Vacation Rentals by Owner

Looking forward to another weekend there

Guest: Ace (Rochester, NY)
Date of Stay: 11/17/11 Review Submitted: 01/14/12

The location and house were great. The location was very nice. The amenities were great. Very comfortable beds and overall a welcoming home. Great for a weekend get away or spending a week away. There is a local grocery store and some smaller restaurants. Hiking close bye and of course the water. I am very much looking forward to going back and taking more advantage of the water.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with young children, girls getaway, tourists without a car, romantic getaway.

So glad we chose to honeymoon here!

Guest: sarah e.
Date of Stay: 10/23/11 Review Submitted: 11/01/11

My new husband and I got married on 10/22/2011 and decided to honeymoon for the week at Sincere D'Amore, and it was the best decision we ever could have made! Blaise was wonderful about everything, and even had a bottle of champagne waiting for us when we arrived! We brought our two small dogs along with us and had a much deserved relaxing vacation. The house is a great size with sliding glass doors in the front that overlook the lake and beautiful foliage. It was quiet and totally picturesque. We enjoyed taking the dogs for walks down to the lake and just enjoying our time there. We also really loved the panini maker! My husband has even purchased one for us he enjoyed it so much! Having the washer and dryer available was also very convenient. We would recommend this property to anyone looking to leave the hustle and bustle behind for a few days. It was the best honeymoon we could have ever asked for! We will definitely be booking future vacations at this home, and are already looking forward to the next time we can get away for a few days. Thank you so much!!

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Awesome Place!

Guest: D S. (Hornell)
Date of Stay: 09/12/11 Review Submitted: 10/04/11

We would like to say that once again Blaise you have made sure of a great vacation spot! This cottage is wonderful, the view is great, the small amount of neighbors are friendly -but they let us enjoy our time away from the world! We, as you know, had our dogs with us, and they too enjoy the yard, taking walks, and their time with us. The cottage has everything you need, it is small enough that it isn't overwhelming to keep clean but it's large enough to enjoy having family visit too. My Brother and sister in law came up one Sat. to Sun. and fell in love it with too. As you know, this was our second time vacationing at sincere D'Amore and we plan to return again next fall. I am already counting the months! Thank you again Blaise for a fabulous place to get away from it all. Cheers! :-) Doreen and Tom and the dogs too

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Relaxing Get Away

Guest: Suzanne (Baltimore, MD)
Date of Stay: 05/06/11 Review Submitted: 05/19/11

Awwww - this is how I felt when I arrived at Copake Lake for a weekend visit. Sincere D'Amore was so comfortable and homey. Blaise has taken care of every detail - hammock in front yard, grill ready for cooking, WiFi, deck furniture for relaxing and watching the sunset. The house's location has a great view of Copake Lake. The nights are quiet, the beds are so comfortable and the kitchen well stocked. There was hiking nearby and the village is adorable. Blaise is a wonderful host and we had a lovely weekend at Sincere D'Amore. Just what we needed to relax.

Recommended for:Age 55+, families with young children, girls getaway, pet owners, romantic getaway.

Perfect Retreat

Guest: BriandRizz (malverne, ny, usa)
Date of Stay: 01/30/11 Review Submitted: 02/21/11

A warm and cozy house surrounded with birch trees and a lovely view of the 365 acre Copake Lake. The kitchen was very spacious, a pleasure for cooking. The rooms were very accommodating and comfy. We visited in the wintertime but it didn't limit the activities, just minutes from skiing Catamount and Butternut or if you'd like, cross country skiing around the block at the Copake Lake Country Club. We loved visiting the farms around the area like Ronnybrook Farms, (the best milk and ice cream ever), and Herondale Farms for there Grass-Fed organic beef, chicken, lamb, and pork. Blaise is a pleasure to talk to and is very helpful. We loved it and will be back in the springtime to really get to enjoy the lake even more.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, families with teenagers, families with young children, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Guest: Brian & Rizz
Date of Stay: 01/27/11 Review Submitted: 02/19/11

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore (Sincere D'Amore) ! Dear Blaise, We would like to thank you for everything. The house was so cozy and warm with the wood burning stove (our favorite). It's in a beautiful location surrounded with birch trees (brian's favorite) and capped with starry nights. The best winter spot we've ever stayed in! The location was perfect for a getaway from NYC. Copake lake was frozen and we saw many people on snow mobiles and ice fishing. Can't wait to see it in the Spring time on the golf course, so we will be in touch!!! Sorry we forgot to leave tips for the cleaning crew, we didn't realize till we got home. How may we reach them so that we can send them a tip? We will write a review on the website so that many people may enjoy the true gifts and pleasures sincere d'amore has to offer. Once again, thank you!

