Wonderful family home away from home

Guest: Worrier (Zeeland, Michigan, USA)
Date of Stay: 01/13/12 Review Submitted: 01/31/12

This is a wonderful place for a family or group of friends to spend a week or a weekend. The house is bright, cheerful and well maintained. It is tastefully decorated and comfortable to be in. The kitchen is amazingly well stocked for those wanting to cook either simple breakfasts or gourmet meals. Large dining room table allows space for everyone to be seated together at meal time. Couches and chairs provide comfy places to curl up with a good book or sit and listen to music or talk to friends. Parking is more than adequate and location is ideal. Grocery and liquor stores are both within walking distance as is "downtown" Niagara on the Lake. Yard was beautiful even under a layer of snow and ice. Owner is available by phone and very helpful and accommodating. I highly recommend Marrakech Mansion

Recommended for:Girls getaway, sightseeing, families with young children, pet owners, families with teenagers, tourists without a car.

?

Guest: Lesley (Huntsville, Ontario, Canada)
Date of Stay: 08/10/11 Review Submitted: 08/27/11

This house was almost perfect for the 9 friends from Canada and abroad to meet for a few days around a wedding at NOTL. The grounds were marvellous - beautifully designed and tended with pergolas for large group breakfasts and barbecue dinners, and tables and chairs in other areas of sun or shade as well. The interior kitchen, dining and living rooms were sufficiently spacious and well equipped to allow us all to live in harmony for 5 days. The bedrooms were all right but three had to share a bathroom. A superb feature was the quietness of the street combined with access to the lake at the end of the block and the buzz of beautiful Queen Street only 1 and 1/2 blocks away in the other direction. What a location!

Recommended for:Girls getaway, sightseeing, families with young children, age 55+, families with teenagers.

Charming house, great location, lots of room

Guest: drdad (Dayton)
Date of Stay: 06/26/11 Review Submitted: 07/07/11

This is the second year we stayed at Marrakech Mansion so we could attend all the Shaw Festival shows. We've been coming to Niagara-on-the-Lake and staying in rental cottages or houses for the last 13 years and Marrakech is the nicest one we've stayed in. We are a family of six adults (including a son in law) and we also hosted a nephew and his family of five (only four of whom stayed with us, with the other staying a block away at the Blue Lion with her grandmother). The rooms are comfortable, with basic furnishings. The 'master bedroom' has an ensuite bathroom with a very small shower. The queen bed is close to the wall on one side and there is no night table or reading light on that side of the bed. There is one large hall bathroom and a powder room off the kitchen on the first floor. The kitchen is large, with a round table seating 5 or 6 for casual eating, and there is a large table in the dining room seating 8. The kitchen is well furnished and there is a new propane grill outside. My 29 year old son enlisted his 8, 10 and 13 year old cousins to help prepare a feast for the 15 of us, baking bread and a strawberry, cherry and rhubarb crumble (with fresh rhubarb from the garden), preparing a seafood risotto, and spaghetti served with a pesto prepared by the kids' mother. I did the grilling (trout, steak, and sausage) and we set up outside on the delightful patio. The location is ideal - a block from Queen Street, a couple of blocks from the golf course and Lake Ontario, easy walking to all three Shaw theaters - so everything is walking distance. We bicycle every morning and can go from the house to a very quiet street that takes us to the bike path that runs along the Niagara River. It's a beautiful ride. My only qualm about this house is that the air conditioning is supplied by one very powerful window unit in the second floor hall window. When we stayed last year it was uniformly warmer - we were lucky this year that evening temperatures were in the 60's (Fahrenheit). There are fans in each bedroom and they can be used to blow the cool air into the bedrooms but this is not as comfortable (and a lot noisier) than central air. On very hot days, the first floor can get warm, and if its humid it gets uncomfortable.

Owner response:I can now speak with authority after spending the hottest week in several years in Marrakech Mansion during July 2011. The temperature peaked on Thursday at 37C or 99 degrees Fahrenheit Monday to Friday saw heat over 32 C degrees every day. We kept the blinds closed, and the central AC on, the upstairs window unit off most of the time. The temperature on the main floor stayed at about 25 degrees Celsius. With the window unit on it cooled down upstairs. It felt like a refrigerator when you walked inside and a furnace when you walked out. Certainly not as cool as a modern home would be but this one was built in 1880 and has no insulation in the walls and single pane windows with screens for cooler days. I was happy with the AC it sure felt good to get inside, but you need to follow the rules. Windows closed, blinds down and AC on all the time!

Recommended for:Girls getaway, sightseeing, families with young children, romantic getaway, age 55+, families with teenagers, tourists without a car.

Best time ever!

Guest: Lynne (cape may court house)
Date of Stay: 08/08/10 Review Submitted: 08/24/10

My husband and I have vacationed in NOTL 10 times in 25 years. This year we celebrated our 60th birthday and stayed at Marrakech Mansion. It was our best trip ever--and mainly because of our stay at this lovely property. The interior and exterior Moroccan theme was carried thru beautifully. It was better than described, inside and out. The three separate outdoor venues were enjoyed by all. The location was perfect--near lake, town, theater, etc. Definitely recommend this for a vacation treat.

Recommended for:Sightseeing, families with young children, age 55+, families with teenagers.

Truly lovely

Guest: Chris (Illinois, USA)
Date of Stay: 08/01/10 Review Submitted: 08/15/10

We first came to the Mansion during the summer of 2009 and happily returned again in 2010. The grounds and the house are beautifully designed and maintained, providing an atmosphere of comfort, relaxation, and character. The neighborhood is close to the water, shopping, and theater. In short, everything is perfect, and Don is an excellent host. After decades of coming to NOTL and staying at various places around town, my family has finally found a home!

Recommended for:Sightseeing, families with young children, romantic getaway, age 55+.

Marrakech Mansion

Guest: Jane D. (Morgantown WV, USA)
Date of Stay: 07/14/10 Review Submitted: 07/21/10

Marrakech Mansion is fabulous. The owner, Don, is a superb host. He has thought of everything (yes, everything!), and he takes great care to make sure that you are well taken care of, but he does not hover. Besides that, he's a nice guy. The house is wonderful. It's absolutely beautiful to the point of inspiring (I think I'm going to paint my study the color of the living room at MM), including the landscaping. It's gracious and elegant without being pretentious. We had a family group that included 6 adults, 1 college student, and 2 small children, and it worked for all of us, singly and jointly. We didn't worry about the kids breaking anything. The house is pretty much childproofed but you don't really notice that immediately. It's extremely well situated (1 block from the lake, 1 1/2 blocks from the main part of town including grocery store), but on a quiet street, with a big yard so that small children can run off some of their energy. It is, hands down, the best accommodations I've ever stayed in, and I've traveled a lot for both business and pleasure. I'm already plotting a return trip. Thanks, Don!!!

Recommended for:Girls getaway, sightseeing, families with young children, romantic getaway, age 55+, families with teenagers, tourists without a car.

Marrakech Mansion April 16 - 18, 2010

Guest: lfd (Cobden, Ontario)
Date of Stay: 04/16/10 Review Submitted: 04/21/10

This was not our first stay at the Mansion, but the first with our children and grandchild. The Mansion is a great place to stay and it allowed us to stay with our family in one spot. It is a grand place, clean with all amenities. Don George always makes sure we have everything we need and everything is in working order. The surrounding gardens and lawns allow all to enjoy the quiet of Niagara-on-the -Lake. It is centrally located with walking distances to theatre, shopping, golf and spas. Highly recommended.

Recommended for:Girls getaway, sightseeing, families with young children, romantic getaway, age 55+, families with teenagers, tourists without a car.