Tweet09-01-2012 om 09:59 by Leslie Sherriff

If the kids are happy…

Before moving to the Netherlands, I had never heard of CenterParcs or other, similar family vacation spots.  I like to travel and most enjoy straying off the beaten track to find that wonderful restaurant or park mostly frequented by the local population.  My husband and I truly enjoy eating at good restaurants, which is one of the reasons we like Maastricht so much – such good food!  However, since the birth of our son, Ian, three and a half years ago, the whole concept of travel has changed for us.  For example, I still haven’t figured out how families manage to travel and stay in a hotel.  Does everyone go to bed at 7:30 with the youngest child? How on earth does a family actually enjoy eating out in a restaurant with a toddler?

Thus, I had been intrigued by the CenterParks concept since moving to the Netherlands and learning what other families with children do for weekend breaks. In November, when some Dutch friends of ours suggested trying the Landal De Lommerbergen park, I jumped at the chance to try it out.

For those readers new to the concept, most of this type of family vacation park reserve lodging for either weekends (Friday – Monday) or mid-week (Monday – Thursday), or longer. We arranged with our friends for a weekend visit, arriving Friday afternoon and leaving Sunday (foregoing the Sunday night so that the kids could get back to school).  We arrived on Friday afternoon to chaos in the reception area.  My heart sank as I heard the screams of bored kids and found that I was number 44… next up being 20!  But, as I was soon to learn, the place was set up to handle this sort of crowd and I only had to wait about 15 minutes to check-in, a process that took all of a minute. I got the keys and off we went to our bungalow.



The bungalow was much, much nicer and bigger than I expected.  It had four bedrooms, two per family, two full baths, a fully functional kitchen and a nice living/dining area, complete with a fireplace.  I wouldn’t call it luxury by any means, but it was clean and comfortable.  But, by far the best part of the park was the kid-friendly amenities filled with staff ready to help us.  There were four different pools available for adults and kids complete with slides, climbing toys and a wave machine.  The central facility included several child-friendly café/restaurants, an indoor playground, and a well-stocked supermarket.  Ian most enjoyed the outdoor playground with its numerous climbing frames, ropes, swings, etc.  If the weather had been better, I’m sure we would have spent much more time exploring the other outdoor activities on offer.

All in all, it was a fantastic arrangement.  The children were all happy doing their favorite things while we were able to enjoy the company of our friends, especially after the kids went to sleep, exhausted at the end of a happy day. I’m now a firm believer in the saying that if the kids are happy, the adults are too.

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