Barrington Hills RV Resort

This is an Encore Park. Most of the residents are either full time or seasonal (6-7 months) campers. Almost all the sites are well maintained with permanent structures or campers set for the season. The people are friendly with many small social groups. As transients, we met our neighbors and regulars at the pool.

Our first impression was not good. The site had apparently been vacant for a while as the neighborhood had been using it as a dog park. We cleaned up a grocery bag of dog poo. There site was also littered with cigarette butts and small bits of litter. A rake would have make the site much more welcoming.

The pool and laundry are great. The laundry is VERY busy.

Many of the reviews cite the office staff as being rude or not responsive. We did not have any issues but during our stay we heard from campers at the pool of several issues about how they respond to other campers requests.

TIPS
If your interest includes art, there is an excellent Dali museum in St. Petersburg.

Best Pizza is A&A South on Little Rd to the Publix shopping center. The sign is hard to find.

This is an older Encore location with lots of park model homes and a few temporary RV spots. We stayed in site 302 for 2 weeks and it was quite comfortable. The grass site was mostly level. It included a middle concrete area and enough space on the other side for our tow car. We met several of our winter resident neighbors and everyone was friendly. The wonderful retired woman across the street even gave us a hug on our departure day. Now that is unbelievable kindness!!! Amazing office staff. Rhonda and the team were very enthusiastic and helpful. Excellent clean and heated pool. Exercise room near the office has several treadmills and a weight machine. Lots of daily activities to keep folks busy. We signed up for the optional paid wifi at our site but it wasn't great. The closest router was behind us so it worked ok in the back of our RV but not in the front. Didn't try the free wifi. Very weak AT&T phone signal but Verizon was decent. Bathrooms and showers were ok. Laundry room was open 24 hours and the machines were kept in good condition. Would definitely stay here again!

We stayed for free with our Thousand Trails membership. This spot definitely cater to those who are long term. Not too many "mobile" families. Everyone seemed to be nice in the park.

We have 5 young children and they don't seem to be used to that. While we were in the pool several times were asked to keep it down because they thought that someone was drowning. Nope, just kids playing. The pool also automatically closes at 5 so if you weren't out of the pool area you would be locked in. However it was heated so despite being December we could be in the water, at least.

It felt neglected and run down. Felt more like an old mobile home park than an RV park.

The ground was level, didn't need any blocks and the internet was stable. The water pressure was very low, ended up filling our tanks and using the water pump so we could have better water flow.

Don't know if I would pay to be in this spot again, but can't beat free.

Booked reservation on line because no staff there after 4.00pm on a Friday. No staff there Saturday or Sunday. Didn’t have a site number to go to on arrival, very confusing. Finally got a site number from calling a help number. Pool closed on Saturday and Sunday!!
It is basically a mobile home park with a few transient sites thrown in. Very disappointed.

Disclaimer: I stayed for free with my Thousand Trails/Trails Collection membership so I don't know what the retail cost is.

I thought the previous review was a little harsh. As long as you understand that this type of resort caters mostly to long-term residents and is not a campground in the traditional sense you'll be fine. If you're looking for hiking trails and roasting marshmallows by the campfire this isn't the place. However I really enjoyed my stay and my dogs really loved the large dog park. Everyone was super friendly and made me feel welcome. So much so that it actually surprised me. Seems like many of the residence-type RV parks I've been to don't care much for the transients coming in and out. And I haven't cared much for those types of parks either as many residents let their sites go to the dumps, but not here. The grounds are clean and well-maintained. Access roads are wide and no potholes at all. The laundry room machines take credit cards, which was very convenient. The previous reviewer complained about nothing in walking distance, but what RV park is?? Seriously it's only a 5 minute drive to go shopping (compared to other places I've stayed where I had to drive 30 minutes to get to town). And because of the mostly older demographic it was extremely quiet at night. I would definitely stay here again.

If the best thing you can say about a park is 'It's where we needed to be' - then well, there you have it. Family lives in the area, and this is the closest park to them that allows those under 55+ to stay (other parks in the area have gotten very strict in enforcing the rule)

This is a very basic seasonal park in the Encore system. Lots of park models, and RV spots are stuck around as there's room, and mostly a 'weed' lawn. Not bad, have certainly been in worse.

There's a pool, shuffle board and community center that your $4/day 'resort fee' is for. Which of course, we didn't utilize, but you're forced to pay anyway.

Without Passport America, this would have been double the price and insulting. They now only honor PA for 7 days, and not during the winter months (as they have in the past). So we timed our stay for starting on April 1.

Absolutely nothing to do within walking distance, but just a couple minutes away from shopping and basic dining.