Hotel Het Heijderbos By Center Parks

“Nice weekend trip, kids enjoyed the aquamundo. Facilities were nice. Did not use the restaurant”

Nice park and facilities. Kids enjoyed aquamundo. House was clean and functional. Price was on the high side. Nice surroundings (woods). We enjoyed ourselves

“A brilliant place for kids!”

We had an amazing 5 night stay at Het Heijderbos. Our party included 6 adults and 3 under 5’s so we had a mix of ages to accommodate. We’ve been to all of the Center Parcs in England but weren’t too sure what to expect from this one so I’m so sorry this review is so long but hopefully some of our e… more

We had an amazing 5 night stay at Het Heijderbos. Our party included 6 adults and 3 under 5’s so we had a mix of ages to accommodate. We’ve been to all of the Center Parcs in England but weren’t too sure what to expect from this one so I’m so sorry this review is so long but hopefully some of our experiences will be helpful for other families thinking of travelling from the UK. The positives: Our lodge was beautiful, clean, well equipped and warm. The staff had even left a bottle of wine as a gift for my parents who were celebrating their wedding anniversary which was a lovely touch. We also had a sauna which we really enjoyed. The only criticism we had for the lodge was that the bathroom layouts were very strange and impractical. Each of the 2 bedrooms had a bathroom but one bathroom only had a bath and the other only had a shower, so if people wanted to shower they had to use the one room, and neither of these bathrooms had a toilet despite being perfectly big enough to fit a toilet in. Instead, there was 1 toilet in a very small separate room and this room was the only one that didn’t have soap provided in it. More than 1 toilet would have been nice between 4 adults! The main market dome was beautiful, and we loved getting hot chocolates and sitting by the stream watching the fish and turtles. There were also English menu’s available, so ordering was easy. Food was a lot more expensive than we were expecting, particularly at the restaurants so that’s something to bear in mind. Food at the grand café was pretty good – the Italian restaurant was fine, but nothing particularly special. The on-site supermarket was fairly small, but you could get just about everything you needed there. And the gift shops were (in our opinion) far better than the shops in the UK Center Parcs. The pool is amazing! Center Parcs usually always has good pools, but this pool is our favourite. The indoor pool is huge and immaculate. There is a nice toddler section, and the outdoor pool is also really big. We weren’t huge fans of the rapids – the first half was really slow and the 2nd half had steep drops that bruised your bum when you landed! The slides are brilliant fun though. And our absolute favourite part of the pool was the area where you can swim next to the aquariums. There was a brilliant variety of fish to see and if you’ve forgotten your goggles they even provide some in a little tank by the entrance. And if you don’t like putting your head under the water, or you have small children that can’t, you can see the fish from a viewing area to the left-hand side. But the best part of this centre parcs and the thing that will have us coming back again in the future is the Jungle Dome! It is absolutely amazing and we killed hours there every day of our stay. It’s like a huge indoor play area crossed with a lovely, heated aviary. There were lots of birds, bats and other animals to be found and the play structures are incredible! It’s pretty much all big enough for an adult to get around which was appreciated – but also accessible enough for small children and there’s so much to explore and so many different paths and tunnels that the children in our group never got tired of it. Their eyes the first time they saw the dome were like saucers and the awe in their faces as they climbed up to the top of the dome was just lovely to see. Even as adults we loved exploring, watching the animals and sitting with a cold drink. There were also lots of outdoor play parks dotted about for children. None of them were huge but the kids had fun regardless, and there is a lovely petting zoo. They also had a good range of activity classes for the children and they were very cheap compared to the UK prices! Things like biscuit making were about £2.50 a child and the sessions were brilliantly run and they gave instructions in English as well as Dutch so there was no language barrier to worry about. And things like visiting Saint Nicholas were totally free! Some days had more activities available for the kids than others, but between the activities, pool and Jungle Dome the kids were never short of activities and most were free or very minimal cost! And the very best thing of all – the staff! Every single staff member we interacted with from the shops to the cycle centre, to the kid’s club, were so friendly and helpful. We had learned a few Dutch phrases before we went but we didn’t need them – all the staff spoke varying degrees of English. When we went to the Italian restaurant to celebrate my parents wedding anniversary the staff brought out a beautiful desert platter for them which was a sweet, and when we left something in the lodge on the last day, with just one quick call to reception someone was there to let us back in to reclaim it. So a huge thank you to all the staff for being so welcoming! Not as positives: The downside of every day being a check in day was that there was a constant flow of cars around the site. We would have really appreciated it if they limited the hours that cars were allowed on site to just the times around check in and check out so that we weren’t constantly trying to dodge them! The action factory looked very tired…the indoor crazy golf looked worn out, as did the sports courts and it just felt a bit in need of some TLC. And the biggest disappointment for us, and the thing that brought our rating down from a 5 star to a 4 star was the lack of activities for adults. We usually always play tennis but with 6 adults and just 1 court we couldn’t play at the same time. There were two badminton courts at least but even still we couldn’t all go at the same time. There were also no equivalents to things like the painting barns at UK Center Parcs, or activities that were aimed at all ages. You had crazy golf, tennis, badminton and that was about it. There’s also no spa or adult only areas so it might not be a great fit for trips without children. Top tips: We hired bikes and they were slightly different to the bikes we are used to in the UK – the seating position was much more upright, but we quickly got used to them. Top tip is to choose a bike with the ‘slowfit foam’ saddles – they were way better at repelling water than the plain black saddles and meant we never got wet butts even if it had been raining. For the Jungle Dome I’d definitely recommend going at different times of day as it looks beautiful lit up in the evenings and we saw slightly different animals depending on the time that we went. And it’s just a wonderful, free, weatherproof area to spend time. I wish they had these at every Center Parcs! Bring some bird seed with you or buy some animal food at reception as there are lots of different animals to see! We had red squirrels as well as every type of bird imaginable from crested tits to woodpeckers. If you want a nice meal we recommend ordering the Gourmet of grillplaat to your lodge. There was plenty of food including a lovely range of meats, salads and enough butter to last a full month and it was a lot of fun! Final review: We had an amazing trip, and while the kids are little we will definitely be coming back – just seeing the wonder on their faces as they looked into the Jungle Dome for the first time was well worth the trip! Even though it’s a European park it still has that familiar ‘Center Parcs’ feel and for kids there’s so much to offer!

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“It was pretty good”

We left today and out stay was okay everything was good pool was good and so were the rest of the activities. I would also suggest that you go the the Lidl next to it as the shop is expensive. BUT! One of our bikes were stolen and WE were made to pay less than €300 for a bike that got stolen from u… more

We left today and out stay was okay everything was good pool was good and so were the rest of the activities. I would also suggest that you go the the Lidl next to it as the shop is expensive. BUT! One of our bikes were stolen and WE were made to pay less than €300 for a bike that got stolen from us!

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