Center Parcs: The Only Place Adventure And Adrenaline Can Coexist With Starbucks

“Get comfortable, it looks like we’ll be up here all night,” the young boy in front of us quipped.

Ordinarily, this is the kind of sentence that would alarm anyone, but while suspended 40ft in the air from a bunch of wires between trees, this is the kind of sentence that sets your heart racing.

Thankfully, I wasn’t alone, unlike the woman who was entirely frozen by shock ahead of us on the assault course, with an instructor trying desperately to coax her away from the platform while her children hurled insults at her from the safety of the ground below. Charming.

This is an ‘aerial adventure’ (‘adventure’ for some, ‘hell on earth’ for others) at Center Parcs, an in-the-trees assault course formed of a series of obstacles and zip wires – all while attached to several safety cables.

And while it was deemed an ‘adrenaline activity’ in the brochure, it’s only at this point that I’ve realised why.

Just one of the hundreds of activities on offer at Center Parcs, the tree top adventure proved not to be for the faint-hearted and a far cry from their various other ‘family friendly’ activities on offer at each of their five locations across the UK.

But my friends and I were here for the adrenaline, which – before now - I wasn’t entirely sure existed in such a middle class utopia.

A group of five twenty-to-thirty somethings who spent four months working for a charity abroad together, we were all used to the nitty-gritty and wanted something with a little flare – without the jungle basher for a bed this time.

But with raft building, climbing, abseiling, mountain biking, canoeing, some obscene pylon climbing activity (that ended in a terrifying leap of faith), quad biking and paintballing, we had actually found an adventure to almost match our summer in the rainforest – and all in leafy Sherwood Forrest.

Two hours of clinging to wires and zipping from branch to branch later, we eventually found ourselves on the final zip wire, whizzing to the safety of the ground and heading straight for the local Starbucks for an espresso to settle our nerves.

Smack-bang in the middle of Nottingham, Center Parcs is everything the suburban lover could ask for.

While guests can spend their days sailing on the lake or mountain biking on the various muddy paths, they're never more than a stone’s throw away from the local Starbucks (all the benefits of camping, and no tent necessary!) or twee grocery store and pharmacy – they even have a doctor’s surgery.

There are countless activities to choose from, but just spending a weekend in a lodge with your closest friends is reason enough to visit, taking part in the activities is entirely optional.

You could easily spend your entire weekend moving from restaurant to restaurant, with Gastropubs, French, Italian, Spanish, Indian and Chinese cuisine all on offer - and that’s before you’ve had a hot dog and fries at the BOWLING ALLEY (seriously, the juxtaposition is what makes it work).

This is the place to get away with your friends and family, with every possible base covered.

From the super-posh onsite spa to every child’s dream in the form of the MASSIVE indoor subtropical swimming paradise, complete with wave machine, rapids and several terrifying slides - ‘bored’ is simply unheard of here.

Guests can opt to hire mountain bikes for the duration of their trip, or walk from activity to activity (each site is 400 acres, so the bike is definitely recommended), as cars are restricted to the car parks upon arrival.

While the morning had been thrilling, to say the least, I felt a wave of relief wash over me as we cycled back to our lodge for lunch.

Locking our bikes up outside we headed straight for our massive garden area to fire the BBQ up, using our ‘welcome pack’ supplies to cook up a feast, beer in hand.

Our wooden ‘executive lodge’ came complete with sun loungers, outdoor shower and sauna – my room even had an ensuite Jacuzzi bath - leaving us girls enjoying our own makeshift alfresco spa session and the boys to the pool table and games room.

Center Parcs offer eight different forms of accommodation, and for our weekend away we’d obviously opted for luxury (complete with daily maid service), as well as a our welcome food and drinks pack to get us started.

But while luxury might not always be on the agenda, their most popular and cheapest option, the Comfort Lodge, suits small families perfectly. If it’s a truly special occasion, the Exclusive Lodge (erm, hello hot tub!) and Tree House (yep, an actual treehouse to sleep in) options are definitely worth splashing the cash on.

Having spent the afternoon filling our faces with food, it was time for another activity, and this time we had opted for the competitive option – raft building.

Jumping back on our backs and cycling back down to the lake, we split into two groups (girls vs boys) fitting ourselves with wetsuits and protective gear (prepare for the worst).

Our instructor provided both teams with planks of wood, barrels and ropes – apparently enough to help us create a vessel to get all the way across the lake and back again.

Naturally, the boys were first to leave the shore, lasting all of 10 seconds before they slowly sank in between their sprawled planks and were forced to abandon ship and swim back to shore.

A few minutes later and the girls were off to a great start, with our triangular design keeping us afloat (sort of) until victory was eventually ours.

Dripping wet but warm from our victory, we spent the early evening cycling along the various dirt tracks before a game of mini golf across their two themed course.

Ordering pizza for dinner and hitting the hay with full bellies and aching muscles with a day of paintballing, archery and paddle boarding planned for Day Two, not a single one of my adrenaline junkie friends were complaining about the boredom they had expected.

In fact, if anything, I think they were all secretly hoping we’d ditch the sports for the spa.

Mission accomplished.

Prices for a short break at Center Parcs currently start from £399 for a 2 Bed Woodland Lodge at Elveden Forest. Keep an eye out for deals and discounts, though, and book 8-9 months in advance for the best savings.