Winton Woods

This is a review of the Winton Woods campground.
Pros:
1. Large spacious campsites
2. Every site has electricity
3. Many sites have lake view
4. Nice playground
5. Clean bathhouse facility
6. Boat rentals within walking distance
7. Beach swimming nearby
Cons:
1. Staff not very knowledgeable or service minded
2. Several people had issues with their key card working at the gate
3. Some loud camping parties
Comments:
I take an annual camping trip somewhere with each grandchild. I found this campground to be a great for the reasons listed above. This is the first experience I have had with a «gated» campground. You had to have a key card to enter the campground. It creates an environment where there is supposedly no additional traffic coming through. However, it can lead to a false sense of security. I was told of a registered camper giving his key to a non-​registered guest to enter through the gate rather than park in the guest parking.
My comment regarding the staff not being very knowledgeable was in regards to me asking questions about boat rental and the beach at check-​in. He informed me it is all part of the park but two separate businesses and brushed me off. When you are talking to people vacationing from out of the area despite the fact the beach and boathouse were not operated by the same business one would expect to get some general information or have brochures handy from the other businesses. In my past experiences campgrounds generally are very happy to promote nearby attractions, as that may be the very thing that draws in their next camping clientele. (I would have attributed it to a lazy employee except that I had two other occasions where I sought either information or had a question and got a similar cold response from different employees. They really left me feeling like «go away I don’t want to talk to anyone.») On check-​in I was given my gate key, a map of the campground, directions to our campsite, and handed a bag being told it was for our recyclables. During our stay I sorted our trash and put the recyclables in the bag we had been given. Our final day I went into the office to inquire where/​what was I to do with the bag of recyclables. The staff response, «I don’t know.» There was a note attached to the bag telling what could and could not go into the bag but no instruction as to what to do with it when you were checking out. In my opinion that is unacceptable customer service attitude. If this individual truly did not know he should have offered to find out and KNOW the answer. If they are promoting this and distributing the bags they better know where they are to be collected when campers leave. I spoke to a neighboring camper who told me to leave the bag by the campsite post and maintenance would come by to pick it up. I do not know if this was correct or not but sounded logical. If it is the procedure it could easily be put on the attached instructions and the staff should be able to inform people of that simple instruction rather than give a duh, «I don’t know» response.
My eight-​year-​old grandson had a great time and loved this campground. We spent time on the hiking trails, rented a paddleboat, and rented a canoe. We enjoyed a lot of nature seeing ducks, geese, blue heron and turtles. Good memories were made here.
Would I stay here again? Yes!

This exceptional park provides a shaded recreational trail, boat rentals and camping. Employees were helpful and pleasant. The campground has large sites, cement pads, clean restrooms, laundry facilities, free Wi Fi.

I have been trying to get in more exercise outdoors this summer and winton woods park fits the bill. The harbor loop is 1.9 miles. The west loop is 1.8 up and down. So. I walked the harbor twice and the west trail 3 times a week averaging 5.3 miles each visit. The west trail has hills and several inclines, The best part is running down the hill. What a motivating adrenaline rush.
The park itself is full of greenery and windflowers. There are many picnic areas in view along the track. The smell of grilled food is delightful although it creates much envy for me. There is a fishing pier and paddle boats, canoes and more to help keep one active. I really enjoy waking past the harbor playground watching the children splash in the water playground. There is a food court and clean bathrooms available. The parking pass is $ 10 and it is good at any entrance to the park.

Winton woods is a great park. So many things to do. The lake is beautiful wih several walking trails. There is a nice paved one for biking or walking strollers along with several nature trails to explore. I like taking my daughter to the splash park named parkys ark. I suggest getting there early before it starts to get crowded. 11 is when it starts. There is a slide, a arch for kids to run under along with several spouts from the ground. Some parts are coated with a rubbery soft ground. A refreshment area close by for a cool drink or snack.

Terrible business. They have very poor customer service and ridiculous «policy» of no refunds even when they are not busy. Might as well have mugged me in the street. Thieves!

Went to Parkys Farm today with my husband, our 2 year old and 3 year old this morning into the afternoon. Everyone enjoyed it. Pricing for the extra attractions were great as well as the snack items. All of the animals were wonderful towards the kids (even to the select few that were tormenting them). There was so much for our kids to do, they didnt get bored.
The farm and restrooms were clean. The staff was very freindly and attentive. I feel like the trip was a learning experience for the kids and they was able to have fun at the same time.

