To celebrate 2025, my son and I headed to Woburn Forest Centre Parcs for an annual holiday.
After parking the car (early) in the car park, you are able to use the park facilities early too, before checking in to your lodge.
Walking without time restraints, through the tall trees, we already decided to head to the Pancake House for our brunch. It's recommended to book ahead if you have an idea when you will arrive after a long drive. You can do this by logging in to your booking on the APP.
Taking our seats, we looked out of the window overlooking the lake as we watched Mother Swans taking care of their signets. Turning our attention to the menu, I noticed a new menu was in place.
As a gluten-free diner, (celiac disease), I worried.
My favourite dish, the apple pancake, had some modifications and was no longer labelled Gluten Free. I was sure I would still enjoy a gluten free option of some description but the first thing I noticed was the lack of ice cream. I'm not a huge fan of ice cream, but the tastes meander together to create a complete dish of swirling tastes on the pancake.
"Excuse me," I called to the waitress as I asked for guidance. She advised me the ice cream now had gluten containing ingredients. I never quite understand the need for adding gluten to ice cream, when the dessert menu is short of items to add.
What a pity.
The two menus differed in clear text: you could easily notice the difference between them.
Tempted to choose the classic Dutch pancake, with orange, the calorific values puzzled me: the gluten free lemon was almost 200kcal more than the classic or vegan options.
Other Gluten free choices:
New Yorker or Fruit and Honey.
Determined to try a version of the unusual apple and cinnamon, I asked the waitress to check which ingredients were gluten free. The chef suggested omitting the crumble and ice cream and placed the whipped cream in a pot on the side.
It was delicious. I was disappointed.
The pancake seemed quite different than the previous year (last year). Next time, I will head back there and try the classic Dutch with orange, and more Kcal's than necessary.
Separate hot plates are impressively used to prevent cross-contamination and ensure the delicious dishes remain as free-from as possible.
Which menu calls out to you? Do you prefer the menu last year or the new one? Either way, we enjoyed the wonderful winter lights festival which tinkled its way into our blissful embrace of the inky days of winter. The new features added some stunning holograms of wildlife which grace you during your stay. We were blessed with stunning animals in the garden of our lodge this year. I bought a bag of peanuts to take from Amazon and packed them in my suitcase, and I decided to throw my banana skin out in the garden to see who might like it. After a long walk, we returned to find the banana skin was gone. I tried to imagine which animal sauntered in cheekily to eat the skin, but later I discovered we had one of the stunning Monk Jack Deers visiting. Of course, I swiftly ate another banana and tossed it into the garden to capture a glimpse of the deer and it confirmed my suspicion. Before long, we were spotting various deer and knew they were different animals due to size, or if they had little horns or not. We were even blessed with spotting a mother and her baby deer close to the swimming pool on our last day, but I was too slow and 'in the moment' to capture it on camera.
No visit is ever the same at Centre Parcs. We always enjoy our visits and I love the idea of the wonder of what you will see, eat and feel.
Love always, from a forest bathed,
Lou xoxo
Ps read last years post here.
If you like this post, and would like to see more about Centre Parcs, please let me know: I have lovely photos of the landscapes, trees, winter lights and other things. I would love to hear from you.
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