Candy Hill Campground

First, let me remind everyone that I lived next to the I-95/I-64 interchange... literally a stone's throw from it. For 15 years I lived next to one of the busier stretches of road south of DC and learned how to live with it. That said, I'll simply say that this campground needs a good sound barrier as it reminded me of living in our sticks-and-bricks. If you are looking for a quiet location, this ain't it. While my wife and I had absolutely no problems sleeping, many will run away screaming because of the highway noise.

I'm going to pretend that the highway does not exist and tell you about the campground.

Nice. No, really nice. Easy to get to and just a short jog off of I-81. It's a bypass so we didn't even have to backtrack to get back onto I-81. Plenty of retail within a few miles.

We got one of the premium sites and not only did it have FHU and a nice level cement pad, but it had an outdoor furniture set (table, 4 chairs, 2 chase), and a really nice grill. There was a decent dog park, not huge, but bigger than many campgrounds we visit.

Well maintained sites and a good camp store. Didn't have any problems with the management or workers, but didn't have more than a couple of interactions. However, they led us to our site, which is something I always appreciate.

The campground roads are paved and very nice, though not extremely wide. We did not have a problem with our 43' fifthwheel because the corners all seemed to be well thought out. Some of the sites seemed a little tight, but nothing unreasonable. Lots of trees and grass. We could definitely see ourselves spending time there, if we had a reason to stay.

Verizon was quite good as was AT&T. OTA TV had an OK amount of channels.

The highway noise levels of an Interstate rest area. Exorbitant pricing even before considering the endless list of basic services that involve a surcharge. Rude, cranky, bordering on creepy management/ownership. Hookups that were on the wrong side of our rig; for $60/night. Poor access to the Winchester area other than by vehicle.

This is an older RV park, which is appealing to the eye - green and well-manicured. Typical cramming of rigs into spots that are too small. A variety of sites offering different levels of hook-ups; some 30A, some 50A.

They use an online reservation system that allows for surge pricing.

We rolled in without a reservation, but with the knowledge that based on their reservations page, there were 5 sites available for the time period we wished to stay. Apparently, this was offensive to the management/ownership (family) and they were shockingly rude while we attempted to pay them for a site for 5 nights. At one point during the process of check-in/payment, I let them know I'd like to move our rig out of the way of the line that had formed at the check-in area (blocking the entrance - it's not a great set-up). The response was "If you think you can drive that thing." Whatttt? (I'm female, but it doesn't take male genitals to drive an RV.)

Also, there is an early check-in fee, which is why the check-in/entrance area gets backed up around 1 pm.

From that first interaction on, we felt constantly, blatantly watched. At one point, we took our towed vehicle out briefly, and upon return was stopped by the owner/manager walking quickly out of the office straight at me and gruffly and offensively demanding to know what I was doing there because my vehicle tag was not visible. This happened again a day later with the strange confrontational walk-up, except we made sure our tag was clearly visible; the owner/manager just stared us down until we entered our rig. We don't typically worry about management at parks, as we work M-F and rarely use outside space for 'camping' activities, but these folks would not leave us be. We felt a bit better after reading other reviews across the web for this campground; the reassurance that it was NOT 'just us' or that we had done something wrong felt good - but overall added to the story that this park is really poorly/rudely managed and should really be avoided.

We would not come back here, and felt terrible even staying for the length of our reservation (there were no refunds if we left early, but we still considered it several times). We noted that during our stay, most folks seemed to be using this park as an overnight spot while snowbird traveling North. When passing through again, we would stay elsewhere - even the Walmart right down the street, for free, which honestly is a tad farther from the highway and therefore likely much quieter.

Cell service was a bit overloaded at times, but if you do need to connect to the park's Wi-Fi - that'll be +$$.

On the plus side, it was clean, well kept, had a nice camp store and great LP fill up service. Cell coverage was good and they had several wifi sources around the property. On the minus, the sites were very close and in general the campground is tightly packed. They were nit pick WRT guests. One side of the property is along a major highway and another is along an active railroad. My site was away from these noise sources and quiet. Great nearby golf course but no connection (physical or informational). I think they are missing an opportunity to jointly promote their properties. In general, its ok in a pinch.

Candy Hill is a pretty campground with trees and grass. Interior roads are paved and tight in spots for large rigs towing. Some sites have better spacing than others. Some are staggered so you have some privacy even though the sites are fairly close together. Most sites looked level. We had a “luxury” site which was not mentioned when I made the reservation. It was mentioned that event pricing was in effect. I should have asked the price but online it said $55 a night for events. Imagine my surprise when the total was $73 with the Good Sam discount. I guess due to it being a “luxury” site. It was not worth the price. The site had gravel and a concrete pad and was very long. There was a (dirty) grill, two patio lounge chairs and a table with six chairs. The chairs were laid willy-nilly about and the patio was littered with debris from previous storms. To exit the site, we had to drive up a steep incline. Not sure how we didn’t drag bottom on the 45’er. So much for luxury. Directv worked fine in our site as well as local channels on the antenna. They have cable but we didn’t use it. The free Tengointernet didn’t work well at all so we used our hotspots. The campground is right by the highway so there is significant traffic noise. There are also train tracks behind the campground, and the trains let themselves be known. We won’t be returning.

I call this any place in a storm. We had been traveling on I-81 all day in the rain which only grew in intensity so we needed a place to stay for the night. The campground was pretty decent - we arrived in the heavy rain and were offered help in parking. The sites vary quite a bit based upon topography but most appeared level and in good shape. Overall, the park was in good condition and well kept and clean. Our site was very wet given the rain but dried out overnight as the rain eased and stopped. The restrooms were dated needing renovations but clean and not well heated given we were here in November. There is considerable noise from the adjacent highway although this wasn't a problem in November with windows shut. Since it was November, we were informed that the water would be shut off during the evenings given the likelihood of freezing temperatures.

We stopped for two nights in our way to FL, they worked to give us a pull thru. As full time RVers we tend to look at things maybe a little different than someone on vacation. Staff polite, but not "friendly". Very well maintained, old but clean restrooms and laundry. As to road noise, it's from rt 37. OK, if you're not close. But if you got one of their luxury sites, almost at the road. We were here early November, so water locked 8pm to8am, or under 36 degrees and one has to take you hose off at those times. Just filled our fresh water. Campfires are allowed 8am to 11pm, they'll deliver the fire ring, no cost and wood at campground price. Cable was OK, free WiFi didn't connect for us. Main roads paved, others gravel, sites to the lay of the land, most looked level.Easy access from I 81.

First off nightly rates are pretty high, even with a Good Sam discount, not to mention you get nickeld and dimed for EVERYTHING!!! Want to have a fire? Gotta go borrow a fire ring from the office, and they limit you on when it can be used.! Want internet, sure it's free if you want the unreliable 1MB per sec internet, otherwise you have to pay?

Want to have a guest over? Gotta cough up $5 PER PERSON. Oh, and have kids? They cost extra too! For a kid friendly establishment it's appalling that they charge you more.

Aside from being overpriced, the grounds are well kept and we had an escort to our site that helped us back in. This is always helpful, especially when the first thing my kids want to do when we pull into a park is find the playground after being cooped up all day. This allows my wife the freedom to leave and attend to the kids.

Other downsides are they traffic noise. It's right off a highway so it's definitely not very quite. Bathrooms aren't as clean as I would expect either for the prices they charge.

Hook ups are also on random sides of the pad. Our site had the septic on the normal side, but water and electric where on the opposite side of the rig. Some pads seemed to have them both on the right side.