Nice campground that is beautifully maintained, good size spots. Only complaint is the water set up. Showers have no temperature control and get extremely hot. Only the women’s handicapped shower has the ability to turn the show off-​the rest are automatic shut off. Awesome walking trails.

I came here to kayak on the lake on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. They have a kayak and canoe launch near the Boathouse that makes it a bit easier to get in and out of your boat and to get your boat in and out of the water. You can use low horsepower motor boats on the lake so I saw a couple of pontoon boats but other than that it was all kayaks or paddle boats. You can rent kayaks and paddle boats at the Boathouse but I had my own so I didn’t see the prices.
The lake was very calm and peaceful and there were not that many people out on the water. I explored pretty much the whole lake. Most of the people that had rentals stayed pretty close to the area of the lake near the Boathouse. By the dock where everyone fishes and in the circular dock area where people fish there was a decent amount of trash floating in the water. However, as I paddled further from the boat launch area the lake was a lot nicer. Around the corner and past the dam I saw multiple herons and a turtle and it really felt peaceful and close to nature. At the end of the lake there was a little tunnel that led to a stream and that added a little fun to the day.
I really enjoyed paddling here and will probably return. You can buy a day pass for the parking area for a couple of dollars or a year pass for $ 10 that is good at parks all over the greater Cincinnati area. I got the year pass so that I can come back and visit other parks. It’s not that far of drive so for a nice day of paddling it is totally worth it.
I used to come here all the time some years ago for hiking and always enjoyed it but since it has been a while I can’t coment on how the trails are currently. I will have to return to hike another time and update the review.

Another nice park in the Hamilton County system of parks.
This is a large park, with a large lake. We took the lake tour & discovered that the lake itself is owned by the Army Corp of Engineers. Via other rivers, water from the Ohio River is diverted to the lake to help prevent downtown from flooding. The Corp allows the park to use the lake for recreational purposes. Boats may be rented at the boat house. I believe you need a permit to fish from the lake. Please check with the park to be sure. The boat house also serves as a tackle shops.
On the same side of the park is also the water play area, snack bar, and playground. Wrist bands for the water play area may be purchased from the snack bar for $ 3 per child or 3 children for $ 7. Adults are free with child. An array of animals spray children from ontop of Noah’s Ark. There is also a small waterslide coming out of the side of the ark. My children really enjoyed themselves. What a great way to stay cool on a hot day. One of the lifeguards was really ontop of things. She kept kids from cutting in line for the waterslide. I even saw her walk a particularly rough boy over to his mother. I really appreciated her being ontop of things.
A little further down from the water play area is the campgrounds. I’m not sure the fees. They looked busy from what we saw on the boat tour.
Parky’s Play Barn is across the street. It’s a bit of a walk. I would suggest driving. We ended up their while trying to find the lake. We may check it out another day. There are fees for a number of the activities. About $ 3 here or their, but I could see it adding up fast.

I’m writing this review from the standpoint of a hiker and nature photographer. There are a few marked trails, with asphalt and gravel surfaces. They are nice. However, I’m more of an unbeaten trail type of guy. That’s where this excursion went awry. The further I got off the main trails, the more trash I found. Anytime I was within 150 feet of a road or picnic area, there was trash EVERYWHERE. Between the south side of the creek and the access road, I saw junk basketballs, a bunch of kids toys, and more plastic bottles, cans and bags than i could count. At first I was collecting some of it to throw away. I soon realized I’d need a dump truck to make a dent! I’m willing to give the rest of the park a chance, but this was a bad first impression, when there are so many other great parks in the area.

This review is meant just for Winton Woods Campground and not the entire park. If you’re into camping, live in Cincy but don’t have time to go too far away, this park is awesome. EXTREMELY clean!!! Sites are big. Campground is pretty small and nice for strolling around. They offer full hook ups, which is amazing! There is plenty to do the area but I wish the campground its self, offered more scheduled activities for kids. If they had more scheduled activities, a 5^th star would def. be in place!

This is a awesome educational farm and park for the kids. Free petting zoo. $ 3.00 parking, lake, fishing, camping! It is alot of fun

What a wonderful park system we have here in Cincinnati. How often I enjoy walking my dog or riding my bike at Winton Woods around the lake. You can rent different boats there and we have done so to fish, too. Not only do they have cabins to rent, there is an area called Parky’s farm where you can take horse riding lessons and see some animals. We went there when the children were young for Halloween Trick or treating. It’s also nice to rent for birthdays as well. The wet playground is such a welcome relief in the hot summer and I’ve been on a couple of occasions to the Maple Sugar Days, where they teach you about the maple sugaring process and let you sample some maple sugar in hot cocoa. Great memories!

