Major advantages:
• Large enough to comfortably accommodate a family reunion of 20 people.
• spacious outdoor area with things for kids to do and places for people to congregate in good weather (which, unfortunately, we didn’t have in mid-October).
• Well-equipped games room
For these advantages, we would consider renting again. But there were some negatives as well.
• Advertises for 20 people, but the kitchen is not really equipped for that many, with shortages of coffee cups, glasses, kitchen towels, cooking utensils, and basic silverware. (There were a dozen tongs, but we never did find a second dish towel and had to mash potatoes with a table fork.) We were there to celebrate Thanksgiving, so the kitchen mattered.
• The secondary refrigerator wasn’t working. (We barely rescued our Thanksgiving turkey.) When we pointed this out, the owner shrugged it off. “It’s just an extra refrigerator.” Perhaps, but if it’s there, it should work.
• Although there are 3 bathrooms, one is ensuite in a room for two, so really there are just two bathrooms for potentially 18 people.
• Most of the house rules are reasonable enough, but they are presented in an off-putting, military tone including the cost of replacement or service costs for virtually every major item or possible malfunction.
• It’s the first place we’ve rented that requires you to cart your own garbage to the dump, with a hefty charge for any bags left behind.