[1] In 1968,[4] Dutch entrepreneur Piet Derksen purchased woodland near Reuver so that staff and customers of his 17 store sporting goods chain could relax in small tents.

At that time, "Center Parcs" (under that name, with no regional qualifier) was a single global company owning both UK and continental European resorts.

After the Longleat Forest and Whinfell Forest villages opened and during a move in 2001 to concentrate on their core brewing business,[citation needed] Scottish and Newcastle sold the UK side of Center Parcs to venture capitalists Deutsche Bank Capital Partners, and it became a separate company known then as Center Parcs UK.

[10][11] The site was formerly owned by the Forestry Commission, and was chosen as it was "pretty central [in the UK], it had the right maturity of trees and was in an area affected by the demise of the coal industry".

A subsequent inquiry found that the blaze was caused by contractors carrying out repair work on the roof of a catering block adjacent to the Plaza.

The sub-tropical swimming paradise re-opened having survived the blaze; the sauna complex was changed to a Balinese theme, and a new Sports Plaza was opened.

Whilst it was closed, the rest of the village was also improved including the refurbishment of the country club and the addition of a spa and new three- and four-bedroom lodges.

[citation needed] Elveden Forest has a total of 866 units of accommodation which range from 'Woodland' grade to exclusive villas and include rooms at the Lakeview Hotel.

In December 2004, Center Parcs UK announced that it had identified a location named Warren Wood near Flitwick at Woburn, Bedfordshire.

The project was expected to cost approximately £160 million, including the construction of accommodation, indoor and outdoor facilities, the sub-tropical swimming complex, restaurants and a spa, but this has since risen to £230m.

[22] In July 2006, Bedfordshire District Council turned down Center Parcs' application for planning approval on the grounds that the project breached policy safeguarding Metropolitan Green Belt land, leading the company to lodge an appeal against the decision later that year.

She acknowledged that the scheme breached both local and national policies on safeguarding Green Belt, but argued that "in this particular case, the economic and employment benefits of the proposal, when taken together with the ecological and biodiversity benefits... constitute very special circumstances and are sufficient to clearly outweigh the harm to Green Belt", and granted outline planning permission.

In November 2010 Center Parcs gained full approval for the plans of the village including designs of facilities, restaurants, shops and accommodation[24] and in 2012 secured £250 million of investment to build the new resort, to be known as Woburn Forest.

Before Center Parcs could start construction, there were a number of planning conditions that had to be satisfied, most notably the improvement of local road junctions to allow smooth access to the Village.

[25] This represents final approval of the detailed designs of buildings and landscape as well as local sourcing, employment strategies and green travel plan.

[28] In July 2021, the company announced its intention to construct a seventh resort located near Crawley and in the vicinity of Gatwick Airport near the M23 Motorway.

[29] These plans were scrapped in February 2023 following local environmental impact reviews but the company still intends to find a suitable alternate site to build their seventh village which would still be placed East from Longleat and South from Woburn.

[30] In November 2024, the company announced plans for its first location in Scotland, near Hawick in the Scottish Borders and to be placed Northeast from Whinfell and South from the east end of the M8 Motorway.

This included moving all check-ins scheduled for Monday 19 September to the following day, and asking that all guests already present vacate the site by 10am and not return until 10am on Tuesday.