Sponsored by
Julia Ogden: a romantic break to . . . Center Parcs.
MY husband and I have just come back from a romantic break to . . . (don't laugh) . . . Center Parcs.
MY husband and I have just come back from a romantic break to . . . (don't laugh) . . . Center Parcs.I know this destination is synonymous with family holidays - we have in fact been there every year since our little boy was two - but we thought it would be nice to go there alone and experience some of the facilities designed especially for adults.
Call me soppy, but I had images of us strolling hand-in-hand through frost-bitten forests, sipping champagne (well, Cava actually) in front of log fires, dining out every evening in the many restuarants on site and taking advantage of the parc's spa and beauty treatments. And although we did do many of the above, and had a truly lovely time, I was slightly racked with guilt because we had concealed our whereabouts from Samuel.
We didn't exactly lie to him, we just didn't tell him where we were going. All he knew was that daddy was taking mummy away for her birthday somewhere nice.
The first two days were just amazing. David and I got to do many things we hadn't done for years such as having a little snooze in the afternoon, reading a broadsheet newspaper from start to finish, eating a meal leisurely, swimming without having eyes in the back of our heads, and generally relaxing.
But because Center Parcs is designed for children, by day three we were really missing being mummy and daddy.
It didn't help that everywhere we turned we bumped into a child.
In fact we were quite overwhelmed by just how busy it was.
I had thought at the end of January, the parc would be relatively quiet. That we would be able to enjoy the slides and water-chutes in the dome swimming pool without shivering in long queues, get a table at a restaurant without pre-booking, and saunter around the village square with ease.
How wrong I was. . . it was swarming with people. In fact, it seemed even busier than in the height of summer.
So, it was lovely to come home, and even lovelier to pick our little boy up from school and see the look of joy and happiness on his face when he saw us waiting in the playground.
"I love you so much, and really missed you," he said. "You are so precious to me."
Some things are just priceless, aren't they?
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Peterborough
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: West
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.