Sandy Pond, S. Plymouth

[maddygirl]

back from our trip to Sandy Pond campground in South Plymouth MA, off route  3, exit 3.

my husband and I have decided we will definitely not return. We certainly made the best of it and the kids will have fun wherever we go. Here's what we found:

*they did have a nice convenience store on site-we ended up even buying $4 inner tubes there when we couldn't find any at a supercenter walmart, 4 exits north.

*the staff was fine-no negative experiences. Didn't see a ton of them

* activities for a fourth of july week, while there, were sparse.

*our site had mostly to do with why we won't return.
While spacious, it had no shade whatsoever, had little/no privacy from those around us and we were sandwiched between many seasonal campers who did not seem anxious to have us there. The overall vibe was "this is our place, abide by our rules". Some even went so far as to tell my boys, who mistakenly walked through a corner of their site to get to a ball field to get off their property. I had another woman (grandmother who had her grandkids with her the entire month of july) shush my kids when it was day time-not quiet time. She made it clear she didn't want my kids near her grandkids. Another man yelled at our sons for playing t-ball on the site adjacent to us (which was occupied by a family with children with whom they were playing). My son's FOAM ball hit his truck tire and he unleashed a tirade against my boys and told them to stay away from his damn truck. My poor boys didn't know what to make of it so my three year old kept repeating, "I'm sorry" (he didn't even hit the darn ball) and my 5 year old kept repeating "I just turned 5!" to which he replied, "I don't care how old you are" JERK!

*the boys did enjoy the ball field (out in the hot, scorching sun-the grass was completely scorched there), they enjoyed little Sandy Pond (very small, I would say perfect for toddlers through 6-7 year olds or those who can't swim. They did enjoy the Saturday tractor hay ride. The man driving was very nice.

*there was someone who drove around the sites to make sure all campfires were out by midnight and the noise rules were followed (10 pm-8 am weekdays and 11 pm to 8 am weekends). We definitely appreciated that, though amazingly, it was the seasonals and their large cliquey groups who made the most night time noise!

*playgrounds horribly outdated, I mean from the 60's.....there was a laundry room with 2 old washers and 2 old dryers. Get their early or wait all day.

*restrooms were very gross from my perspective and I was so thankful we had a toilet and shower in our pu. We used it so much, Ray had to flush the tanks every day. We had a full hook up site W/S/E....apparently they do have cable and phone hookups though a seasonal told us that's in the big rig section and you have no shot of getting a transient site there (though it's an open field).

*on their website you can print out a 10% off coupon if it's your first time their. We did, thankfully. They are pretty far off the beaten path if Plymouth activities are on your itinerary. However, they are much closer to WAreham and Bourne. There was a walmart, stop and shop and water wizz amusement park closer by.

[fourkids]

I would concur with your review of Sandy Pond.  We stayed there over Memorial Day weekend and ended up leaving late on Sunday.  We just couldn't take it.  Should have posted my displeasure ... anyway if you are want to go to a really nice campground on the cape check out Sweetwater Forest in Brewster, they have a very good web site with most of their info.  Sorry you suffered the same misfortune we did at SP.

[Gutpile]

We have reservations at Sweetwater Forest for a week beginning in about 3 weeks.  The folks on the phone sound very nice - we are really looking forward to it and hope that it is a nice campground.  I will be sure to post our experience.

[fourkids]

We had a great time @ Sweetwater.  It was quiet, wooded, restrooms are clean, and the staff is great.  Make sure to bring bikes if you have them as the Cape Cod Rail Trail runs right next to the campground.  Make sure to go into "town" at least once; it has  a great "New England" village feel with general stores, farm stands, ice cream parlors, coffee shops, etc.  We will be going back in September.

[Gutpile]

How far is "town" from the campsite?  What beaches would you recommend?  My 9 year-old step-daughter has never seen the ocean - can't wait for that!!

[maddygirl]

I went on Sweetwater's website-man does it look great! That place is absolutely on my list of places to go to!

[AustinBoston]

Another man yelled at our sons for playing t-ball on the site adjacent to us (which was occupied by a family with children with whom they were playing). My son's FOAM ball hit his truck tire and he unleashed a tirade against my boys and told them to stay away from his damn truck. My poor boys didn't know what to make of it so my three year old kept repeating, "I'm sorry" (he didn't even hit the darn ball) and my 5 year old kept repeating "I just turned 5!" to which he replied, "I don't care how old you are"

If someone had done this to my child, it would have resulted in an immediate, in-your-face confrontation that had the serious potential to turn violent, even if I were clearly going to be the looser.

As a father, it is MY responsibility to discipline my children, and it is his responsibility to deal with ME, not them, if there is an issue.

If he did anything other than appologize, I would have offered to have the police decide if he was abusing children.

This behavior is simply inexcusable in an adult.

Austin

[maddygirl]

If someone had done this to my child, it would have resulted in an immediate, in-your-face confrontation that had the serious potential to turn violent, even if I were clearly going to be the looser.

As a father, it is MY responsibility to discipline my children, and it is his responsibility to deal with ME, not them, if there is an issue.

If he did anything other than appologize, I would have offered to have the police decide if he was abusing children.

This behavior is simply inexcusable in an adult.

Austin

we felt the same way Austin! Unfortunately, I did not witness it firsthand....it was going on 2 campsites over from us (on the same side). The 8 year old boy and his 14 year old sister were playing ball with my boys and they were the ones who relayed the story. I truly did believe the story, my boys are young enough that they don't have that innate ability to lie yet, but since we hadn't witnessed it and the guy had left the site for a trip, we didn't do anything then. We waited to see if there were any other altercations and one time we walked by his site when he was there and I was holding my sons' hands and said (really loudly obviously for his ears to hear): You boys are SO GOOD. I'm so proud of you. Then I gave him the evil eye. But yeah, he was a total a**