BARRY LEIGHTON finds there’s something for everyone, whatever your age and tastes, at Center Parcs

HER eyes are piercing, her talons are sharp and her wingspan seems enormous. Not only that but she is hungry and she wants her breakfast. Oh yes, and she is heading straight for me.

With her massive hooked beak and effortless turn-of-speed Lady Lincoln is a sight to behold as she imperiously swoops just a few inches off the ground. “Grip your hand down and make a fist,” is the instruction from her handler.

At the last second she spectacularly rises a couple of feet to land, with a jolting thud, on my leather-gloved right wrist before swiftly snatching and gobbling down a slice of stringy meat that I am tentatively dangling.

I’ve met some scary birds in my time but Lady Lincoln, a three-year-old American bald eagle, takes some beating.

Now I truly know how Billy Casper felt in Barry Hines’ novel A Kestrel for a Knave (filmed as Kes) – the thrill and awe of engaging eyeball to eyeball with a magnificent bird of prey.

“You train ’em through their stomachs. You can only do ’owt with ’em when they’re hungry,” explains Billy in the book.

As if to prove the point the majestic and somewhat menacing Lady Lincoln, without so much as a by your leave, swiftly departs towards another quivering member of our group to continue her morning tiffin.

Barely half an hour later and our close encounter with Lady Lincoln and her falcon friends, Levi the Chilean blue eagle, Frankie the red-tailed buzzard and a Harris Hawk called Dagger, is put firmly on the back-burner.

We are tumbling and glugging through the Wild Water Rapids, shooting around cunning bends and trying not to gulp down mouthfuls of water while attempting to unknot our arms and legs as we are hopelessly and haplessly propelled along.

I can make out the excited, cheery squeals of kids and grown-ups alike before occasionally going under. I appear to have momentarily lost my wife. A second or so later a sodden blob of red hair emerges, accompanied with a splutter and perhaps the hint of a curse.

It’s fast moving, one-way traffic. And when at last you’ve been ricocheted to the end of the rapids there’s only one thing on your mind... “Let’s go round again.”

From falconry to warm water rapids in one fell swoop… the only place we could possibly be is Center Parcs.

This is a new one, though – Woburn Forest, which opened in the summer after two years of construction.

Covering 365 acres of countryside, the £250m complex – the company’s fifth purpose-built leisure village – houses 625 self-catering lodges located throughout a forest of pines, along with a 75-bedroom hotel, state-of-the-art spa and spa suites.

It is the second closest Center Parcs to Swindon, after Longleat, and is roughly a two and a bit hour drive via Milton Keynes, the roundabout capital of the universe. We have been to other Center Parcs with the kids over the years but thought: “Wouldn’t it be a hoot to go on our own?” And of course, it was.

Center Parcs isn’t just a haven for children; it is crammed to the gills with all manner of indoor and outdoor activities for all ages and custom-built for larks and laughs. You can take your pick from the likes of archery, canoeing, laser combat and the aforementioned falconry.

From our hotel balcony we could see and hear youngsters tearing down a zip-wire that forms part of an adrenalin-rush woodland activity centre, complete with high-ropes, aerial tree-trekking and climbing and abseiling structures that melt seamlessly into the woody backdrop. If it all sounds too exhausting, head for the Aqua Sana spa complex with its cool infinity pool and raft of facials, body and massaging treatments. You could even be daring and indulge in a spot of Hopi ear candle therapy.

After all that make for The Shearing House, not just a traditional British restaurant but a haven from the rest of the haven where you can sip an afternoon gin – yes, they have a gin menu – from its spectacular curving veranda.

Woburn Forest with its shimmering central lake and snaking bicycle trails, also boasts Center Parcs’ largest Subtropical Swimming Paradise, which incongruously sits like some giant gleaming space ship at a clearing in the woods. The emphasis is certainly on the subtropical. Botanist and landscape architect Jean Henkens sourced thousands of plants at risk from deforestation in South East Asia and South America before shipping them to this vast £28 million, 5,200 square-metre glass structure in the heart of Bedfordshire.

It is one of the great levellers, careering down water slides. Tornado, Twister and Typhoon each incorporate their own intoxicating quirks, from a 45 degree drop to a high-speed body twist. You shout, you scream, you bellow and you go “wooooooah.” It doesn’t matter whether you are nine or 90.

Barry and Pauline Leighton were guests at Center Parcs Woburn Forest.

Winter breaks at Center Parcs Woburn Forest currently start from £249.

For more information, or to book a break, call 03448 267 723 or visit www.centerparcs.co.uk.