Name: Oakwood Escape - Campsite
Address: 7445 Highway 3 West RR1, Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada, Haldimand County, Haldimand County, Haldimand County, N1A 2W1, Canada
Rating: 9

Parking

Location

At the hotel

Hamilton Airport

St Catharines / Niagara District Airport

Oakwood Escape - Campsite

Haldimand County

Our first experience with "glamping" and what a great way to spend a long weekend.  We are experienced campers but my wife is still recovering from a broken hip so booked this to give me a break from all the extra work that I would take on if we went camping.  I wasn't sure what to expect but it was thoroughly enjoyable and the facilities are great.

Glamping = Total Relaxation

Late review. We stayed there in August 2015 with my family of 3. My son enjoyed playing with their kids a well as getting to pick fresh eggs in the chicken coop. We enjoyed the experience thoroughly. Only drawback is that there's not much to do within the vicinity - which could be a plus if you just want to be isolated from everything. Not sure if they have added anything new this year.

Glamping 101

We recently spent 5 days glamping (2 of those days with an added to tent for more family members to join in the fun).  We were 5 in our tent (kids 7,5 and 1).  But with 2 cots and a plapen we still found it more than enough. The bed was very comfortable (so were the cots) and the hand crafted furniture is such a nice touch.  When the kids were asleep we even opted to not sit out by the fire, but get cosy on the anarondack chairs (hand made again and absolutely gorgeous!) with the oil lamp for light and a glass of wine. The view of the sunset from our tent was spectacular.
      We stayed in Dancing Angel which was the perfect lot for a family like ours. We were far enough from the other tents to fear that our gang would be any bother to the other campers (our kids are really good, but you know, babies do sometimes cry), yet we were right on the pond where the older 2 spent many hours catching frogs, turtle, penny toads and even a snake.  Packing for 5 can be difficult, so it was so nice to not have to think of bedding, towels and kitchen supplies.  The owners have really thought everything out and was really well done. And if we needed anything they were very quick to accomadate. We really liked being able to wash our dishes with hot water at a sink.  We found the whole washing well thought out too with fresh towels every day.  We could wash dishes and watch the kids play at the "park" with no worry. The flushing toilets were always very clean.  We were well warned that the shower was finicky, but we took our chances with it and yes it was difficult to navigate the hot versus cold water, but we enjoyed being able to get clean.
      We took many day trips: Long beach and a stop at the marina for ice cream, Rock point to picnic and fossil hunt, Byng for some swimming (not our favourite), Port Dover for fish and chips. We also stayed during a very stormy and windy day and I can report that our tent did not budge.  The tarp over head took to the wind easily and we felt quite safe. 
      We felt like we made ourselves at home immediately and that we had been there before.  Like we had been friends with Sheri, Wes, Carole and Brian for years!  My kids played so well with their children and we were so happy that they could have this kind of experience. From getting our own eggs in the morning, to hens pecking away all around the grounds, to tractor rides, treasure hunts, frog catching, a dessert treat and so much more, We truly couldn't have asked for a more memorable stay.  We were so sad to say goodbye, but will definitely be back!  Thank you for everything!

An amazing family experience

We live in the U.K. and planned our own family holiday to Toronto and Niagra Falls with our 3 year old boy and 1 year old girl. We added a Glamping experience between the two to break up the city hotels. We chose Oakwood Escape because of its location and reviews. We loved the view of the Pond from our porch, the frogs, butterflies and free wandering chickens. Both inside the tent and all around the grounds every item and view added up to a visual treat. Everything was provided for, from towels, BBQ grill and enough fire wood to last into the night. We only had to bring our food. It was great to take the basket provided and the kids to collect fresh eggs from the chicken coop for breakfast. 
Its a very warm and welcoming family run business and our children got to play with their 3 children who showed them how to catch frogs in nets from the pond. The  tents were spaced a large distance apart so you get a lot of the scenic area to yourself. Somewhere the children can run free!

A perfect family Glamping experience!

My husband & I just spent the civic long weekend glamping at Oakwood Escape to celebrate my birthday. We had a blast and had a lovely relaxing weekend away from it all. Owners Sheri & Wes and their three beautiful & helpful children, Carol & Brian and their dog bella were all so warm & friendly & such great hosts. Thank you all again for a wonderful experience!

