Valley Mill v. Barrie Camp or other options

[Anonymous]

I am looking for a camp for my current 1st grade boy for next summer and I am considering Valley Mill and Barrie. I also have a younger daughter and I may send her as well.

Any thoughts on these two camps? The Valley Mill schedule seems to work better for us so I am leaning towards that, but it is also pretty far from where we live in Silver Spring and I am a bit concerned about the long bus ride and day. Barrie Camp may also have more kids from our area, though it is actually a fairly lengthy drive from our house which is why the Valley Mill bus appeals to me.

[Anonymous]

Thumbs up for Valley Mill; great camp for boys and girls. If you son loves to play soccer, swim and rock climb her should be in heaven. Bus ride is not so bad. It's a great camp-- check other threads on this forum too.

[Anonymous]

My DCs attended Barrie. Didn't care for it - high school age kids running the camp; very chaotic; the water/canoeing pictures are very misleading – they have a small pond on the property. We switched to Sandy Spring Friends School camp which is very near Barrie. I’d look into that. Loved that camp, although I know they recently revamped the program, so I can
't speak for it today.

[Anonymous]

It seems like there are a number of people on this board who don't like Barrie camp. I know a lot of people in real life, though, who love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My DCs attended Barrie. Didn't care for it - high school age kids running the camp; very chaotic; the water/canoeing pictures are very misleading – they have a small pond on the property. We switched to Sandy Spring Friends School camp which is very near Barrie. I’d look into that. Loved that camp, although I know they recently revamped the program, so I can
't speak for it today.

Does Sandy Spring Friends School offer swimming?

[Anonymous]

We thought Barrie was OK, but LOVED Valley Mill. My son ended up going there for 4 years, and then moving on to TIC which he also loves.

Things he liked better at Valley Mill vs. Barrie

1) Kayaking and Archery -- the chance to learn something he probably wouldn't learn elsewhere. He got very good at both. I don't think Barrie had either.

2) Temperature -- Valley Mill is shady everywhere, and feels like a nice cool retreat, Barrie is in the sun and HOT. Both camps have a lot of walking, but you notice it more at Valley Mill.

3) Sense of community -- Valley Mill kids stay together for 3 or 6 consecutive weeks, so they get a sense of group identity. My son still talks about being a "scorp" or a "turkey" with pride, at Barrie there wasn't that because the kids changed every week.

4) Down time -- both camps have lots of activities, but Valley Mill had more downtime built in to do things like build dams with stones in the creek, or butt wrestle (I think this is a Valley Mill only thing), there was also more flexibility at Valley Mill -- he could walk over to archery from free swim if he wanted to work on a card there, not an option at Barrie.

I'd go with Valley Mill, no hesitation.