Saturday morning my family and I went to Parky’s Farm, a 100-​acre educational farm with live animals, wagon and pony rides, playground, indoor Parky’s Playbarn, and more. Most activities and exploring are included with $ 3 admission per vehicle, or the $ 10 annual Hamilton County Parks pass. The pony rides are $ 3 per child shorter than 48 inches, the wagon ride is $ 2.50 per person (2 and under are free), and the indoor playbarn is $ 2.50 per child (2 and under are free).
In addition to the above mentioned activities, our two-​year-​old love the petting yard with one month old baby goats as well as watering all the vegetables in the large gardens. We spent at least three hours at Parky’s with all the activities available. Since the park is inside of Winton Woods, there are many other activities you could enjoy, and you could easily spend an entire day there.

First off, let me just say that I am beyond impressed at the quality of Hamilton County Parks. Buying my $ 10 parking pass was one of the first things I did this year.
Anyhoodles, my husband and I love being outdoors in the sunshine, so we headed over to Winton Woods to check it out. I know we’ll be back, but perhaps as the weather warms and our fellow Cincinnatians emerge from their annual hibernation? I mean, seriously, where was everyone? Yes, we were in the park in January, but it was completely deserted… I don’t know if it’s the area, or if it’s because people in Cincinnati don’t let their children play outdoors in the winter (we’re from California, so this whole winter thing is new to us)? So we went in search of cars ending up at Parkay’s Farm, which, yes, was super cute, but completely lacked signage, so it was a little confusing for us. After some wandering, we happened upon a horseback riding class, which, as we discovered, was why all the cars were in the parking lot.
The farm was cute, but since there wasn’t much signage we weren’t sure how we were supposed to go through it. Did we go through those gates or was that going to let the animals out? Was that goat going to bite my kid? Are those pigs? Again, we’re from California… we’re from Los Angeles, so ummm… animals are not my strong point. It wasn’t really clear to us. I suppose on a spring/​summer/​fall day, there’d be more people around so we could just follow the others, but we were just confused. Also, we were bummed to find out that some of the other stuff, like the indoor barn thing, was not open… I couldn’t tell if it was part of the seasonal closure or not or if it was just closed on a Sunday. Again, not much signage, or at least, not much clear signage.
We thought about checking out the playground, but since it was deserted we decided to hop back in the car instead. I mean, clearly this park is huge and it has a lot to offer, and we will definitely be back for camping, walking/​running, etc, but maybe when it warms and there are more people around.

This is probably one of the best parks to ever exist! I love it here! I have been coming to this wonderful paradise of a park since I was a wee little toddler boy in a stroller, basically like 1999. Now I’m in my mid-​teens and I still love this place just the same as I did all those years ago!
This place is huge like 2,555 acres to be exact, and it absoutely has it all! A great campground, its own nice little farm with a playground and animals for the kids called Parky’s Farm (I went there as a kid and it was like heaven to me), Winton Lake which is 156 acres and has a boathouse upon its shores and you can rent a boat, a vast paved walking track and excellent covered picnic areas with their own pritvate lots in the back of the park!
So if your ever in Cincinnati on a visit or have lived in Cincinnati for years and never been to this side of town, you defnitely have to check this place out! However a valid Hamilton County Park District Motor Vehicle Permit ($ 10.00 annual; $ 3.00 daily) is required to enter the parks. So make sure you have a permit or pay to get in this place because the park rangers around this place can be busy. You probably don’t want to be here at dark.
So to conclude this review, have fun when you visit! You will regret nothing, except the fact that your missing out on a wonderful park if you don’t visit!

First off, I just want to say how wonderful the Hamilton County Parks system is and how glad I am that we have these resources in and around the Cincinnati area.
Annual parking passes for Hamilton County Parks are $ 10.00, but I almost never get one because I find that I only need the parking pass once or twice a year. At this location the daily parking rate was only $ 3.00. Annual Passes for next year go on sale in October, so you can use the 2013 pass for 15 months, a nice idea if you’re planning on being in the area over that period.
This park has a boathouse and boat rentals, a central pavilion area with snacks and drinks, playgrounds, and a long walking path. I’ve realized from a pair of visits that the path is much longer than it appears. There are a couple of options and varying legs to the path, but I tend to do the loop around the east waterway, it is nearly two miles in length. There is very little shade on this path so it can get stifling hot on a sunny day and you can find yourself getting a little more than you bargained for if you’re not careful.

