Since we’ve moved to Cambridge there are a number of conservation areas near our house. So far we’ve gone to two of them. Pinehurst is about a 20 minute drive from our home. As well as fishing and swimming, this park also has a number of campsites available to rent. The grounds are beautiful, with acres of trees, grassy areas and a nice lake, complete with rental boats and change rooms. The water is warm and shallow and the kids enjoy swimming in it. The beach sand is clean and light colored – nice to walk in or to build sand castles.
The other conservation area is about 10 minutes from our home and is called Shades Mill. Not nearly as nice as Pinehurst, although there is a large lake and miles of walking trails. There is a nice playground and lots of room to run around, but this park has so many geese that the ground is pretty messy in some places. The water is nice for swimming, but there are more seaweeds than at Pinehurst. What we dislike the most about Shades Mill is that the sand by the water is not very nice. Instead of being white beach sand, it’s kind of a brown gravelly stuff. Not nearly as pleasant to walk in or for the kids to play in with pails and shovels.
Cambridge seems to have a real goose problem in a number of their public parks and has started to move the birds to nearby sanctuaries. Once that happens, the grounds at Shades Mill will be much better and if they get some good white sand it could become my favourite conservation area. But for now, I’m still driving a little farther for a day at the beach.
Technorati Tags: Cambridge, Ontario, Pinehurst, Shades Mill, conservation areas, beach
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