Center Parcs Sherwood Forest

We wish we could walk you through every step of this stunning stay, it’s an experience to remember that will really leave its mark on you, or any Delegate visiting! As you enter, the whole Sherwood Forest village greets you - it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the vastness and stunning design of this area, beautiful natural trails, free flowing water and on our stay, gorgeous sunlight breaking through the trees, it’s a place to behold.

We do lots of venue showcases, every venue has its own unique charm, feel and vibe. Here you feel so far away from reality, there’s no city noise, or polluted air, instead, the space feels like a secluded place to build working relationships in a way that you might not get on a day to day basis - in luxury treehouse saunas or games dens, or a frantically fun team-building experience - what's so interesting about Center parcs Sherwood Forest is that the experiences they can offer, can’t be offered by many other venues.

What might just be the headline of those experiences is the mind-blowing team building facilities on display here. If you’re planning a company retreat or even a one-night stay for a meeting team - there’s over 200 activities on offer at Sherwood Forest that range from fun, to ridiculously fun. We didn’t get to spend much time in the Subtropical Swimming Paradise that is at the centre of this Center Parcs (awful pun, intended) but it’s a real stunner, and features very similarly in Woburn Forest in Bedfordshire. The Woburn site, we hear, is just as impressive, and not just on the relaxation side either - this is Center Parcs second dedicated conference space - with another version of “The Venue” impressing clients every day there too!

The arrival process is so smooth here, the staff were immaculate and cheery, and the vibes were off the scale. Being so far into incredible natural beauty, you really do start to get excited about your stay as you traverse the Woodland Path to Village Square, which functions as the heart of this little world linking you to cafes, restaurants, outlets and events space. While this place is leaf galore, it was also a stunningly accessible venue that always was surplus to requirements in terms of accessibility. Even “The Venue” is all on one floor, making it easy to access, no matter your requirements!

Believe us, listing all the facilities is a genuinely uphill battle here! We were genuinely spellbound by the fantastic facilities on offer. OK, deep breath…let's start with the bedrooms and trial our way toward The Venue, where we will close with our meeting space highlights.

The 550 Bedrooms available at Sherwood Forest, to corporate events guests, all have amazing, quiet and peaceful designs - no matter the variety of accommodation. There are lovely cosy lodges that feel like a little slice of the forest all to yourself, perfect for de-stressing after a long, action-packed day at a launch! All these lodges contain a mix of double and twin bed setups. Otherwise however, Center Parcs know how to do luxury, and they know how to do it big. The Luxury treehouses are quiet, secluded, and magnificent. This is true serenity with a hot tub, sauna, and games all to yourself, even if you’re not - these make you feel like you’re the boss. As if there weren't enough other ways to unwind at this amazing venue!

Speaking of ways to unwind, there's fantastic gym equipment, the amazing Subtropical Swimming Paradise as aforementioned, but also the Aqua Sana Spa which consists of not one, not two… but TWENTY FIVE different spa experiences over six zones, within the sanctuary of the trees, from a treetop sauna to a purifying salt steam room, this is a mind-blowing wellness facility in its own right that we could do a whole venue showcase on itself. Walking through what they had to offer in this space was stunning, and while the sauna might not be the best meeting room, we’d be remiss not to mention this fantastic part of Sherwood forest.

To satisfy those foodie cravings here in the woods, there’s 8 restaurants, all of which can be used by clients at professional events - there’s a sports cafe, leisure bowl and even a pancake house… we went straight here! We’re not going to act like working in the events industry is all easy work, we event profs work hard to do what we do, put on and go to great events day in day out - so pick me up coffees from any one of the three coffees around Sherwood Forest are likely to be needed throughout the day, and we don’t blame you.

Something we loved was that despite the incredible opportunities for genuinely special team building of all varieties, including motivational, problem solving, or teamwork focussed challenges, this venue also didn’t forget about the basics - and it does them well, there's a fantastic large car park which is well lit - safe and secluded. As is the whole village, as the sun looms low in the sky, the darkness only makes this little getaway more exciting, the pathways are well lit, and the directions are easy to follow. There’s strong Wi-Fi which was impressive for the remote location, and EV charging that’s pre-bookable. We felt like Center Parcs had us covered for everything… and to that we say, cheers, centre parcs - we appreciate it! The catering doesn’t stop there though, the team here had a fantastic array of specially designed menus to enjoy in The Venue, which had everything from delicious breakfasts to kick-start your day and light bites in between meetings to networking lunches.

