Rockywold-Deephaven Camps (RDC) — Hotel in Holderness

I vacation here every year for the last several with a large group that has come here every summer for the last several decades. The cabins are unique and rustic, each of them with different personalities. Enough modern conveniences to be comfortable without feeling sealed off from nature. If you don't opt for a week in a cabin, there are two lodges and a smattering of other nightly rate rooms available. Rockywold and Deephaven are one big location split geographically into two camps with separate dining halls, lodges, offices. The lake is lovely, the staff is warm and friendly, the views are beautiful - all of them. The value for price paid is good. Your stay includes 3 meals a day in a buffet style dining hall. Selection at each meal includes hot entrees, salad bar, soups, always a peanut butter and jelly station, ice cream for lunch and dinner, Belgian waffle station each morning. A few times a week you'll find made to order omlettes and stir fry. A family member described this place as kinda like the big family camp from Dirty Dancing. There's activities like tennis tournaments, square dances, talent shows, day hikes, boat tours, crafts, etc. You can engage with the staff and other guests or not at all - the camp experience you want us here. I love this place with all my heart, natural beauty off the charts. Getting a reservation can be tough some weeks, the system to do that is kinda cryptic but call the office, stop by, chat the staff up...

OK, we came here for a wedding and were warned in advance that the accommodations were "rustic". We were told the costs were per person per night and they put five of us in "the Ark". The photos they show on the website ARE NOT at all indicative of the Ark. Rustic would have been luxurious. There were dozens of spiders and cobwebs hanging from all the open rafters. Our cabin had no paneling, so you could see through the walls to the outside and floorboards were open to the ground below. Not a window or door functioned properly. There were giant ants throughout the cabin. Three wasps landed on my husband while we were inside. And I killed a giant spider in my bed the first night. (My son and daughter-in-law slept in their car). The one shower (for the five of us) was grimy. The walls were water soaked and smelled of mildew. We love the outdoors and would have much preferred to stay in a tent where we had some control over the indoor environment. All this for the "low low price" of $900 a night! As we went to the office to complain, two of the workers commented "oh, the Ark, yes that place really needs a complete overhaul. Most of our other places have been updated." And yet they put guests in there and charged them the same rate as others. Needless to say, we left and went to...

I cannot tell you how amazing of a place Rockywold Deephaven Camps is. My family has been going there for decades, for generations, and I cannot think of life without it. My one week there every year is not even 1% of the amount of time I want to spend there.

There are some places in this world free of all troubles, and RDC is one of them. Amazing staff, phenomenal location, perfect cabins, beautiful lake, inspiring wildlife, delicious meals--there is no criticism for RDC I can think of. Even just random people are like family in this awe-inspiring place. Life-long friends are made (I can say from experience, as with everything else I am saying--this place is what I live for) and it's a great place for the whole family--extended family too, I mean--RDC is for every age.

Nothing can ruin it, either. If you have crutches from a leg injury--there are ramps everywhere, as for the convenience for the elderly, which it's the best place for. Sick? Ah, who cares? The food is still great, and the lake air is awesome! The cabins, as I said earlier, are to die for. I'd be fine with spending my whole day there!

If I were you, if I saw any bad reviews for this place, I would unfriend that person. RDC is the ultimate place of awesomeness. I could not...