Kettleby Valley Summer Camp History

Established in 1957 by Bill and Jean Babcock, RICHILDACA began as a day camp located in Richmond Hill. By the early 60’s RICHILDACA had established the Kettleby property as their home and began to offer more traditional, outdoor based activities. Soon, activities such as canoeing, camp craft, swimming and horseback riding became the staple for each campers’ experience. During the year, RICHILDACA grew to accommodate residential programs and offered outdoor education for a variety of school boards.

In 1998, Kettleby Valley began leasing the RICHILDACA site and offered day camp experiences for children from the local community. Kettleby Valley also established partnerships with corporations such as TD Bank, IBM, Kodak and Hudson’s Bay Company. Employees of these companies would bring their children to their work locations, where school buses would bring them to the Camp and return them at the end of the Camp (and work) day. Following in the footsteps of RICHILDACA, a year-round program for school groups was developed.

By 2000, Kettleby Valley had established a week-long Residential Program for campers who felt the need to have more Camp time during their summer.

In 2005, the original camp property was purchased, followed by the purchase of the 30 acres directly south. Once the purchase of the properties was made, some much needed improvements to the facility began to unfold. A new canoe building, a second climbing wall, additional washroom facilities, a bouldering building, two new pool house change rooms and a second pool were just a few of our projects. In late 2009, construction began on our new Dining Hall. The Dining Hall was completed just in time for our summer season.

Like RICHILDACA, Kettleby Valley began humbly and grew over the time. We have carried on the tradition that Jean and Bill started so many years ago. We know that, without their hard work and commitment, Kettleby Valley would have never been established. 

A member of the Ontario Camps Association, Kettleby Valley is an Ontario summer camp and outdoor education centre located in King Township. We provide both day camps and residential overnight camps to families all over York Region. Kettleby Valley combines a great summer camp program with an ideal location that’s close to Toronto. Families from Aurora and Newmarket have made Kettleby Valley their choice for years.  Kleinberg, Woodbridge and Maple families also love our camp. Go to our Testimonials page to see what people think.