Center Parcs facts for kids

An original Center Parcs Cottage (called 'Lodges' in UK resorts) It was designed by the Dutch architect Jaap Bakema.

Dutch Center Parcs entrance (at De Eemhof).

Lake at Het Heijderbos

Center Parcs is a group of holiday villages in Europe that was founded in the Netherlands in 1968. It is now two different companies: Center Parcs Europe (CPE), which is run by Pierre & Vacances on mainland European sites owned by Blackstone Group and Center Parcs UK which runs holiday villages in Great Britain and Ireland and is owned by the Brookfield Properties Corporation.

History

A Dutch businessman, Piet Derksen, started a sport items shop in 1953 at Lijnbaan, Rotterdam. Its name was 'Sporthuis Centrum', which means 'Sport House Centre'. It succeeded and Derksen made 17 more shops in the Netherlands. He then added things used for camping to the range.

In 1968, Derksen bought some woodland near Reuver so that his staff and customers could relax in small tents. The park, De Lommerbergen, worked well so the tents were replaced with bungalows. In 1987, Center Parcs opened its first UK resort at Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire. The brewer Scottish and Newcastle liked the idea - they would buy Center Parcs UK.

Center Parcs UK

In 2001, Scottish and Newcastle sold the Center Parcs UK to venture capitalists Mid Ocean. In December 2003 they sold the UK resorts to Arbor for £285 million. After it was put on the London Stock Exchange in May 2006, Center Parcs UK Group PLC was sold to Blackstone Group. It was changed into a private company. The chief executive Martin Dalby said that the company might make a fifth village. In 2004 it the company said it would be built near Woburn in Bedfordshire. They were not allowed to build it, but later they were allowed to.

Center Parcs in Whinfell Forest was built and run by the Rank Organisation, the only people who had the same service as Center Parcs in the UK. After a few years it was sold to Center Parcs. Whinfell Forest is not built in the same way as other Center Parcs places there are some design differences including the exterior look of the lodges and the Subtropical Swimming Paradise (which is the pools complex) which has been likened to a butterfly shape.

Break prices include accommodation, unlimited use of the Subtropical Swimming Paradise and playgrounds. Meals, bike hire and activities are additional costs.

Republic of Ireland

In July 2016, Center Parcs was allowed by An Bord Pleanála (the Irish group which decides who can build things) to build the first Center Parcs in Ireland. The 395-acre resort will be built in Newcastle Wood, a forest near Ballymahon, County Longford. This is in the Republic of Ireland. The resort will be called 'Longford Forest' and will open in the summer of 2019.

Center Parcs Europe

In 2003, Scottish & Newcastle sold the sites on the main part of Europe to Pierre & Vacances (P&V) and DBCP, a German investment group. This was called Center Parcs Europe (CPE). P&V owned a big bungalow-holiday-maker, Gran Dorado Resorts, a Dutch company.

CPE was in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch government did not like the idea of combining Gran Dorado and Center Parcs, because it would be too big. After agreeing to get rid of some beds, CPE sold all but six Gran Dorado Resorts to Landal GreenParks. Six parks were added to CenterParcs: Loohorst (NL), Port Zelande (NL), Zandvoort (NL), Weerterbergen (NL), Hochsauerland (D) and Heilbachsee (D).

In 2006, after the Blackstone Group bought Center Parcs UK plc, Pierre & Vacances said they would sell all of the CPE sites, if they could still run them. In January 2009, Sunparks was made as well as a Center Parcs in Europe, as a version which did not cost as much.

Operations and facilities

There are now 26 resorts in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany and the UK. None of the villages are the same. Visitors stay in lodges or bungalows, with trees and bushes around them. Park Zandvoort is different - it is in sand dunes. Some resorts have hotel rooms. The first village had swimming pool, shops and restaurants. A dome was made in 1980. It is called Subtropical Swimming Paradise in the UK. It has a swimming pool in it and other water play areas and pools. It is called 'Aqua Mundo' in Europe. Visitors can do lots of things, like go to restaurants, do activities, visit the spas, and go cycling.

All places

Center Parcs UK and Center Parcs Europe has of 26 resorts and 4 Sunparks. There are six new parks being made.

