Destination: Center Parcs Oasis Whinfell Forest, the Lake District; Age appeal: All ages, but especially suited to families; When to go: An all-year-round destination.

The Lake District is all well and good, but it's generally full of rain, sheep, mountains, and people in matching kagouls who think they haven't had a holiday unless they've lost two toes to frostbite and had a pint with bits of mummified rat floating in it.

All of which are not necessarily negative points, it's just that when you spent your childhood holidays yearning for the bright lights of a seaside resort with its miles of golden sand and inviting penny arcades. A fortnight under the grey, forbidding skies of the Lake District watching your dad's trainers going round and round in a washing machine in the caravan site's launderette, dreading the moment you would be forced to hold your own in the children's room (one tabletop Asteroids game, a bust pinball machine and a jukebox with Now That's What I Call Music 1 on it) with a family of hard-as-nails boys from Whitehaven while your parents went for a quiet pint in the bar, does not make for happy memories.

Of course, as you get older the horror fades, and you begin to appreciate the Lake District for what it is; a beautiful swathe of unspoilt countryside, dramatic mountainscapes, strong literary heritage and, yes, pints with bits of mummified rat floating in them, which you begin to acquire a taste for as you hit 30.

And while I hadn't been to Center Parcs before, I'd heard good reports about it. A huge natural pine forest just north of Penrith, nestling in the centre of which is a lake, an indoor swimming pool, a variety of restaurants and shops and some comfortable lodges.

Add to that a traffic-free site (apart from the restricted times you are allowed to unload and pack up at your lodge) and a thoughtfully designed hill-less site, and this seemed the ideal introduction to the area for the family with no fear of instilling in them my childhood dread of asking where we were going for our holidays and getting the answer: "The Lakes".

The watchword of Center Parcs is "sympathetic".

The accommodation is a variety of differentlyproportioned Lodges, which are assembled in small cul-de-sacs or terraces, but to walk along the quiet lanes - even to stand on your patio and gaze out on the trees of a frosty morning - you'd hardly know the neighbours were just feet away, the site is so well designed.

We had a Comfort Plus three-bedroomed villa, for our Monday to Friday stay, a lovely openplan lodge with all the comforts of home you could hope for - sofas, TV, DVD player, CD stereo, full kitchen including dishwasher and microwave, dining area, two bedrooms upstairs for the kids Charlie (two-and-a-half) and Alice (one), a master bedroom on the groundfloor for Claire and myself. And two bathrooms, one en-suite off the master, plus a third toilet in the vestibule. It really was a home from home, but with more space and certainly more toilets.

Oasis Whinfell Forest is a big site, but it's easily navigable and walkable once you get your bearings (which, after a couple of Blair Witch moments in the trees, we did pretty quickly).

Another option is to hire cycles, which is a great way to get around. You can also get superb little buggy-trailers, which we did and which enabled us to haul Charlie and Alice around the site in relative ease (few hills, as I said). One word of warning though; buy a bike lock from the cycle hire place because all the bikes look the same and you might find yourself, as I did, walking home the whole length of the site after someone takes your bike by mistake while you're enjoying a perfectly good hour of archery tuition in the Outdoor Activity Centre.

Aside from the walking, biking and archery (they also do quad biking, fencing and golf at the Outdoor Activity Centre) you can also go in for a bit of pampering at Center Parcs.

On the Tuesday afternoon we put the kids in the Time Out club, in the hands of trained, professional and friendly childcarers, while we took advantage of the Aqua Sana spa in the Sports Plaza. A variety of steam rooms proved a couple of hours entertainment, as did lounging in the heated outdoor pool as steam lazily rolled off the water into the still, zerotemperature air.

For those who like a bit more action in their swimming, the indoor pool is kept to a nicely sub-tropical temperature with a wave machine and the variety of slides and flumes offer no end of fun - unless you've got a one-year-old who doesn't like that kind of thing, in which case you can retire to the poolside snack bar.

The swimming is the only activity thrown in with your admission to the site, by the way, so be prepared to pay for other activities.

On the Thursday it was back to the spa for Claire, who enjoyed an Elemis Absolute Spa Ritual massage, which sounded very relaxing.

For me and the kids it was a morning in the Lakeside Inn, a good stab at a reproduction pub with an all-important family friendly policy, soft-play area, high chairs and microwave for heating baby food. Not quite as relaxing, I have to admit, but still, a pint's a pint.

The whole site is very geared up to families, and you'll rarely be told children aren't welcome anywhere, although there is at least one over-18s-only bar to give non-parents some respite from everyone else's little treasures.

They even have on-site babysitters, which we took full advantage of to visit one of the several quality restaurants (we went for the Indian).

One of the highlights, though, was the carriage ride to Santa's grotto. Center Parcs run a Lapland experience for most of December, and the Christmas lights dotted in the trees and illuminate sculptures made the forest truly magical. We took a carriage ride around the site which delivered us to where Father Christmas and his elves were busy taking orders from excited young children.

Santa was on top form and managed to evoke from the kids more respect than we've ever been able to, and they even had real, live reindeer outside. It was the icing on the cake for a perfect winter break, and while Center Parcs might well be considered "Lake DistrictLite" by serious countryside-fans, it certainly beats yomping up a mountain in matching anoraks, especially if you've got youngsters FACTFILE Center Parcs Oasis Whinfell Forest is located just north of Penrith - leave the M6 at Junction 40 and go a little way along the A66 in the direction of Brough.

Cars are only allowed on site at certain times of day - when people arrive and depart. Traffic will be allowed to enter the site from 3.30pm, at which time queues can build up. It's a good idea to get there early, park up and go for a wander or hire bikes before taking your car up to the lodge.

There are several sizes of lodges, from small ones which will suit couples up to executive properties with their own saunas.

For more information log on to the website at www.centerparcs.co.uk. or telephone 08705 200 300 to arrange a booking or request a brochure.