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Great place for the price

Guest: Happy Traveler (Waterbury CT USA)
Date of Stay: 01/23/11 Review Submitted: 01/31/11

In late Jan 2011, 2 friends and I stayed at this house. It was better than listed on the website. We enjoyed ourselves very much. I hope to go again in the spring. It was nice and clean. Plenty of pots, pans and dishes ECT. Plenty of Towels and Linens. The Wood Stove was nice added touch with all the snow outside. I hope to go back in the Spring

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Christmas Vacation

Guest: sheila222259 (toano virginia)
Date of Stay: 12/23/10 Review Submitted: 01/11/11

We loved our stay at the cottage. The kitchen was well stocked with glassware and cooking pots and pans. The dishwasher worked well. Everything was clean when we arrived. The main room has large windows and glass doors so that we could enjoy the wintry view of the lake. We often saw people ice fishing or ice skating. The furniture was clean and comfortable and great for snuggling with my kids in front of the little wood stove. The bedrooms were decent size with very comfy mattresses and pillows. Extra sheets and blankets were available as well. The bathrooms were very small but the Bosch washer and dryer made up for that! Blaise sent a detailed list of what was available and what needed to be done before leaving which was very helpful. We hope to visit the cottage again this summer! Cheers. Blaise!

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, pet owners, romantic getaway.

Great place, great owner

Guest: k&a (Brooklyn, NY)
Date of Stay: 12/05/10 Review Submitted: 12/13/10

We had a great time this week. The cabin was cuter than the pictures suggest, with a beautiful wood stove, excellent modern kitchen, and wonderful lake views. The rates were the best around and Blaise was a pleasure to work with. Highly recommended.

Recommended for:Age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, pet owners, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

We enjoyed our vacation at "Sincere D'Amore".

Guest: D S. (Hornell)
Date of Stay: 09/11/10 Review Submitted: 10/16/10

We really enjoyed our 3 week stay at this cottage. We reserved it for after labor day and the area is very quiet and peaceful at this time of the year. The cottage is warm, cozy, private, and very relaxing. Blaise's discription is accurate and the rates are very fair. Our two dogs enjoyed being with us, as much as we enjoyed their company. Our adult children came to visit a few times, and they also thought it was a great place. Our son and son-in-law took the canoe out once, which was fun for them. There is wild life all around to enjoy. We enjoyed the deer, turkey, rabbits, as well as many different types of birds, and this time of year the leaf color change was just starting to show up. We only have a couple of small complaints/comments. 1) The cleaning lady doesn't do a complete job. She makes it look real presentable until you really get looking, but over all it is still worth having to finish her work because the cottage is that nice. 2) The second "comment" (not so much a complaint) is, there are tree roots and stones leading to the steps to the porch entrance. While packing our car to leave to go to cottage, I had fallen and broken my ankle so with that said, it was very hard for me to navigate in and out of the cottage for the first week or so. Over all, We truely loved our stay at "Sincere D'Amore". Blaise was easy to communicate with, our securtiy deposit was returned in a timely manor, and the couch was very comfortable while recouperating from my fall. :-) We do plan to return next year if everything works out! If you are looking for a great place to stay check this cottage out! Thank you for everything Blaise! Sincerely, Doreen and Tom, and the dogs!

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, age 55+, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, pet owners, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Guest: Anne & Brendan
Date of Stay: 07/30/10 Review Submitted: 09/01/10

We had a great week. What a great place! The canoeing was terrific and you can see our pet Maxwell enjoyed the lake, too! Thank you!

