The next stop of our camping adventures was to Belle Parc  RV Resort in Brooksville Florida. So the other day I had the thought no one is going to trust our reviews, we never write anything bad. Well, upon arriving at Belle Parc  I thought 2 things. First I blew it picking out a campground and here it is our first not so nice review.  O.k. as silly as it may sound even though I am the one directing not the one driving, tight spots make me super nervous. So you probably know where this is going by now. the park is set up on a hillside with roads more on the narrow side than some parks we have visited.  Hence our first impression was on the nervous side, I am going to tell you right off the start this was the first campground ,we sat at, on that day of departure and brainstormed on how oh how can we stay?

Upon arrival Tom went into the office, where he was walked to the site personally and one of the workers actually helped us park. I was very impressed by the service and friendliness. I don’t want to give the totally wrong impression, our site that day was our tightest yet but I cant tell you every site is this way, nor did we have trouble getting in the space. Once parked, the camp set up, and our sigh of relief exhaled we went for a walk to check things out. Now that once  intimidating hillside was actually a beautiful sight.

Accommodations at Bell Parc include laundry, a very nice gym with beautiful views of the lake, clubhouse, pool and spa, and very nice restrooms. I believe ownership has traded hands within the last few years and they are working hard at renovating   the park. In addition they are building more campsites.  So everything looks new and cared for. There is a lake on the property which the clubhouse overlooks. Behind the clubhouse is a public fire pit and dock to enjoy the views.  The dog park which is important to us was beautiful, large fenced in, with a nice picnic table for us humans. One more note to add is that  this park is very active,  between events happening there,  and also outside planned day trips.

Belle Parc is located in Brooksville Fl. in Hernando county. This area is part of Florida’s nature coast, situated close to the gulf coast. There are  several nature parks in the area Withlacoochee State Forest, Chinsegut Conservation Center and McKethan Lake Natural Trail to mention a few.  A nationally ranked golf course Pine Barrens is close by also.   Just in case your visiting in April you don’t want to miss the Florida  Blueberry Festival.

Share and Enjoy

The Carefree Homosassa RV resort was a very nice  find, not too far from home, and we will be going back for those quick weekend getaway trips.  This time around we opted to stay at a campground that was just a little less than hour away from home, located on the Gulf coast side of central Florida which is where we like to roam and play and were very familiar with the area from many day trips.  The nice part was we didn’t have to drive home at the end of the day, and we all know how being away from home,  the chores around the house that you “should” be doing but are not, cant bother you.

Let me start with the reviews I saw online after getting our reservations, which I neglected to look into earlier thankfully!  I saw several negative posts about how cramped, small, impossible to maneuver, “my awning couldn’t open because it would hit my neighbors slides”… and other bad reviews so I got a bit concerned to be honest.  But having experienced and stayed at other Carefree Resorts locations and being impressed, I couldn’t help but wonder, and also knowing the only time people jump online to review something is when they are mad about something, and I had to keep this in mind.  Well surprise, we had a very nice site, plenty of room to get in and out, our awning and slides on a 32′ travel trailer were miles away from the next site, and as well, when we walked around the campground, I couldn’t see the problem areas except for maybe a couple of sites located on road bends which would be hard to maneuver and back in an oversized trailer or RV that isn’t intended for that sized site.  Many aspects of the campground looked new, and Carefree did just take this park over not too long ago,  so it makes me wonder if the site layouts have changed for the better and the old reviews no longer have merit…I honestly don’t know but I couldn’t see what they were complaining about.

This campground is located just off the Homosassa River and about 10 minutes south of Crystal River.  There are lots of activities to see and do in the area, including fishing, snorkeling, kayaking, walking along the river front, bike riding and the list goes on.  You are situated
about a mile or so from a major boat ramp, bait store, restaurants and hotels in whats known as Old Homosassa, we love the area.  About a mile in the other direction is a wildlife park called Homosassa Springs WIldlife State Park, which is a great park and a zoo with walking trails.  A little farthe north maybe about 10 minutes is Crystal River and the Kings Bay water front area again which has state parks, great waterfront restaurants and just a great atmosphere, another one of our favorite local areas to go hang out for a day.

The Campground was very clean, bathrooms were beautiful in the location by our site, again looks as if they were recently redone.  The roads are all paved, the sites all had picnic tables, I read somewhere that fire rings are available, but I didn’t see any or ask for one so I cant say for sure.  The free cable with the site gave us around 25 channels which were perfectly clear, our site had all 3 plug sizes, 20/30/50 Amp in the box, and the water seemed fresh, no odors or discoloration and we drank it and cooked with it and no problems.  The grounds were very pretty with lots of big mature tress, several waterways and ponds, a nice fountain in the pond at the entrance, so your first initial view upon arrival is very nice.  The office staff we dealt with upon arrival were nice and gave us clear directions to our site and best way to approach for ease of backing in.

I will say in a little side story here is that they do run a tight ship and the office manager is right in top of things. Unfortunately and quite embarrassing for us, we got spoken to by the office manager for something our guests kids had done without us being aware of, messing around in the empty site next to us.  It was professionally brought to our attention, the matter fixed and dealt with and everything was fine, but I am sharing this to show that this is a campground where you can feel good and know that things are being watched over, no crazy noisy partying, everyone was nice, grounds well maintained, maintenance and clean up crews always driving around doing little clean up jobs of sites and grounds, when someone would leave we would see them checking and raking and prepping site for next guests.