Right - let's talk meeting spaces - namely “The Venue” and this really is the venue, as it all happens in this well-designed space on the lakefront. Think of this space on a grander scale. It’s new, it’s centrally located in the country, it’s got six suites with removable walls that mean this can literally all melt away into one huge space for hundreds of delegates for ANY kind of event. Residential Conferences is their specialty here, offering the whole shebang, activities, conference and a stay all in the same package, this is a great choice for a training retreat, or an awards ceremony that will run on late into the night, meaning that those that deserve it the most are close to a great night's sleep at a moment’s notice. As you might be able to tell, Sherwood forest has a lot to offer, and they made it very clear to us during our stay that they’re ready to tailor to any kind of bespoke event. The events team (there’s one per events hub - one here and one at the aforementioned Woburn Forest) really had a blank canvas approach to their attitude about putting on your perfect day conference, board meeting, gala dinner or product launch, it was just, what could we do… and how could we make it the best possible? We love this - and want to give this hard-working team the credit it deserves - they really are passionate about good events, and very friendly too!

Meeting Space Highlight: The Ball Room
Seating up to 260 in Banquet layout with built-in AV, it’s the perfect suite for a dinner/dance and has access to a private terrace in the forest. That AV is part of a huge £1M investment into state-of-the-art tech, lighting and production throughout the Venue. There are also lovely touches like call to assist in every room available to hire. This room has the same stunning recycled wooden panelling all around a marvellous stage and screen area which seriously feels classy and clean. There’s also a very impressive LED lighting system that lines the room and can be changed to whatever colour your brand may need it to be!

Natural light: Yes
Theatre: 380
Cabaret: 220
Classroom:
Dinner: 260
Location: ground floor
AV Equipment included: Yes

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Meeting Space Highlight: Oak
On the ground floor, this space suits 48 guests comfortably in Cabaret and can be used as both a meeting or a breakout room. There’s some seriously awesome floor to ceiling windows that really impress in this space and give you incredible views into the forest so that work doesn’t feel too intimidating. Again, this room has the same LED capabilities as the Ball Room - and just as impressive quirkiness, with the hexagonal dimension of the space allowing for two huge projection screens on different walls. This is an amazingly functional training or learning space that’s had no expense spared!

Natural Light: Yes
Theatre: 75
Cabaret: 48
Classroom: 36
Dinner: 80:
AV Equipment included: yes

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Meeting Space Highlight: Green, Ash and Business Centre
Listen, we’re going to cheat here, we’re giving you three meeting spaces for the price of one, but we really must mention them all. They’re all smaller, but never felt crowded on our viewings. Firstly we have The Green room, the largest of the three, up to 16 pax, is perfect for board meetings or some of the training you might’ve thought about the Oak room for, but maybe it’s a little too big. Next is the Ash room, up to 12 pax and features a distinctive round table with natural light. This is an amazing space for a board meeting on a company director's day, getting down to business after enjoying the day exploring all the fun on offer at Center Parcs. When the grind stops, there’s also access to the terrace which, let's be honest, terrace spaces make everything better! Finally, is the little bear of the trio, but not to be underestimated, this is the Business Centre - a more office-oriented space which is the kind of spot you might want all to yourself as an event organiser, heaven knows we need it sometimes!

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Summary
And that might just wrap it all up. We’ve tried to get the scope of this stunning venue all into a pretty succinct package, but you must experience it yourself. If we had to emphasise any of the incredible things on offer here, it would firstly be the absolutely mind-boggling team building capabilities of this venue - they are genuinely second to none with so much to offer, there’s no skill that the Center Parcs Sherwood Forest team can’t enhance… from communicational, to trust, or even negotiation. The next would be the setting, anything feels possible in the English woodland, it feels almost like a fantasyland ready to be explored, this magical tranquillity will be sure to set the tone for your event and make it so that this is seriously something that delegates haven’t experienced before. 360-degree would be just how little expense has been spared on the stunning upgrades to The Venue, there’s even a full 360 degree camera scan online, so you can walk through the venue and see it all for yourself -- maybe go take a peek at any of the amazing spaces we’ve just let you know about - because at this amazing venue, we’re positive there’s almost no way you can be disappointed!