Once again, we decided to stay at Clemson RV Park at the Grove. This was previously visited by us. However this time, we chose to have an extended stay in the RV, at a whopping eleven months.
Grounds: By the time we made it back, a good chunk of the housing development nearby had finished, and some of the homeowners in the area are a bit rowdy so you may have to deal with their noise. It looked as if they were doing more construction, perhaps as an additional access for the executive suite. The area is building up with additional commercial establishments, so future visitors may not have to travel as far.
Staff: It was nice to see the staff continuing to be accommodating towards changing needs and multi-day trips. However, for the number of regulations that the park has, they don't seem to ever enforce them. Obviously you don't want to be a hard stickler like we've seen at other parks, but speeding and wrong way driving were getting out of hand to the point where other driving vehicles and even children were nearly being hit by these unruly tenants.
Amenities: Of the bath houses that had maintenance issues on our first visit, we found the same disrepair upon our return. In addition, other things continued to break in the bath houses that were never fixed, despite raising rent and laundry prices for what seemed to be zero return. They did add a couple additional washers and dryers, but that's assuming they work and weren't trashed by either unruly tenants, or non-tenants that seemed to be in and out of the facilities with the door never locked. On the plus side, we did see a number of events, including hosted dinners, bouncy castles, and game shuttles, taking place during football season for home games. There was also a barbecue competition that was hosted in the winter months with a similar atmosphere. If you go during the right time, although the rates will be significantly higher, it could be a very happening place.
Atmosphere: During the events, there certainly is a lot of positive energy in the park. However, the far end of the grounds, where most monthly renters are placed, has a significant "trailer park" vibe akin to the commonly associated stereotypes. There are cluttered sites, tenants deciding to park their cars across several pads without paying for them, loud music at all hours without being able to listen to your own sounds in your own rig while wearing headphones, and the problem tenants are either incredibly arrogant or "don't speak English".
After this stay, we regrettably must lower our rating to 7 out of a possible 10. Rumors were spreading of a significant price increase in the near future. This location does not conduct background checks on monthly tenants when compared to other parks, but after what we experienced, we sadly now understand why other owners are now being forced to do this. We were happy to be able to find an opportunity to leave this area, and should we come back to upcountry South Carolina, whether for a visit or long term, we will likely not return to this park.
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