Country	Name	City / Village	Region/County	Year opened	Bought by Center Parcs	More information
Netherlands	Het Meerdal	America	Limburg	1971	-
Netherlands	De Huttenheugte	Dalen	Drenthe	1972	-
Netherlands	De Eemhof	Zeewolde	Flevoland	1980	-	This was the first Center Parcs with an indoor pool. It was closed in May 2000 because a fire destroyed the plaza and pool. It was built again in March 2002.
Netherlands	De Kempervennen	Westerhoven	North Brabant	1983	-
Netherlands	Het Heijderbos	Heijen	Limburg	1986	-
Netherlands	Port Zélande	Ouddorp	South Holland	1990	2002
Netherlands	Limburgse Peel	America	Limburg	1980	2002	Used to be called Sunparks Limburgse Peel
Netherlands	Zandvoort	Zandvoort	North Holland	1989	2002	Used to be called Sunparks Zandvoort aan Zee
Netherlands	Sandur	Emmen	Drenthe	1999	2011	Taken over from Landal Greenparks; used to be called Sunparks Sandur Drenthe
Belgium	Erperheide	Peer	Limburg	1981	-
Belgium	De Vossemeren	Lommel	Limburg	1987	-
Germany	Eifel	Gunderath	Rhineland-Palatinate	1979	2002	Used to be called Sunparks Eifel
Germany	Nordseeküste	Tossens	Lower Saxony	1992	2002	Used to be called Sunparks Nordseeküste
Germany	Park Hochsauerland	Medebach	North Rhine-Westphalia	1994	2002
Germany	Bispinger Heide	Bispingen	Lower Saxony	1995	-
Germany	Bostalsee	Nohfelden	Saarland	2013	-
France	Les Bois-Francs	Verneuil-sur-Avre	Upper Normandy	1988	-
France	Les Hauts de Bruyères	Chaumont-sur-Tharonne	Centre-Val de Loire	1993	-
France	Le Lac d'Ailette	Chamouille	Picardy	2007	-
France	Les Trois Forêts	Hattigny	Lorraine	2010	-
France	Bois aux daims	Les Trois-Moutiers, Morton	Nouvelle-Aquitaine	2015	-
United Kingdom	Sherwood Forest	Rufford (near Mansfield)	Nottinghamshire	1987	-
United Kingdom	Elveden Forest	Elveden	Suffolk	1989	-	It was shut in April 2002 because a fire destroyed the plaza. The pool was not damaged. It was opened again in July 2003 after the Village Square was built again
United Kingdom	Longleat Forest	Warminster	Wiltshire	1994	-
United Kingdom	Whinfell Forest	Penrith	Cumbria	1997	2002	Used to be called Oasis, bought from Rank Organisation
United Kingdom	Woburn Forest	Millbrook	Bedfordshire	2014	-
Parks called Sunparks
Belgium	Sunparks Oostduinkerke	Oostduinkerke	West Flanders	1981	2007
Belgium	De Haan	De Haan	West Flanders	1989	2007
Belgium	Sunparks Ardennen	Vielsalm	Luxembourg	1992	2007	Used to be called Sunparks Vielsalm
Belgium	Sunparks Kempense Meren	Mol	Antwerpen	1994	2007
Parks being made
Germany	Allgäu	Leutkirch	Baden Württemberg	2018	-
France	La Forêt de Chambaran	Roybon	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	2017	-
France	Forêt du Rousset	Le Rousset	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté	2019	-
France	Forêt de Poligny	Poligny	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté	2019	-
France	Domaine du Papetier	Pindères, Beauziac	Nouvelle Aquitaine	2019	-
Ireland	Longford Forest	Ballymahon	Longford	2019	-

Three Center Parcs sites were sold because they could not be made bigger. They are now part of Landal Greenparks. They are still used:

Country	Name	City / Village	Region/County	Year opened	Year Sold
Netherlands	De Lommerbergen	Reuver	Limburg	1968	1996
Netherlands	Het Vennenbos	Hapert	North Brabant	1970	1994
Netherlands	De Berkenhorst	Kootwijk	Gelderland	1975	1990

Name differences

These things have different names in Europe and the UK:

A Woodland Lodge at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest (Nottinghamshire, UK) in 2018