Ponderosa Nature Resort

A historic naturist resort in Ontario, founded in 1964 on a hundred acres of meadows and woodland between Hamilton and Cambridge, open year-round and frequented largely by members with seasonal trailers and mobile homes. The facilities are surprisingly extensive for a club: a heated indoor pool and an outdoor pool with a slide and swim-up bar, indoor and outdoor hot tubs, a sauna, courts for tennis, volleyball, pétanque, shuffleboard and horseshoes, a licensed patio, a kitchen and a clubhouse that is the centre of social life, with dances, karaoke and concerts practically every weekend. Accommodation is in rooms in the main building, in cabins or on tent and RV sites, and you can also come just for the day, with a dedicated rate for those coming alone too. Nudity is compulsory in all the pools and on the sun deck, while elsewhere it is optional; the rules are strict on two points: no explicit sexual behaviour, and a total ban on phones and cameras in common areas and at the pool. Visitors' opinions are polarised: many speak of well-kept facilities, friendly staff and fair bar prices, while recurring criticisms concern the dated main building in need of renovation, slow restaurant service, a day rate considered high and above all the deposit policy, non-refundable and non-transferable, which has led to more than one complaint. Some accounts from long-term residents describe a tense social climate among the seasonal residents.