Brant Conservation Area Review
RR 4, 119 Jennings Road
Brantford, ON N3T 5L7
Park Review: We stayed on Site #249. I gave this park a 3 out of 5.
This park has a variety of trees, tall grasses and shrubs - nothing forest like. Campsite privacy isn't the greatest but they were fairly large sites and at least it's not an open field. We had no idea the fist night that this park is 2 minutes away form the City of Brantford. We could not hear any traffic and with the sites in this campground so scattered it was really quiet.I thought this park was much larger than it needed to be, some sites seemed like you would be in the middle of no where, and the park layout was a little confusing at first. One road was dirt tracks through a field. Some roads had pot holes that could swallow a small child.
It does offer a couple short trails to explore. One trail leads to a small waterfall. The waterfall smells like fish and it was full of garbage. It claims to have the largest swimming pool in Ontario the pool is great for small kids because you can walk right in. It also has a small splash park . The swimming area and pool were kept very clean. They also offer life jackets at no charge to borrow and life guards do an excellent job at containing rowdy kids. The swimming pool is NOT within walking distance from the campground. So it is kind of a pain to load everyone in the car and drive to the pool. You also can't bring any food or drinks into the pool area. We packed a lunch, after a couple hours we took a break and had a picnic lunch in the car. They do offer a concession stand right outside the pool.
There are only 2 flush toilet and shower stations in the park, along with out houses spaced throughout the park. The park employees were very scarce. The park over all needed a little more attention from the employees. The out house behind us was NEVER cleaned in the 4 days we were there, and was disgusting with little black flies swarming out of the toilet. The campers across from us left the day after we got there leaving their garbage to be picked up.... which took 2 days. The main bathrooms did get cleaned every morning but some stalls did run out of toilet paper by the end of the day. We were in a radio free zone and with other GRCA parks they do regular patrols to control noise, don't expect that here. We had problems 2 different nights with 2 different campsites playing loud music - not one park employee seen. Only one night the park patrol drove by to check at 11pm for quiet time - and never came back.
We had no problem with animals other than raccoons who managed to steal a box of corn pops.
I only gave this park a 3
Downfalls: I wish the employees would pay as much attention to the campsites and park cleanliness as they do enforcing pool rules. The trails don't deliver much for a nature enthusiast, just tall grass. Most of the bushes around the campsites are burr bushes.... ouch! We had no water tap near our site, we had to drive to the nearest water tap.
Likes: When the rowdy campers left, the park was very quiet and enjoyable. Our site was right beside a park and the park was right beside the bathroom. Brantford grocery stores were five minutes down the road.
web: www.grandriver.ca
$28/n unserviced
no charge for pool if camping
there is a day user fee for guests who would just like to use the pool for the day.
