A suite but very healthy treat

1/2
Jo Fernndez10 April 2012

Hotel review
Center Parcs
Elveden, Suffolk

Strangely, my first visit to Center Parcs was without my seven-year-old daughter. Two and a half decades since its inception, Center Parcs is making moves to widen its appeal beyond purely family fun, with the launch of new adults-only Spa Suites, for now only available at its Elveden Forest site in Suffolk.

The drive was stunning, the more so the nearer we got - the wintery sun's shafts shining through pines lining the fields. The park sits in 400 acres of Breckland - a natural habitat of woods and sandy heath unique in Britain to the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

Once we got there, it did feel a little odd - and we probably looked a little odd - a couple in their forties wandering around the buggy-busy main areas, peering at the ice rink and the swimming pool minus a child. I began to feel guilty about our daughter.

But back in our Spa Suite all thoughts of guilt vanished as we tucked into posh crisps and prosecco, while contemplating which Blu-ray film we'd watch uninterrupted. The suites are essentially open-plan apartments with cute kitchen/dining areas.

The forest outside flows into the naturally themed and toned interior from its green and yellow tree-design prints on walls and fireplace made from piled up fresh cut logs, to the mustard hanging lamp and chocolate brown, bark-like shag-pile rug.

Outside, a large balcony holds a canopied day bed complete with blanket overlooking the woodland-encircled golf course beneath. Off the bedroom is a room aimed squarely at romance with a large round tub and silver champagne bucket.

There's also a large bathroom with two-person walk-in rain shower with a rather lovely tree motif on the tiles - but there needs to be a door, if you ask me, as it was drafty in the British winter (and some people are modest in front of partners).

Sweet-smelling Elemis products - for him and her - line the bathroom shelves by the twin sinks.

Below the suites lie the Aqua Sana spa and Zilli Café designed by chef Aldo Zilli where we lunched among the robed guests. The light-filled deli-style restaurant reminded me of Carluccio's but the food was disappointing.

The antipasti of peppers and olives we shared for a starter was tasteless. I found this particularly annoying as I eat olives from my local supermarket by the bucketload with no complaints. My partner's chicken Milanese was dry, and again, lacking flavour while my fishcake was passable. It made me want to order a glass of prosecco but I reminded myself I was here for a spa break.

We took off on the bikes provided free for Spa Suite guests - ask anyone and these are their favourite part. Weaving through the woods, avoiding groups of families, was fun. Before our visit one of my sisters had snorted that Center Parcs was full of "Telegraph readers" while another said "chavs" (neither had ever been).

David Miliband visited the French outpost last year in what was an apparently "unsnobbish" move. Like a sketch from ITV's Benidorm, we did spot a boy in a St George Cross T-shirt driving a mobility scooter through the bar area. But I also heard groups of middle-class couples with kids enthusing about the experience and organising their next trip - bookings are 2.2 per cent up on last year's record year.

But we, as temporarily child-free adults, were there for the spa. There are 15 experience rooms to "journey" through, most mosaic-tiled and steam based, taking you on an olfactory tour through Japan to Turkey and Bali.

The Greek Herbal Bath, a sauna with heated herbs, had the theme tune to Inspector Morse playing, and so I was, geographically speaking, more in Oxford than Greece. Sweating, we dived into the outside pool, which we had to ourselves, surprisingly enjoyable in the crisp December air.

It's a rare parent who doesn't appreciate the odd child-free night, especially in sophisticated Spa Suites with treatments thrown in, but I think the next time we visit we had better bring our daughter, for an ultimately guilt-free, family break.

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