We stayed at CP De Vossemeren from Monday 15 to Friday 19 December. It was very quiet, with most of the children being pre-school age. It was a good stay but need to point out a few things!

We had villa 872 in region 8 which was really close to the Market Dome/Aqua Mundo/Discovery Bay. A 5 person deluxe villa - good amount of accommodation. This villa has two toilets - worth it if you are a large group.

Downsides - the immediate smell of stale cigarette smoke - we have had this issue before at CP in Benelux countries - had same problem at Het Meerdal in Netherlands, but not in Deluxe houses at Heilbachsee. Strongly recommend taking Oust/Febreeze/candles to remove smell as it is embedded in soft furnishings and is very apparent in the evening. Had to wash clothes on return that had only been in the wardrobe as they had the smell too. Does not seem to be the option to rent a non-smoking villa. Non-smoking in the Dome.

With the plummeting exchange rate eating out was even more expensive. Market buffet was 23.50 euros for adult and 8 euros for children. Cheapest main course at Hammonds family restaurant was 15 euros and pizza in Market Cafe was about 9 euros - children's meal still reasonable at 5 euros. We decided to eat in the villa as the prices were so expensive for 5 people! Very good supermarket with wide range of products (marked up bbut not too bad)- but no painkillers! Take a supply - we had to drive into Lommel to buy paracetamol, at £3.50 a box of 30 they're not cheap!! There are a Lidl and Aldi in Lommel - consider stocking up there before hand.

As pointed out before, no oven so you need to be creative - not sure how they intend you to cook pizzas they sell in the supermarket?

Upsides:
Children's farm was very popular although pony rides were cancelled for our stay, disappointed children, no apparent reason as they weather was very mild that day.
Wannabe painter activity excellent value and good fun for 5 euros.
Good facilities for teenagers with skate park.
discovery bay facility excellent for children.

A very good quality CP but if you have chest problems/ dislike cigarette smoke/young babies, I would consider a CP where you can choose a non-smoking option (Bispinger Heide, Germany is one)
Big Aqua Mundo but water felt a bit cold, meant to be 29C, but it was only 4-5C outside so probably hard to keep water that temperature.

English spoken widely and excellently - all menus/signs etc had English translation so not a problem - and channels 31 and 32 on the TV were BBC 1 and 2!

Only 3 hour drive from Calais - virtually all motorway.

Remember to take plenty of cents for the toilet - 30c to go to the loo anywhere in Belgium! EVen McDonalds!

I didn't plan to come back here, however the kids twisted my arm as they love it here so much. We visited De Vossermeren the same time last year, however the most noticable thing this time around was the,

1. Lack of people especially English. Whether that is down to the credit crunch then I don't know. Last year it was so busy which made swimming down the rapids a bit of a risk. 2. More expensive when you are here, however that is probably down to the poor exchange rate.

That aside, the staff are fantastic, the activities are brilliant value, 7 euro 95c for most which last at least an hour, with a number of tournaments free such as bowling, beach football, badminton, volleyball, playstation etc.

The area was noticably cleaner and tidier this time around. Our villa was on zone 4, about 5 minutes walk from the Discovery Bay/Dome area, coming as a 2 bed deluxe. Again clean, although I could never get used to a toilet by the front door, and then a walk around to the bathroom to wash your hands! The garden backed onto a lake which had fish and ducks, with one morning a flock of sheep on our patio area. No noise around, and excellent privacy. There were a few blown lightbulbs in the villa, and the matresses could have been better, however I am being picky now.

I loved the area most for running routes, particulary over the wooden bridge early in the morning, it really was perfect, a place I've never found in the UK or any UK CP's infact. There was something for everyone.

There were excellent bike trails, and a off road circuit for the kids, along with a good farm, and pony rides, which at 2 euro was great value and a priceless moment for my daughter.

Yes the food was expensive, not really the Belgians fault, but it was good quality, even the burgers which were freshly made so in a way you don't mind so much.

The Aqua Mundo was great, and the kids could do things they probably couldn't do at home, for a reasonable price anyway. They do seem to know how to get the best out of kids here, with many instructors multi lingual.

The sports bar was good. We were given free coupons for drinks, and free Playstation 3 consules in the bar which kept many people, including myself amused.

Definately our last time here now, hopefully De Emhof or De Kampervennen in the future. Even with a poor exchange rate, this was still effectively a half price holiday compared to CP UK even taking into account the ferry cost and fuel.

If you have tried the CP's in the UK and enjoyed it, I really do feel that your expectations will be exceeded here at De Vossermeren and you'll want to come back again as we did.

We booked to go to this center parcs months before and got discounts for booking early and also for booking online via the center parcs website. We also got a deal where the kids (if they are under 8) eat free. That seemed like a great deal but I'll tell you more later...

We stayed in a deluxe villa for 6 persons which was located in Zone 8. Great location because it seemed like we were never far away from the activities. The longest we walked was 15 minutes and that was to go to the reception desk to get the lock for our safe. Inside the villa was just as you would expect from a center parcs and the pictures on the website show exactly what you're getting.

