Center Parcs Les Bois-Francs — Hotel in Bernay

We went with another family and booked approx 12 months ago so we got a great deal, picked a prime location and received a credit for activities which was great! |We used the credits for, bowling and mini golf but you had a few other choices during the stay. ||Check in was easy, quite quick. Our lodge wasn’t ready when we checked in (we were a little early) so we went to the supermarket and got some bits. There is a huge inter-marche, a maccy ds and a fuel station less than 5 mins down the road.||Our lodges were great, 254/255. Outside one of the smaller lakes but located great for everything. Directly outside the sports hall and a few minutes from the soft play and main dome/lake and everything else.|We had four (almost) teenagers with us so we hired them bikes for 5 of the 7 days we stayed, we had plans for the other two. These were €41 per bike. That was a little hard as the guy on the desk didn’t speak any English but we got through it. ||The buggies were so popular with guests but it was over €400 for the week, as we were so close we didn’t bother.||The soft play was brilliant! Hours of entertainment and all free except a few things. The only annoying thing about this area was that parent just don’t control their kids so they just get in the way. We paid for bowling (don’t do it! You get 5 mins for the credits) and kids just come along and try to play. The language barrier wasn’t that hard telling them no, but still more of a struggle when trying to be nice.|We didn’t pay for the trampolines in the end as we noticed random kids just jumping onto paid trampolines ruining it for the children that had been paid for. This purely was down to parents just not paying attention, nothing to do with CP directly.||There is a machine to add credits too, these credits can be used for bowling, the safari cars, trampolines etc (as stated). You get a card to tap and spend credits on. I did the €28 for 60 credits and it lasted all week for all three of my children. We used them in the soft play and also in the arcade. The arcade is better for them as they get tickets which can then be traded for items. ||The outdoor sand park just outside the back of the dome was fantastic! Aswell as the summer vibes area. This had several activities during the day; jenga, four in a row etc as well as the gym equipment. ||ACTIVITIES|We did proper bowling as part of our free activities, this was great but not very self explanatory, luckily another English family were on one of the lanes so we asked them how it worked. Half the barriers didn’t work so the kids found it stressful but overall it was okay. Just glad we didn’t pay €38 hours per lane for 55 mins. We had two! We would have been annoyed if this was the case.|We also did mini golf outside with our free activities, this was pretty good. You can go anytime, some people were in large groups so it took a while on certain holes but that’s to be expected.||We paid for;|Kids haven - these are little battery boats that the kids drive. I took our 3 and 6 year old.. well they drove me! It was a little hairy at times but they loved it. That was €20 for 40 mins and that was plenty of time. Worth the money. Everyone has to wear a life jacket and they explained everything really well.||Jeeps - these are the little green safari jeeps. They are great, again €20 for 40 mins. All three of our children drove it. They loved it. The adult gets a stop and go button which we didn’t overly need but it was piece of mind. The kids loved these. By the time you get only a short distance however you have to turn around and come back as the 40 mins just goes and they charge you an additional fee if you are not back in time. ||Zosh Drift Cars - these were great fun! €15 for 8 mins however was a lot of money. Everyone loved this experience and were so glad they did it. The two persons running it however were not the most polite and sadly ruined the experience. I’m not sure if it was just the language barrier but they were so miserable and grumpy when someone crashed, which was easily done having not done it before and the carts being DRIFT carts, not just standard ones. ||Driving Range - this was great and actually really cheap! €6 no time limit. One club/driver per player (€2) plus 40 balls (€4) everyone enjoyed doing this activity. Wouldn’t recommend taking little ones to this area as it’s quite unsafe!||SPORTS HALL - this is all unmanned (from what we saw). We used it quite a lot, the kids really enjoyed doing badminton and table tennis. Not the cheapest but cheaper if you have your own equipment. As you hire this separate to booking the courts. ||FREE Activities - Outside Maison du Lac (hotel) they have courts for the free activities. Several families, us included thought that at 10 & 4pm a session would be guided as this is what the website suggests (12 years plus) but it’s literally set up by staff and left as it is for free play. We did see a member of staff once who had music playing but we confirmed with the information desk that it’s free play. Just go and have fun. So we went along several times with our 3,6,11 year olds plus the other family and just played basketball, football etc. They had fun but it would have been a lot better if someone guided the activities.|ANIMAL FARM - this was great! You can walk in and up close to the animals, goats and sheep. Something a lot of children don’t get to do.||THE POOL - We all loved the pool! It was great! We often go to the UK CP and this was by far better for the smaller ones, not so good for over 10s but they all had fun none the less.|Our 3 year old was able to go down the rapids, which he loved! They also have a giant slide which was his favourite. He could have never done them in the UK. Granted they are larger at the Longleat one. |They have tons of life jackets available but sometimes they were all gone so we had to spot leavers and pounce when we could!|The child’s pool was incredible! Hours of fun! Plus the larger children’s area. |Lots of slides for all ages across the whole area. The lazy river was small but still lots of fun. Lots of hidden hot tubs around plus the solar area, to dry off. We ended up moving peoples towels in the end as they just left them there unattended!