Just came here last week with my sister and two nephews ages of 2 and 1 year old. They loved Winton Woods and the playground for them was very big and even had a little playground for toddlers and for my 1 year old nephew.
After they were finished playing in the playground all of us went for a walk around the lake and the trails are very nice. I can see myself coming here more often to walk around the lake.

Even though I’m a Northern Kentucky girl, we just don’t have the amazing parks that Cincinnati and the Hamilton County area have. So, we buy a Hamilton County Park Membership every year and explore! If you have a Hamilton Count Park sticker (which I understand has increased in price and why not? It’s SO worth it), it’s just amazing what these parks can offer if you take the time.
This particular review is for Parky’s Farm, which is inside the large land mass park that is Winton Woods. Having not had a child until I was 35, I’ve never needed to GO to Parky’s Farm. Now that we have a child who is rambunctious and fun loving, and crazy about critters, it seemed time to go. We went on a gorgeous late Autumn day, and the farm was hoppin’!
We did all the free stuff (with the exception of 2 pony rides, nominal in cost) and had a wonderful time. We walked the park, played on the outdoor jungle-​gym thingee with 5 different slides, pet the goats (combed the goats, fed the goats, tried to hug the goats) and bought some honey that was made right there, at the farm for a really reasonable price. I understand that there was something going on inside the larger barn building associated with the honeyfest, but we had plenty to keep us occupied outside.
The farm is clean, it’s beautiful, the staff is friendly and kids and parents alike can have a good time. Just wish we lived a little closer – we’d be there so much more often!

A milestone! My 100^th review. What to write about? There are so many things and places and catagories to choose from. Choices aplenty. But hey, I’m a family kinda guy (got the wife and four kids to prove it) so why not go with one something family friendly. Someplace I like to go with my family. I got it. Let’s go with our favorite park in the tri-​state.
And so we come to Winton Woods.
This is a park that has no age limit. Part of Hamilton County’s official Park’s District it has all of the amenities that anyone of any age would enjoy. It’s got stuff for the little kids and has stuff for the bigger kids (that would be the adults).
The park is actually split in half. On the one half is the more traditional type of park you’ll see. It includes a lake so we’ll call that Lake Side. The other half is more… agricultural in nature. It does have a farm after all. So we’ll call that Farm Side.
The Lake Side, which borders a lake named surprisingly enough Winton Lake, has a lot of the fun stuff that adults will enjoy; bike rentals, nature trails, an 18-​hole golf course, an 18-​hole Frisbee golf course, a couple of basketball courts, campgrounds (with both small cabins and deluxe cabins), and picnic tables and shelters that can be reserved. None of which I’ve ever used.
If you’re in the mood to get wet, there’s plenty to do on the lake. You can’t go swimming, but you can go fishing. You can also rent kayaks, motorboats, pedal boats, pontoon boats, canoes, and rowboats. None of which I’ve ever used.
I have walked the multi-​trail with my wife and kids. And we’ve also taken the kids to Parky’s Ark, one of the wet playgrounds that the Hamilton County Parks are famous for. That’s always a good time. It’s cheap (just two bucks a kid… under two-​years-​old get in for free) and is a great way to cool off during the summer. We always enjoy ourselves watching the kids playing here. I’d say avoid the snack bar that’s right next to the playground. Way overpriced for the quality of food. If the kids are getting a little tired of the wet playground, just take them over to the regular playground, which is right next to it.
As fun and neat as that side of the park is, I actually prefer the Farm Side. Home to Parky’s Farm, a working farm that allows visitors to see and experience first hand what it’s like to work on a farm. Kids can pet various animals (goats, pigs, sheep, and horses… there are chickens, but I wouldn’t recommend petting them). There’s a large garden that you can water and pick fruits and vegetables from. There are pony rides and wagon rides, which do cost but not all that much. But going through the actual farm is free and it’s always a blast to see how much fun the kids have going through it.
There’s a giant hall that can be rented for various activities and events. Poked my head in there and it’s quite roomy. There’s a riding center where you can take riding lessons (with occasional horse shows). The kids love to watch the horses and when they’re done there they love to head over to the barn-​shaped playground. Now there is an indoor playground called Parky’s PlayBarn, but that costs money and the outdoor playground works just fine. There’s a small little snack bar, that actually sells snacks, not food, and it’s pretty inexpensive.
Winton Woods is a great park that’s a lot of fun and is a great place to spend time with the family. Spend the day there and I’m sure you’ll agree.
Mahalo, and enjoy.