Center Parcs Sherwood Forest — Hotel in Newark and Sherwood

Not Worth the Premium Anymore – Disappointed with Sherwood

I’ve visited several Center Parcs locations across the UK over the years, but after staying at Sherwood Forest, I think this will be my last.

The Positives

Sherwood, like other Center Parcs villages, has a solid range of facilities: the village square, Aqua Sana spa, the Sports Café, and the newer addition of The Dozing Duck—a stylish pub/bar with a gastro feel. The natural setting is beautiful, surrounded by classic pine forests and wildlife. We had regular visits from curious geese (one even tried to walk into the lodge!). The site itself is quite flat and easy to navigate. Although The Dozing Duck felt far from our lodge at first, it turned out to be only a pleasant 20-minute walk across the site.

Two of our party used the spa and were very impressed, even saying it was better than Woburn’s, which surprised me.

The Disappointments

Unfortunately, that’s where the positives end.

First and foremost: Sherwood Center Parcs is currently listed as a “5-star hotel” on Google. That classification is incredibly misleading. I’ve stayed in genuine 4- and 5-star hotels, and the experience, service, and attention to detail simply do not compare.

We stayed in a three-bedroom “New Style” lodge, which was easily the biggest letdown. Despite the “new” label, the lodge was in poor condition: • Scuffed walls and damaged doorframes • Dirty skylights filled with dead insects • Floors with grit and food debris across all rooms • Urine-stained toilet seats • Bogeys on the walls • A pervasive bad smell—like stale food and old cigarette smoke

This is not what you’d expect at any price point, let alone at “premium” Center Parcs prices.

The location itself has a downside too: Sherwood backs onto Rufford’s pig breeding farm, and yes—you can smell it, depending on the wind direction. It was particularly noticeable during our stay.

Other Issues

Wasps: During our mid-July visit, wasps were a major problem. They were everywhere—indoors and out. We politely asked staff at The Dozing Duck to keep the doors closed, and when they did, the problem eased. But as soon as they reopened them, the wasps poured in. It’s baffling that staff didn’t make the obvious connection.

Lack of Amenities: Center Parcs used to provide basics like hand soap, shampoo, shower gel, and more than two toilet rolls for a group of five. Not anymore. It’s worth noting that at a true 5-star resort, these items are standard.

Limited Food Availability: I arrived at 8 p.m. after a long drive and hoped to grab a quick meal at the Sports Café—only to be told they stop serving at 9 p.m. After walking, unpacking, and parking the car, we missed our window. The Restaurant Runner app also stops taking orders at 9. With no other options, we had to resort to Uber Eats—again, not exactly what you’d expect from a so-called 5-star resort.

Food Quality: Overall, food across the site was average at best. Staff were friendly and professional, but the meals were far from premium. At The Dozing Duck, the Sunday roast was honestly no better than what you’d get at Toby Carvery—at four times the price. This kind of value mismatch was a theme throughout our stay.

Center Parcs Sherwood is overpriced and overhyped. The natural setting is still lovely, and some facilities remain solid, but the overall experience has significantly declined. With declining lodge standards, poor cleanliness, limited food availability, and misleading 5-star claims, I’m sad to say I’m done with Center...

We visited Centerparcs for a 4 night stay during late May (half term), as a group of 2 families made up of 4 adults and 4 kids (age range 4 to 8). I should point out Centerparcs is not a typical type of holiday for us, as we usually travel overseas to beach resorts or further afield on multi-city more active types of trips. I had been to a Centerparcs once before but this was over 10 years ago.

We booked well in advance (6+ months) and this was beneficial in getting a lodge in a prime location, which was under 5 min walk from the main hub which included the swimming pools, supermarket and several restaurants. We had a 4 bedroom Woodland Lodge (the cheapest category), and this looked exactly as advertised online, probably of a 3 star standard in equivalent hotel terms, but importantly it was spotlessly clean and everything worked well.

We spent each morning at the swimming area. This fully enclosed complex comprised 2 different swimming pools, around 5 slides, a water “rapids”, and a mini water park for toddlers (with more slides). It was half term so the whole place was packed, as expected. There were huge queues for the 2 bigger tube slides but these were both pretty tame and definitely not worth lining up for. Some of the smaller slides were more enjoyable (speedier), and the rapids were good fun as well. The smaller kids in our group stuck to the main pool and toddler area, but my 8 year old was fully engrossed in all the slides. Changing rooms were so-so, the shower area was very congested and you sometimes had a dig around to find a clean locker to store your stuff. You were able to rent towels for £2 each and could keep these for the duration of your stay but they had run out of these for our first 24 hours.