|They have a cool photo opportunity in the pool leading out to the rapids which we took several photos of the kids in. They also have a photographer who snaps families/couples etc around the pool. Aswell, as a camera on the rapids. Although, if you don’t make note of the time you never find your pic! |We found the pool area to be very clean (expect the toilets by the pool restaurant, one has no door!). They have tons of lockers and changing rooms, even at really busy times we didn’t struggle to get a room or locker. Walk right to the back and there are loads you miss. ||ACCOMODATION- The accomodation is a lot smaller than the UK but it’s still perfectly fine. Hard floors no carpets so if you are a slipper wearer take some! |We had a bath over the shower which was fine but a little annoying as the bath had jets so it was a little weird. Although the little two loved bathing in the jets! |There is NO OVEN. Which luckily we knew before going so we took our slow cooker to make meals at home.|There are quite a few options to eat out but I can’t review as we didn’t eat at any.|The kitchens are very compact, not a lot of storage or space but we made it work. Huge fridge, tiny freezer compartment! |We had a gusto machine so we bought pods in the UK and took them with us. We also had a coffee machine but we didn’t need it.|The main living space was fine and worked work. We definitely could have done with another toilet but it was okay. |The sofas were rattan which wasn’t overly comfortable but again okay. |They have a hoover, dustpan and brush etc so we could keep it clean during our stay.|We paid for 2 towel packages which I wouldn’t do again. The towels were tiny. So we used them for the kids and luckily took a couple of our own. |A few negative bits overall for the accomodation, our dishwasher had no front and the kick board kept falling down but no big deal really. The dishwasher was also not great so we just hand washed everything. We took our own fairy liquid to do all this. They do provide some tablets. |An oven would have been a huge advantage if these were added, just for doing pizzas and things like.|Actual sodas would be great but we didn’t spend a lot of time sat in that area so it wasn’t really a problem for us. ||The main negative I would say is the volume of cars in and around the park. You couldn’t relax as there were always cars, vans or Lorries around. DHL drivers, guests driving about. Something you do not see in the UK, only on change over days. Several cars just left abandoned outside their lodges for days on end. It should be better manned.||We did a few day trips but our favourite was our trip to LE MANS- we visited PAPÉA PARK. Look it up it’s fab!! For all ages and not very expensive for a...

We just returned from a 2 week stay here. We were in an 8 person lodge (4 adults, 4 children, 4 bedrooms) and we had a lovely time! I would advise people not to focus on the negative reviews here. I am particularly concerned by all the negative reviews about "birkinis " in the pool which is quite frankly racist and people should not comment on what others have chosen to wear for religious reasons. ||Anyway, we paid £4k for 2 weeks which split between two families at the height of summer is not bad really. We were not expecting 5* lodges and I don't think this centerparcs is claiming to be 5. If you want 5 you should go to a newer CP or one that has been recently renovated. Yes the lodge was a little tired and in need of a lick of paint but it was functional and served us well. If you're travelling with young children you appreciate a place that can take a bit of rough and tumble rather than one where you are worrying about your children causing damage. ||Positives:|- roomy 8 person lodge with large bedrooms and comfortable beds |- we didn't hear our neighbors at all and had peaceful nights |- well stocked kitchen perfect for our needs and large dining table so we ate together every night (we took our air- fryer for cooking meals and French press for coffee )|- even when busy Aqua Mundo was kept very clean by staff. Aqua Mundo had enough for 1-2 year old and 5-7 year old to keep them all happy im sure older kids would love it too. |- CP never felt too busy. Lovely sandpit play ground where children played. Large soft play (up to age 12) which was free and small soft play for infants |- good location. We loved cycling to Verneil sur Arve the nearest town which had an impressive collection of well maintained half- timber medieval houses, 3 excellent bakeries and one of the best pizzarias ! There's also a good playground in town. |- close to large Intermarche for your supermarket shop (and there are laundry facilities in the intermarche carpark so you can get your laundry done while you shop)|- lovely cycle routes : we did the "red route" and ended up at an excellent French bistro . Also a good green route. Around 20km loop , 5 year old managed it with regular stops along the way. |- staff at CP super friendly and made every effort to speak English and help us. |- if you stay for 2 weeks you can request clean bed linen after week 1 (you have to strip and make your own beds)|- fresh croissants and bread from the on-site bakery in the on-site supermarket 😋 ||To improve|- bathrooms in lodge could do with an update considering they didn't have windows it was difficult to ventilate|- would be nice if 2 weeks guests got the option of a clean (even if we needed to pay for it) we cleaned ourselves of course. |- maybe somewhere to dry clothes indoors like a drying room? On the one damp day the lodge felt damp but I imagine in winter you would light the log fire (we didn't!)|- on-site laundry would be helpful |- the soft play was great but surrounded by activities you had to pay for (mini golf, bumper cars etc) so you have to remind your children what's free and what's not. Would be nicer for parents if paid and free activities were kept separate ! |- some people break the "car free " rule and I believe they should be fined ! |- some dog owners allowed their dogs to fowl on footpath and not clean it up despite CP providing lots of clearly marked "dog toilet" areas. These people should also be fined in my opinion ! ||How to make CP work for you?|- lower your expectations: this is not 5* but its an excellent price for the school holidays.|- kids love the soft play and swimming even if you don't (I assume you are here for your kids?! )|- avoid the restaurants: they're overpriced and crowded. Plan to cook your own meals or eat out in Verneil sur Arve (excellent market on saturdays! ) |- if you're driving bring your own things eg kitchen equipment, cleaning equipment, bikes, books, toys etc to make it feel like home |- explore the surrounding areas and soak up French food, wine and culture ! We drove to Camembert for an excellent tour and tasting, visited a local cider brewery and enjoyed tasting and buying local cider and fresh apple juice, we went to Giverny to Monet's garden and we did lots of cycling. I think 2 weeks only in CP would have felt like a challenge i think treat it as a base to explore the area then return to relax ,...