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Nice location

Guest: Sam (Texas)
Date of Stay: 06/23/10 Review Submitted: 07/08/10

There are some good and bad to review about this cabin. First, the good. It is a beautiful location. It has a very nice deck with propane grill and a nice patio set. The view off the deck is beautiful. You can see the lake through the trees across a nice lawn. There is a good shade canopy all around house and property. The lake is a short distance across lawn and the road. There is an area there to put the canoe in the water and a swim deck. Just a short walk up the road is a roped off swim area that has the rocks removed and a nice deck on the water with benches to sit and watch the kids swim. It also has a sand beach and a swim platform. The lake is quite large and many boats use it to ski. The drive to the cabin is also very pretty. We found it easily with our GPS. The shed has some extra things like blow up water toys with foot pump. Extra lawn chairs, a hammock, badminton set, one life jacket and 4 paddles. The cabin in itself has good potential. It has nice hardwood floors and looks like all new windows. The main room is a nice size as are the bedrooms. The beds are comfortable with nice linens. It is well stocked with new dishes and glassware. The dishwasher works well as does the stackable washer/dryer. The bad part of the review is the cleanliness. We spent about 2 hours cleaning when we arrived. The floors were nice and clean as were the bedrooms and the cupboards, but the kitchen area was not clean nor the bathroom. The ceiling fan hadn’t been cleaned in years. After we cleaned it, it is back to it’s original color of white again. There were also cobwebs in the rafters and all the light fixtures. The microwave had not been cleaned nor the stove top (which hadn‘t been cleaned well in a long time), nor the refrigerator. We removed all expired condiments from fridge. The shower doors had build up and gunk and the tub had not been scrubbed. The level of cleanliness was just substandard. Whoever stays immediately after us will be in pretty good shape. Unless the owner changes cleaning services, it won’t be very clean again in a few weeks. I sincerely hope that the owner addresses this problem. If he could insure a better level of cleanliness, I would love to return. I hate to have to put anything negative because the owner was very nice to work with in renting the cabin.

Owner response:I have a new cleaning company and have received no complaints. My apologies to the renter for their inconvenience.

Recommended for:Adventure seekers, families with teenagers, families with young children, girls getaway, pet owners, sightseeing.

A very enjoyable holiday weekend

Guest: Bill K. (Boston)
Date of Stay: 05/29/10 Review Submitted: 06/09/10

This is a very comfortable base for a weekend at the lake and a great getaway from city life. The house has a nice deck & yard with hammock for relaxing, a well maintained and equipped interior - with most anything you would need. The lake is easily accessible, and there's a canoe & raft that we put to use. Everything was as the owner described. The 2 small areas for improvement would be to ensure the grill on the deck is cleaned (it wasn't) and the wireless internet was often so slow as to time out while trying to connect (on a one month old computer with Windows 7). The owner was very accommodating - and our security deposit was back in our hands in 2 days! All in all, we had a wonderful Memorial Weekend. We will consider going back the next time life in the city becomes a hassle.

Owner response:As of June 6th the grill was cleaned. I agree that the internet connection is intermittantly slow. Unfortunately, the only available internet service is thorugh the phone company so we are a captive audience. But i ahve worked a full day remotely from the house. So for most of the day it works at true DSL speeds.

Recommended for:Pet owners, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

Guest: Cynthia & Tony
Date of Stay: 10/05/03 Review Submitted: 10/04/03

The day we left to go home, Tony said the Dogs were in "paradise". We never took the dogs on vacation with us and I have to say it was a wonderful experience. They would wake us up at around 6:30 AM and we walked in the streets behind. We saw deer a couple of times. The number one place for breakfast in Martin's Restuarant in Great Barrington. Very good food and lively. Mom's Restaurant was good food, too. After breakfast we would go for a drive to Bash Bish Falls which was gorgeous. In Sheffield we saw this old covered bridge. Followign a tip from a local guy we met at Dutch Treatn we visited the Umpachene Falls in Mill River. Egremont was cute. Stockbridge was nice and in West Stockbridge we visited a glass blower. Lenox was our favorite: Hancock Shaker Village was very interesting. We ate dinner twice in the old Mill in Egremont. Excellent food, very warm atmosphere and friendly waitresses. Club Helsinki is a funky place with very good food. Your house is equipped with everything and a good quality stereo, washer and dryer. Nice dishes from Ikea. I even used the saw in the shed to cut down a branch so the dogs could play fetch. The area was beautiful. I took 11 rolls of film in a week. The landscapes were incredible and the houses so neat and well kept. We went apple pciking at the Windy Hill Farm and when I got back to the car, the dogs ate an apple: It was so fresh and juicy. Yes, the dogs love apples. Once, Tony & I took out the canoe. It's so nice on the lake and quiet. Thanks again.

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