The tents are called prospector tents and are made from a very strong durable canvas with added tarp protection and are very spacious inside, not like your average camping tent experience that's for sure. You can stand up comfortably inside (12ft x 14ft) and they are erected on a low raised wooden deck off the ground. They are fully water proof with full bug/mosquito net protection if kept closed. Side note, It rained very hard one morning and there was not a single drop inside or on the deck.
The tent had well maintained high gloss polished wood flooring with a comfortable queen size bed, pillows with white very clean hotel style white bed linen/ duvet, towels & bedside mats. 
The tent is furnished with beautiful hand crafted unique furniture including two bedside tables, a coat stand, small dresser and hutch containing all your kitchen equipment. The kitchen hutch had all cooking utensils, pans, fry pan, grater, pot to boil water, strainer, plastic wine & water glasses, cutlery, mix bowls, crockery ( dinner plates, side plates, bowls, mugs) ,lighter, paper towel, tin foil, food wrap, dish washing liquid, cloths etc. Everything in the tent was of good quality and well looked after. You really do just need to bring your clothes and food/drinks. 
They even have a homemade bug spray provided in each tent & a plate of home baked cookies upon arrival. 
Outside the tent is a deck area, furnished with beautiful handmade wooden Adirondack chairs. We felt from our experience that a little table would have made the deck area experience even better especially when the sun was to strong or when it was raining, to be able to sit and eat away from certain weather conditions or even to just sit and play cards or sit and eat casually, sip some wine or coffee. 
Each tent also has its own gas BBQ (with a side gas burner which we cooked our farm fresh eggs in the fry pan( provided) & even baked beans in saucepan & we were able to boil water for our coffee and to rinse off our dirty dishes in a pot provided in your tent). If your a coffee drinker and dont wish to bring the instant stuff then I suggest you bring a coffee plunger with you, we did and it made having our coffee so easy.

Each camp site also has the coolest fire pit with two plastic Adirondack chairs with a unique cooking tripod which was handmade by the owner Wes. Its suspended down over fire/coals on chain and spins for even heat to cook your food. Everything we cooked turned out delicious. We made our own marshmellow toasting rods out of sticks as rods weren't provided.
There is also a picnic table at each site. At tent number 5 there was no shade options due to no surrounding tree coverage and it was a very hot all weekend ( high 30's) with humidity, so during hot periods of day we ate on the Adirondack chairs on the tents deck to escape the burning hot sun. There is no umbrella for the picnic table or tree shade at this tent. Evening dinners though were lovely on the picnic table. 
I brought a few of my decorative things like a love sign some outdoor t-lite candles, my own vase with tropical leaves and I picked some wild flowers to add to it. I also brought our own nice table linen/ napkins & a ceramic food platter to make our experience that little more glamorous which it made for some lovely photos but not needed. There was a plastic table cloth provided in kitchen hutch. 

At tent 5 site we had a non flushing toilet (compost) which is done very well and has a well lit electrical light inside, clean toilet paper, hand sanitizer, deodorizer for toilet etc. Its a 3-5 minute walk from tent 5 to a flushing toilet and shower. There is a shower currently being built at tent site 5 but was not yet finished for our stay. 
It also has a sink attached to a big rain barrel for washing your hands, dishes etc however we took our dishes over to the other communal washing station facility near tents 1-4 as there was mosquito larvea in the water. The washing station with hot/cold running water and was really not to much effort to bring over and wash our dishes with running cold hot water.
There is two flushing toilets right near tents 1-4 & a hot/cold shower which is there for ALL glampers to use (The shower unfortunately didn't work for us the time we tried to shower but it worked for others at the camp site) and there is also an electrical plug there to charge phones etc and a communal mini fridge which was already full by the time we checked in but we brought our own coolers and used ice blocks which stayed frozen for 24 hours and then Wes kindly put them in their freezer for us to refreeze and he also gave us a large cooler with ice blocks to chill our wine etc. Very accomodating.

We checked on Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening the owners hosted a family outdoor movie night and provided popcorn for the guests. We chose not to watch the movie and stay relaxing by the fire at our campsite and one of the beautiful children came and delivered us fresh cups of hot popcorn to us by the fire, such a lovely surprise. The second night they brought us dessert, fresh baked delicious banana bread with a cream cheese frosting. 

Dunville town is a short drive where there is a food basics and LCBO and other stores if there is anything you need. FYI they have lots of hens laying eggs each morning and you are urged to pick them fresh for your breakfast.They were so delicious we purchased 2 cartons to take home @ $3.50 dozen. So yummy!

I suggest you bring outdoor mosquito coils during the summer months for extra protection as dusk hours between 8-10 pm there was thick mosquito presence. Also wearing light breathable long clothing to cover arms and legs really helped me, however I didn't get bitten because I came armed with much protection LOL and I am a mosquito magnet.  So if the bugs like you then protect yourself prior to dusk and you will be fine. After 10 pm the bugs disappeared all together and we kept our tent mosquito net closed and pinned down by firewood so no bugs could enter and we had very comfortable bug free tent inside the entire weekend.

All in all we had a wonderful time and will definitely go back to stay at Oakwood Escape and would highly recommend you try this experience. Its luxury camping but still with the camping experience. Will never camp in a regular tent ever again. I will never camp again, a unique way to stay and experience the outdoors very comfortably & well worth the money.

Oakwood Escape - Campsite

Main amenities of the campground

Location

Available rooms

Location

Description of the campground

What other amenities are there?

Policies

Check-in terms and conditions

Additional information

Payment