Dana G.
Yelp
I wanted to pick a place near home for my first camping trip with my two young boys (age 3 and 6) and Normandy Farms ended up being a great spot. It was my first camping trip since I was about twelve years old so I was a little worried about how soothly it would go being in the wilderness with my boys but Normandy is more like an RV resort - with some spots for tent campers as well.
I will say this is NOT the place to go if you want wilderness, deep shady camp sites, or quiet walks down walking trails. The sites are very exposed - ours was right at the edge of deep woods facing a large field. At night time I could hear the highway way off in the distance. Since so much of the resort is picture perfect - its a damn shame that the tent sites are so barren. The rest of the grounds are very shaded, well manicured, and extremely clean.
We were bummed that the bathroom near us did not have any showers - we had to walk a bit further to a bathroom in the middle of RV-land for showers. It gave us the feeling that they really dont cater much to tent campers.
But for young kids it was a lot of fun - even though it may not be the kind of outdoors, getting-in-touch-with-nature, relaxing fun you had in mind. There is an amazing playground there with wonderful slides and climbing structures. There are 3-4 heated pools, one is indoors. There is a beautiful fishing pond, horshoes, a bike park, dog park, disc golf, basketball courts, a video game room, ice cream stand, and a small general store.
This place is not cheap though - they do charge you for every person, child, baby and pet you have with you. However I did get a tent site somehow this last trip for just $30 a night (on the phone they quoted me $50).
I do see where the money goes - the staff is everywhere and the place is in great shape everywhere. There is WIFI, bingo night, movie nite etc..
I think we will go back sometime again and try to tent in a different spot.