Centre Parcs Elveden Forest celebrates 25 years

It's 25 years since Centre Parcs opened in Elveden Forest in Suffolk. More than 10 million guests have stayed at the village since it first opened in 1989.

In 2002 a fire temporarily closed the village. But, 14 months later Elveden Forest reopened its doors after a £60 million pound rebuild. It's the second site to be built in the UK.

During that period; Bikes from the Cycle Centre have travelled 22 million miles which is the same as 899 times around the Earth. Two million pancakes have been flipped in The Pancake House. 185 million skittles have been knocked down in the bowling lanes. Families have hit four million golf balls on the Adventure Golf course. More than 2000 species of butterfly have been recorded and monitored.

In the 25 years Elveden Forest has been open, the forest has also been transformed from a commercial woodland with very little ecological value to a thriving forest with a wide variety of plants and animals.

Elveden Forest is also an area of significant historical interest. The British Museum and Time Team held an archaeological dig at the site uncovering rare evidence of human activity that dated back 400,000 years.

Elveden Forest currently employs 1400 staff, the majority of whom live in the local areas of Brandon and Thetford and 18 of whom have been working there since Day 1.