The conversations of our fellow guests carry on the breeze as we wander through bronzed woodland on our first morning at Center Parcs De Kempervennen, a Dutch outpost of the popular family resort brand which we’ve decamped to for the school break.
The multi-generational broods we encounter, kitted out in sportswear and ready for an energetic day tackling treetop high-wires, whirling around pool rapids or swooshing down the faux-snow ski slope, are almost all British.
‘I still think City can win the league,’ a teen utters to his mate en route to the Footgolf course.
A motivational mum on two wheels tells the wobbly little cyclist by her side in a Home Counties accent: ‘Great job! Keep going!’
My own 11-year-old pipes up: ‘I really feel like we’re in England.’
We’re not. We’re in a leafy portion of North Brabant, a pancake-flat province in Holland’s south that kisses the Belgian border.
On paper, getting here looks like a hike – from our home in London, it’s more than 300 miles in the car, a six-hour journey wheeling through four countries.
The reality feels more leisurely. A dawn drive to Calais via LeShuttle, an omelette-based brunch in Belgian medieval stunner, Ghent, and then a final 90 minutes on smooth, straight roads brings us to the gates of De Kempervennen.
Center Parcs Europe is a separate company to Center Parcs UK – and there’s significant savings to be had at the 28 parks across Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Denmark (Pictured: Aqua Mundo, the equivalent of the UK parks’ Subtropical Swimming Paradise)
Pretty as a picture: Boathouse accommodation at Center Parcs De Kempervennen, which sits just over the Dutch border in North Brabant
It’s close to major Dutch arteries and only 25 minutes from the city of Eindhoven, but once over the boundary, guests are quickly enveloped in nature.
De Kempervennen doesn’t mean ‘the campervan’, as I speculate during the journey, but ‘the Kempen Fens’, referring to the ancient rustic moorland the 370-acre park sits on.
Towering oaks and horse chestnuts dominate the scenery, dressed up in shades of toffee and crimson during our autumnal visit, alongside two sizeable lakes used for pursuits such as wakeboarding, kayaking and even scuba diving.
A trio of indoor entertainment hubs promise rain-proof fun all day long: Aqua Mundo – the included-in-price swimming complex, Montana Snowcenter, which boasts 5,500 sq metres of indoor slopes, and the Action Factory, a neon-hued mecca of climbing walls, sports courts and soft play.
The accommodation is low-rise and hides well among the foliage. It includes everything from prefab-style cottages to roomy ‘VIP’ lodges with saunas and even a smattering of cute houseboats.
Let’s not dance around the obvious question, though. Why would anyone bother border-hopping when we have five of our own Center Parcs, with a sixth coming in the Scottish Borders, doing something very similar?
‘MONEY!’, a dad from Newcastle tells me the next day as we load plastic guns to take down an opposing team in a hail of rainbow bullets.
My paintballing comrade explains it was cheaper for his two-family group to jet into Amsterdam and get a return mini-bus transfer to De Kempervennen’s door than it was to stay at their nearest resort, Whinfell Forest in Cumbria, during half-term.
De Kempervennen, or ‘the Kempen Fens’, refers to the ancient rustic moorland the 370-acre park sits on
The accommodation Jo stayed in at Center Parcs; the trip came in at just over £1,000 for a three-night stay, including travel via LeShuttle and fuel
For almost 25 years, Center Parcs UK and Center Parcs Europe, of which there are 28 across the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Denmark, have operated as entirely separate companies.
Both remain true to the ‘activity holidays in nature’ vision of Dutch entrepreneur Piet Derksen, who founded the company in 1968, but the European parks are generally considered much cheaper to enjoy, even with travel costs included.
Center Parcs UK has faced plenty of heat in recent years over its prices – family breaks usually cost four figures.
What do we pay in the Netherlands? A three-night stay in a two-bed self-catering ‘comfort cottage’ costs £564.
Towels and bed linen aren’t included, and we hire four bikes too. With those additions, plus a fee for ‘tourist tax and levies’, it’s £727.
How would a home soil stay compare on the same dates?
A break at the Longleat Forest site in south-west Wiltshire in similar accommodation with bike hire was priced up at £1,469. Factoring in journey costs – we pay about £320 for a return LeShuttle and fuel – and we’re still £400 up on the staycation.
Little wonder De Kempervennen is stuffed to the gills with British families on the week we visit.
A premium cottage is pictured, which offers enhanced comfort and amenities for guests
Prices for activities can be more painful on British soil, too.
While we pay £17.10pp to traverse the Dutch resort’s treetop zip-wire course for two hours, a similar one-hour Aerial Adventure session at the UK’s Woburn Forest Center Parcs costs £44pp.
So more than double the price for half the time and, if you’re a family of five, that’ll be £220. Ouch.
What does Center Parcs UK, which boasts 97 per cent capacity year-round, have to say about how much it charges?
A spokesman told me: ‘Our guests place great value on their breaks, over 60 per cent will go on to make another booking with us, and last year we had our highest ever guest satisfaction scores.
‘They demand a high-quality experience and each year we invest tens of millions of pounds improving our villages to ensure we meet their expectations.’
There are some De Kempervennen downsides. We don’t love making our beds after the long drive and the wi-fi in the cottage doesn’t work – but the telly is brimming with global channels, including BBC One.
The park’s dining options? Generic family-friendly restaurants of reasonable quality but not especially cheap, but if your toddler has a meltdown, no one will bat an eyelid.
Jo paid £17.10pp for the Dutch resort’s treetop zip-wire course for two hours, compared to a similar one-hour Aerial Adventure session at the UK’s Woburn Forest Center Parcs which costs £44per person
You’ll pay around £12.70 for a margherita pizza and £5.70 for a bottle of Cornet Oaked Belgian beer at Nonna’s Italian.
There’s also a grown-up steakhouse, Fuego, casual dining at the Grand Cafe and an impressive all-you-can-eat evening buffet at Evergreenz that costs £124 for a family of four – including alcohol.
My favourite meals, though, come thanks to the decent kitchen in our cottage and De Kempervennen’s supermarket.
It’s filled with fresh produce and bakes plus Dutch goodies to make your heart sing, from caramel-drenched stroopwafel to colourful wax-encased gouda, without a huge tourist mark-up.
On a tighter budget, there’s oodles of free things to enjoy here, from a petting zoo with very sweet miniature goats to scavenger hunts, seasonal walks, family quiz nights and live music.
You could lose a whole day at Aqua Mundo, with its sizeable pool, snaking rapids, four slides and outdoor aquarium, where swimmers can dip their snorkel masks to spy on the marine life.
Money aside, another British mum tells me being here feels ‘like a more interesting holiday’.
She’s right. There are day trips galore within striking distance, with many families pencilling in a trip to Dutch theme park Efteling.
Less than an hour away, this grand-scale, fairytale-esque attraction is the nicest of surprises with its slick high-tech rides and cosy cafes (a coffee and a heavenly slice of banana loaf costs less than a fiver, too).
It’s the closest thing to Disney we’ve experienced on European soil bar the real thing – I wish we’d discovered it a decade ago.
And we pick off cities like they’re going out of fashion too, meandering up to Rotterdam then Amsterdam for a few days before the long drive home, with gorgeous Bruges an easy pitstop for lunch.
Four European metropolises and a whole lotta outdoorsy fun later, this half-term reset feels like a proper adventure – and it hasn’t broken the bank to do it.
TRAVEL FACTS
A three-night stay in the upcoming Christmas school break costs from £506, based on a family of four sharing a two-bed comfort cottage, centerparcs.eu. LeShuttle crossing from £59 per vehicle, one way, leshuttle.com
