It's 32 years since we were last at Centre Parks in Sherwood Forest with our then 8 year old daughter but with a new generation of Grandchildren to holiday with, we find ourselves here once again.
The basic concept has stayed the same, chalets in a forest for staying in and car-free woodland roads for cycling on. A simpler life, which feels safer, but unfortunately costs a packet.
If you can ignore the fleeting notion that you're in the Truman Show or Westworld, there is something here in this concept. There's no doubt in my mind that a car-free village like this is a helluva lot of fun for families, you g and old alike. The cycling alone is so refreshingly easy and if you're like me, a complete novelty, as I retired from cycling with a Raleigh Chopper in the mid-1970's!
Maybe there's a future somewhere, sometime, where towns are much smaller, everyone leaves there vehicles at the perimeter in vast car parks and cycles to and from home on car-free streets.
Have you been to Centre Parcs or a Forest village resort!
No, but I rode a Raleigh Chopper in the 70s!
ReplyDeleteHa ha, they were so cool Baron weren't they. I adored the stick gear! Oh and the saddle, and oh the handlebars! Well, everything really!
DeleteCoolest bike I ever had. Cooler than my Kawasaki Ninja!
DeleteWow, that Ninja sounds ace tho Baron!
DeleteI had my honeymoon in that very park. It is a great idea, but basically a money sieve. As its out of the way and everything you technically need is on site, its pay as you go! The concept is explored often in William Gibsons 'Bridge' sequence, where entire gated communities live their lives inside a secure perimiter, with shopping malls, parks, climate controlled weather and rent-a-cop security. Bill
ReplyDeleteHa ha, that makes you guys Robin Hood and Maid Marion! How cool!
DeleteDo Gibson's gated communities fare well Bill or is an ill wind abroad?
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