Recently travelled to Les Bois-Francs with a 4 year old, 2 year old and a baby of 10 months and after reading such negative reviews - we were really pleasantly surprised!||We were in a refurbished 6 person pagoda which was well furnished, had lots of internal space, two toilets, two showers over jacuzzi baths and one separate shower. It also had a sauna upstairs which wasn’t necessary as the temp reached 35° while we were there but I can imagine is amazing in winter. The TV in the lounge had lots of channels, including BBC1, BBC2, CBBC and CBeebies which kept the kids happy when we were in the house. We also had a private garden - this did back onto a road and wasn’t completely cut off from other gardens so I was very careful to ensure no children were ever out there without us but this had a lovely decking area and really nice garden table & chairs set, 2 loungers and a parasol. Kitchen had everything we needed, we were made aware that there is no oven beforehand so we planned hob-only meals and took the basics we needed for these, choosing to stop at the nearby Aldi for dairy products, drinks etc. we used the Carrefour express on site a couple of times, this is expensive as expected but great if you need or fancy something in a pinch.||In the same central area we also used the ‘Quick’ restaurant once and ‘Il Giardino’ once too. Although, Il Giardino advertises as being free for kids under 4 - please be aware this is only for cheese ravioli or spaghetti bolognese! If you have an under 4 who doesn’t want either of these, you will have to pay for their pizza like we did. At least it was shaped like a rabbit! Quick was absolutely fine, essentially a fast food restaurant which has screens for you to order on which is handy.||A lot of the activities available are probably better for older children. I had never been to a Center Parcs before, I knew the activities would be added extras but the cost did seem high for the majority. The best of the free activities came from the Action Factory which is a big soft play area with different rides/games around it and of course, the pool. The pool complex is absolutely huge and it took us days to even explore all of it! Wave pool, hidden cove with a rope swing, lazy river, baby pool, outside pool, different slides, rapids, activity type frame with the classic tipping bucket at the top - the list goes on and we loved it. There’s lots of chairs around the outside of the pools and people obviously turn up as the pool opens to grab these with towels. This isn’t necessary, there’s tons of lockers in the changing rooms just walk straight down from the entrance and it opens up to more changing rooms and many more lockers. A nice touch is that the wristband you wear to unlock your house is how you lock and unlock your swimming locker too! We didn’t ask the pool photographer for any photos but the guy we saw was really putting a lot of effort in for the people he was photographing, moving them to different locations in the pool and staging the family so it looked good, nice touch. The other free activity was the Mini Farm, despite the app saying you could meet at the farm between 10:30 and 11 on Tuesday and Thursday - you can actually go to the mini farm every day, it’s just on these days a keeper turns up and talks to you about the animals. This is in French. Speaking of which, we loved the fact we had to put some effort in to speak to staff. The English are often so confident in everyone else’s English-speaking ability that we are too lazy to try anything else. I got the impression that the staff I spoke to appreciated the effort even though I was doing a pretty horrible job. ||The site is very big, The Dome houses the pool, restaurants and shops so be aware that the higher the number section you are staying in - the longer the walk to get to where you want to be. We were in cottage 820 and this was a half a mile walk each way, not ideal when you get back from swimming then remember you needed to pick up something from the carrefour. If your kids are older and you can either take or hire bikes, this won’t feel like as much of an issue. ||We would definitely stay here again, perhaps when the children are older and when we can afford more of the activities. However, we feel much better prepared for if we are to stay at this parc or another and would look forward to...