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Center Parcs is a holiday and recreation company which operates in the United Kingdom. It has a sister enterprise that operates in Europe.

The first Center Parcs holiday village in the United Kingdom opened along with its headquarters in 1987 in Sherwood Forest near Rufford, in Nottinghamshire. In 1989, Center Parcs opened its second village in Elveden Forest near Brandon, in Suffolk which was closed at the beginning of 2003 and reopened in the same year after a fire destroyed the central plaza of the holiday village. In 1994 Center Parcs opened its third village in Longleat Forest, near Warminster in Wiltshire. In 2001, Center Parcs took over a similar set up holiday park near Penrith at Whinfell Forest which originally opened in 1997.

The set up at Whinfell Forest is different. Firstly, the style of villas at the Whinfell Forest is different from those in the other villages, with Scandinavian style lodges. Whinfell Forest also lacks a country club; however so does Longleat. Additionally, the main center of the village is undercover, differing from the open-air village square at Sherwood. Longleat has a covered plaza (very similar, though slightly smaller than at Whinfell) and Elveden previously had a covered village centre before it was destroyed by fire in 2003.

• "Subtropical Swimming Paradise" - this features an indoor and outdoor pool, wild water rapids (except Whinfell which has a long slide called the "Grand Canyon" instead), a "lazy river" (except Sherwood), slides and flumes, a children's pool area, as well as a poolside food venue. Sherwood is also the only village that features the "Grand Cascade" raft ride.
• "Village Square" - usually contains hub of restaurants and facilities such as a launderette.
• "Village Centre" / "Plaza" / "Piazza" - covered hub contains restaurants and shops
  • Sherwood Forest features just a plaza and village squares north and south all nextdoor to each other.
  • Whinfell Forest features just a covered plaza and village centre
  • Elveden Forest features a Piazza that adjoins the village square
  • Longleat Forest features a separate village square and plaza
• "Jardin Des Sports" / "Sports Plaza" - Typically includes squash courts, badminton courts, pool and snooker tables, a sports cafe / themed restaurant, gymnasium, table football, golf simulator, aerobics studio, outside and covered tennis courts and a space for 5-a-side football.
• "Lakeside" - for all water-based activities such as canoeing, fishing or pedalos.
• "Aqua Sana" - for "pampering, relaxation, massage and therapy". Spa area includes various rooms such as "Indian Blossom Room", "Greek Herbal Room", "Tyrolean Sauna", "Zen Garden" - as well as a central pool with jacuzzi-style area at one end.
• "Time Out Clubhouse" - dedicated crèche and activity centres for children.
• "House of Games" - Coin operated arcade video games

Falconry, archery, pool and snooker tournaments, rollerblading, aerobics, pilates, yoga, tai chi, badminton, tennis, table tennis, diving, paintball, laser clay shooting, sports quiz, art class, creative writing, woodland walks, paint pots for your patio, cycling, ten-pin bowling, lawn bowls and boules, gokarting, climbing, flu-flu golf and a variety of activities such as abseiling and high rope assault course, plus many more depending on village.

In 2001 during a move to concentrate on their core brewing business, Scottish and Newcastle sold the UK side of Center Parcs to venture capitalists. It was announced on 4 December 2003 that the then owners, Mid Ocean, would sell the UK resorts to Arbor for £285 million. Arbor was a company set up specifically to purchase Center Parcs, and float it on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market.

In May 2006 Center Parcs UK Group Plc was sold to Blackstone Group, an American private investment company. Subsequently Center Parcs was delisted as a plc and re-registered as a private company, a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group.

During the sale, future growth of Center Parcs was hinted at by the Chief Executive, Martin Dalby. He said that the company might add a fifth village at some time in the future, but was also looking towards organic growth through investment in new facilities at the existing villages. Late in 2004 it was announced that the fifth village would be built near Woburn in Bedfordshire. Following the sale to The Blackstone Group, focus was shifted from growth, to investment in the existing villages and plans for the future village were put on hold.

All resorts on the European main land are owned by a Dutch company called CenterParcs Europe, which is owned by a French company called Pierre et Vacances. Centerparcs Europe and Centerparcs UK only share history, name and logo.

In December 2004, Center Parcs announced that it had identified a location for a fifth UK site, at Warren Wood near Woburn, Bedfordshire. It would be seeking planning permission and had already completed the signing of a lease on the land from its owner, the Duke of Bedford. The project was expected to cost approximately £160 million, including the construction of accommodation, indoor and outdoor facilities, sub-tropical swimming complex, restaurants and a spa. It is anticipated that, given planning permission, the project would take between three and four years to complete.

In July 2006, Bedfordshire District Council turned down Center Parcs' application for planning approval, leading the company to lodge an appeal against the decision later that year. ^[1] September 2007 saw the overturning of the Council's decision, and planning permission for the Warren Wood site was granted, with construction due to begin in early 2009. ^[2]

CenterParcs consists of the following 4 resorts:

* Whinfell Forest was built as Oasis Forest Holiday Village by The Rank Organisation. Rank operated Oasis for a few years then sold the site to CenterParcs UK.

Whinfell is thus substantially different to other CenterParcs sites, it has lodges rather than villas which are of a Scandinavian design located in clusters.

Elveden Forest was reopened in 2003 after its main Plaza was destroyed by fire at the beginning of the same year.

Warren Woods Forest - 5th site - due to start construction late 2010/early 2011.

• Center Parcs website
• Aqua Sana, the self-contained spa at Center Parcs

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