In March we were lucky enough to be gifted a holiday to Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest.

It came at a much needed time and we were extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to get away as a family.

Growing up, I used to go to Center Parcs every year with family and friends and it was always a magical time and lots of memories were made there, so I couldn’t wait to take our own children.

Center Parcs were very accommodating, and we were fortunate enough to be allowed to change our dates after my husband found out he was going to be away with work for the original dates. They then also changed our lodge number so that we would back on to water, I hoped this would increase the chance of wildlife at our back door, and it did! Our youngest especially loved sitting at the patio doors, babbling away to the ducks and geese on the other side!

The boys love nature, being outdoors and swimming so we knew we would have a great time, but we also decided to do an activity a day, mainly for our 3 year old son. The activities we chose were: Off road explorers, mini outlaws, baby sensory and baby owls. The staff were fantastic on all of them and my sons quickly got in to the spirit of each activity, our 8 month old even got to hold an owl! The swimming pool is one of the best parts of a Centre Parcs break and we definitely made great use of it! We were fortunate that the new kid’s area in the pool had recently opened and it was a lot of fun for both boys and our eldest was also big enough to go on 3 of the larger slides with us, which he couldn’t get enough of. We also went for a family meal at HUCKS, using a £30 voucher Centre Parcs had given us, and the waiter was amazing with our sons and the food was lovely too.

Our 3 year old talks daily about our “little house” and wants to go back on holiday. Hopefully we will be able to take him again in the future and build on the memories that you gave us the opportunity to make, you really can’t put a price on family time and memories!

Seeing him and his baby brother happy is all we as parents want and Give Us Time and Centre Parcs gave us the gift of getting away and doing things we knew they would both enjoy. We feel very fortunate and hope that many more families are given the opportunity that we were, it makes a real difference. Keep up the great work you are doing!