Since this is getting a little long and I could type away forever, Im going to conclude here that we had a nice stay at Carefree Homosassa RV Resort.  The reviews I saw online and were looking to confirm about tight spaces, I just honestly couldn’t see, sure they were not all monster sites, some were larger than others, but not one did I think to myself wow thats too close.  If you have a large trailer that you are not confident in navigating into some smaller areas, discuss that with the office, there are sites meant for different sized trailers.  Not every one needs a pull thru, and not everyone needs a small site for a popup camper, this place has something for everyone’s needs.  We will be going back as this is the area we like to hang out at and not having to drive home at the end of a day in the sun is…well….priceless.  This one gets a thumbs up for approval…Happy Camping!

Tom & Tracie

All the pictures are below..

Share and Enjoy

Last weekend we found ourselves heading a couple hours to the complete opposite side of the state of Florida from the previous weekend.  This time we headed east and went to the Flagler Beach area and stayed at the Bulow RV Resort which is one of Encore’s campgrounds.  We had a very first initial contact when calling in our reservation, the woman on the phone was very helpful in making sure our desires were met to be in a certain area under some big Oak tress on the opposite end of the place from the main entrance.  This was decided when Tracie and I took a ride through the campground about a month earlier while we were in the area visiting some family and saw one of those little brown state signs with an arrow saying campground down this road.  We saw the sign last second, turned around and said to each other lets check it out, and we were glad we did.  Great location and about a mile inland from the coast so we were protected from the cold winter winds at the ocean front.  We originally took a short side trip to look at a couple places on the beach for camping, but were immediately reminded of the strong winds and cool constant breezes that frequently happen in the winter months so we thought wed wait til spring for those locations and found Bulow RV Resort buried in the old Oak trees just a mile away…perfect spot for a winter getaway.

Now back to our initial call, we saw where we wanted to be on our first drive thru with our car when scouting out the area, away from everything and under some big old Oak trees.   When we called to reserve our spot, we mentioned where we wanted to be, the woman asked if we were sure, as she was alerting us to the fact of no sewer hookups and made sure we were OK with all that, which I respect greatly her honesty, and proceeded to do a little finagling and got us in the perfect spot!  I made sure they has a waste tank dump area which they did, so we were fine for several days of no sewer hookups, and dumped and flushed the tank on the way out, no biggie.   And now time to pay, she told us the price which I felt was very reasonable, but then she proceeded to ask if we were Passport America members(we are not) , my answer was no but why? and she said we could have saved 50% off the rate.  I felt that was very customer orientated and impressive. Two thumbs up to the office staff.

The grounds were what I feel a campground is to be like, from my old days of camping as a kid.  Some paved roads, some dirt roads, we parked on grass, some pads and pull through spots were available, but majority were grass sites under trees, with water, electric and free cable hookups, oh yeah and free WiFi and we were right under the antenna so our service for WiFi was great.  There was a large heated pool with very warm water in it, but the sad part it was so cold the weekend we went, not a person was in it, not even us.  In the center of the campground area was a large metal building, guess what it was…yup a BAR!  The bar is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights from 7 pm to 2 am, which leads us to the only problem we had.  Noise late at night as the bar crowd was walking around.  Campgrounds are generally very quiet after midnight, but here there were people walking and talking heading back to the bar or to their sites which kept making our dogs bark, so it was tough to get some sleep.  Now dont get me wrong, these were NOT drunken and rowdy type people, just walkers and talkers and when its sooo quiet, it seems you could hear a mouse fart, talking seems extra loud on a cold dark night, and the dogs were uneasy as well.  Next to the Bar and building, there was a play area with a playground, miniature golf, and an open area for a small game of football, baseball, volleyball, horseshoes or whatever you’d like, its just a groomed and taken care of open space in the middle of everything.  At the far corner from the entrance and ofice, we found a fully fenced in dog park running area, it was pretty big to, if I was to guess I would estimate it to be about 60′ x 100′, with poopy bags and a garbage can, and a sitting bench.  There was also running water in the dog area if you feel your doggie needs a drink.

As far as location to other areas and things to do, very close and I mean very, to several parks with hiking and biking trails, right next door was the Bulow Plantation state park with some walking trails, a nice long dirt road for biking, a burned out sugar mill and just a nice place to visit on the Bulow Creek, which leads to the Halifax and inter-coastal waterway.  Next time we go, yes we will be back, we will bring our kayaks as we found many inland waterways I would love to discover among some marshes and wooded areas, and there’s a nice secluded little boat ramp right next door at he Bulow Plantation State Park.

To sum it up, Id say this campground was very adequate and well maintained.  Not one of your high end plush and new fancy dancy places but I honestly liked the old country feel and back to basics this location had.  It was very nice, very clean, people and long term residents were friendly, the ones we met at least, so I would have no problems recommending someone to check it out.

Thanks and Take Care!
Tom & Tracie

Share and Enjoy