The only real issues with the villa was the beds, they claim you get a double but it's actually 2 singles pushed together. Also it seems like the european center parcs don't tend to have an oven like the UK ones do so I would advise anyone visiting to be prepared to purchase food which can be cooked on the hob/bbq. On our first night we thought that we would take advantage of our kids eat free deal but found that it only seemed to apply to certain restaurants in the market dome. Unfortunately it was the ones where an adult meal cost around 25 euros (without drinks) so for our family (2 adults & 2 children) it would have cost approximately £40 to feed us. There was a restaurant which basically seemed to have a buffet of various food but nothing seemed to go together. We decided to go to the snack bar which offered a selection of burger meals. Kids had a pepeteve box meal which cost 5 euros and comprised of 4 chicken nuggets, chips, drink and a toy, my husband & I had a cheeseburger XXL meal (big burger, chips & drink) which cost 7.50 euros. The kids enjoyed their meals but my husband & I spent the rest of the break trying to figure out what the meat was that was in the burger....

Would suggest a trip to the food store in the market dome, has a large selection of food. We tended to go there in the morning to get fresh bread and cooked meats for our lunches and get stuff for our evening meal like mince for spag bol or chicken & rice for our curry. There was also a patisserie which had some lovely belgian waffles and milka chocolate muffins - mmmm!

Aqua mundo (the swimming dome) was excellent! There is a big pool which has waves at certain intervals over the course of the day. There are 2 tube slides and 1 big straight slide and an outdoor rapid course. There is also the kooralt balt which is an outdoor aquarium so you can dive under the water and check out fish (they are in glass tanks). There are hot tubs, a plunge pool (very cold!), a baby & toddler pool and a whirlpool. We just seemed to spend the whole day just going from one thing to the other. Be careful on the rapids - there were lots of bumps & bruises gained, especially if there are lots of people on it at the same time as you!

We spent most of our time swimming but managed to check out the other activities available on site. Table tennis cost 2.50 euros for half hour, air hockey 1 euro for 3 mins. There were other sports there such as badminton, tennis, pool, canoeing, windsurfing, bananaboats, pedalos, jetskiing, basketball, skate park, crazy golf.

If you've got young kids check out the farm - it's crazy! As you walk in the gate you are surrounded by animals (goats, chickens, donkeys, a cow, a pig, sheep, a peacock, rabbits, guinea pigs) - and they are not penned in! You can stroke them, pick them up, as much as you like. A couple of times a week they do pony rides which cost 2 euro and was well worth the money for the smiles on the kids faces.

Discovery Bay is fantastic! Basically it's a mock up of a pirate ship with lots of things to do and chances to get wet! There's a water maze, slides, rope bridge and various nooks and crannies to explore. There is a burger bar and seating area which overlooks the kids playing. My kids loved it!

Around the site there are various play areas which are graded according to age - but the adults enjoyed them too!

Overall, a great week! Would go again.

We had a great week at Het Heijderbos cp in 2006, so when we saw a last minute 4 day deal in a vip cabin, I we jumped at the chance. Cost €840 including sheets and towels.
The cabins look pretty awful from the outside, but once you get in they are quite cosy. The vip cottages differ in that they have a sauna, separate shower, safe and hairdryers.

This cp is very big, so if you are not very mobile, make sure you book near to the market dome. This costs extra, but got us a cabin about 5 mins walk from the dome.

We rented bikes as soon as we got there which cost another ca 90 euros. should have booked them in advance but didn't realise how big the park is and how necessary they would be. The bikes are in good condition and well taken care of, especially the mountain bikes.

The activities are all excellent, I won't comment on the pool and discovery as others have already done so.

Sadly, our only bad experience happened right after arrival.
When we arrived, and got checked in the key to our cabin didn't work. It was one of those credit card sized keys. We returned and ended up having to stand in line again which was annoying. One of the employees in reception was the only unfriendly and rude person we met the whole time, but since she was on duty a lot of the time,and was our first point of contact we got off to a bit of a bad start. The keys failed at least once a day, which meant a trip back to the reception to get them reprogrammed. The last time it happened we had been out to dinner in town and returned at 10 at night with two tired kids. the bike keys were locked in the cabin so it took a while to get back down to reception and have th keys done. The same rude woman in reception actually had the nerve to accuse us of having caused the problem with the keys by keeping them next to our mobile phones (which we didn't). We suggested she get the lock in the cabin checked out, but she didn't seem interested and as we were leaving the next day we didn't pursue it.

The safe in the cabin was broken, but was fixed within a day once reported.

We had a lovely open fireplace which we used every night. There are two grades of wood in the supermarket, spend more for the better quality it burns 3 times as long for twice the price.

We also made ample use of the sauna which was great fun and very relaxing.

We were not overly impressed with the food.

On the first evening we ate in the hamburger restaurant in the market dome. The fries were delicious, but the hamburgers were nothing short of revolting. They tasted like a mixture of horse meat and some kind of bread filler. Don't eat there or if you do, only have the fries.

On the second evening, we ordered a fondue to be brought to the room. Unfortunately they forgot to deliver it! They quickly brought it though and the food contained in it was very good quality.

The third night we ate at the market restaurant, which is an all you can eat buffet. It cost about 85 euros with two kids which I think is too expensive for the quality offered. The food is the usual soggy vegetables, fries, unhealthy kids food like reshaped chicken nuggets, sausages etc.

Some of the starters and salads were very good. They have lovely soft ice for dessert which we all loved.

The food quality was way poorer than at Het Hejderbos, where we had booked the evening meal and enjoyed it every day. I would not book half board, especially if you are staying for a week because you will get very tired of this restaurant.

On the last day we had lunch in the pancake house which I can highly recommend. they serve savoury and sweet pancakes filled with delicious toppings. Not great for the waistline though!

Overall we had a good time and we'd go to a cp again, but probably not this one, mostly due to the food quality and some of the service issues.