years (when we only had 1 kid..and that didn't do much in terms of big ticket experiences) but my recollection of what the UK centreparcs we went to was like wasn't any different to what we found at Erperheide. Villas were clean but not 'deeply' clean...but we weren't expecting a hotel..they were spacious enough for us 5 and well equipped (no Oven)...exactly the same layout as british centreparcs with the same private patio area..

Pool area was great for us..an outdoor rapids, indoor circular 'rapid', wave pool, a set of rock pools with varying temperatures and a couple of jacuzzi pools, 2 great water slides, and outdoor snorkelling pool with rocky sides and fish tanks set into the walls, and another outdoor pool with a freezing plunge pool as well as an outdoor jacuzzi....although we went in our easter half term on a Friday-Friday the pools were only very slightly busy on the Thursday...the rest of the time it was very quiet...Out son did manage to split his chin open on Day 1 on the outdoor rapids by going down head first and rubbing his chin on the base...so beware if you have kids ! especially as we ended up needing to drive to the nearest GP where we met another family coming out having done exaclty the same thing...that put a stop to any water activities until about wednesday for him.

We also did the climbing, high ropes and helped them test out the zipwire which they'd opened just for training the staff prior to the main opening in the summer which was great. The 'Big Swing' was also excellent...

Other things there were a little farm and some morning craft activities which our two youngest did...Laser Tag, which I did with the eldest..which was also excellent fun.


The instructors there were also very relaxed about things, throwing in some extra time on Laser Tag for a play-off as well as giving us extra goes/time etc on the climbing activities..all made the experience much friendlier.

Food wise, we found the restaurants pretty good and not overly expensive...

We also took a days skiing at the local real snow indoor slope. Having not skied since I was 10 and the rest of the family being new to it we took a 1 hour lesson and bought a day pass...it was all a bit confusing which I'll explain to anyone who's interested, but suffice to say we had a great day skiiing on an empty ski slope for the most part for a fraction of the cost in the UK...


Worked out well for us...we stopped in Brugge at an Aire on the river, walked into town for the friday morning to explore then checked in at Erperheide that afternoon. On the way back we filled up the bongo at City Europe and tried our luck getting on an earlier tunnel crossing which paid off so we got home that evening (albeit late) rather than the next day...

There's also a local Lidl to stock up at...we managed to pick up a huge bag of tiger prawns for about 10 EUR and BBQ'd them on the patio...

if anyone's got any specific questions..happy to answer (if I can remember!)...we'll definitely do that again...

thanks,
Ant.
1995 M reg 2WD AFT in green/grey (and an Oakley Thermonuclear Protection decal for some reason!)
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