In terms of other activities the choices are overwhelming and with limited info available online we had to just take a gamble on a few things, and results were very mixed. Bowling was good as expected, our kids really enjoyed “Crazy Science”, and my 8 year old had an absolute blast in the TAG laser arena. On the other hand the Football Fun Factory was an absolute joke of an activity, Football Pool was so-so, and “Crazy Pool” we regretted pre-booking as it seemed to be a free for all once there (anyone could just play without having to pay). Overall it seemed to be pot luck on the quality of the activities, at least if filtering to things applicable for our group of younger aged kids. Apart from pre booked activities our kids also enjoyed the outdoor playgrounds and the video game arcade. We tried to hire bicycles once there but these were all sold out.

Regarding food, we cooked all our dinners but had our 4 lunches at 3 different restaurants - The Dozing Duck, Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas. As a foodie living in London, I came in with very low expectations and while Dozing Duck was quite mediocre, the other two - being independent chains - were actually pretty decent. It seemed that most other guests sorted out their own lunches as all the restaurants were very quiet for lunch (booking ahead definitely wasn’t required).

Overall, our trip was decent and somehow exactly as I remember Centerparcs from 10 years ago. It’s a well run place and we didn’t encounter any hiccups. The kids had a lot of fun and this was the primary objective of our trip. Pricing was a bit punchy for what you get at £2.2k for our 4 bedroom lodge for 4 nights but this was after a whopping 100% school holiday premium (it was half the price either the week...

Me and 2 of my friends are all wheelchair users and cannot walk. We decided to hire pine 855 for our stay, an accessible exclusive 4 bed (was actually 5 beds) lodge, with hot tub, steam & sauna rooms, games room and 2 fridge freezers!!! ||6 weeks before arriving, because we had an accessible lodge we were sent a quiz to fill in if we needed additional help or equipment whilst on the resort. We stated we needed an extra profiling bed and it HAD to be a foam or normal mattress due to the nature of the condition for the person using it. As we arrived we looked around the lodge every other piece of equipment we asked for has arrived. However, the profiling bed was there but an airflow mattress which this person is unable to use - (if it was a simple bed swap fix with another person we would’ve done it but they also cannot use an airflow mattress). I called guest services and first aid (who dealt with the initial request) to alert them the wrong item had been delivered. First aid said the new mattress would be arrived and put on by 8pm. We had activities booked for the evening and came back just after 8. No mattress. I called guest services and spoke to the duty manager who was extremely apologetic and was advised by the external company the mattered would be here by 10pm. It gets to 9:55pm and I get a call from the manager who informed me the company had a delay so we needed to think of a plan B. Upstairs in our lodge was a twin bed which wasn’t being occupied. Himself and security came and put the twin bed mattress on (which was a standard but worked for the night). I get a call at 8am the next day from the duty manager advising the mattress came at 11:40pm, they were deeply sorry and it would be put on the bed today whilst I was out for an activity. We come back from the activity and the mattress was plonked in the middle of the kitchen, we couldn’t get to the living room and had to sit outside the lodge and wait for security to put the mattress on the bed - no one in the party was able to due to back issues and disabilities themselves. Security comes and tried their hardest not to do it, even though no one in our party was physically able to. That fiasco was sorted and on Wednesday we had a call from guest services who were extremely apologetic and gifted us a £100 voucher for the inconvenience. ||The dozing duck & pancake house is incredible! I wouldn’t entertain Hucks, the waiters are rude (especially Ryan). We had a Gluten allergy, Cucumber allergy and alcohol allergy. The menu doesn’t disclose they will put a pickle on top of the burgers and our cucumber allergy person received a burger with a pickle on top. We told them and the waiter huffed and puffed his way back to the kitchen. When the “new” one came it was the same burger, same bun, just no pickle. With allergies, you’d expect them to cook a whole new one. The stick was spiked through the pickle and burger so it needed to be a whole new burger. The restaurant refused so we paid for it and didn’t eat it. Our gluten free person was first served a non gluten free meal which had to be changed but this person did have issues later that night due to the meal. The staff were not clued up on what meals were cooked in alcohol or cider vinegars which made it difficult to choose safe meals. ||The rest of our stay was a breeze but it did dampen...