Gibbs Retreat- Natural Walk Out Beach- Great Location

• A Wonderful Retreat for the Whole Family

  A Wonderful Retreat for the Whole Family

  • Guest Linda
  • Date of stay 07/23/11
  • Review Submitted 08/01/11
  We just returned from a week at Gibbs Retreat at Smith Mountain Lake and had a fantastic stay. The lake house exceeded our expectations and was perfect for our multi-generational family. The little beach alongside the dock was perfect for the grandchildren to practice their swimming and a wonderful place for the older set to relax in the cool, clean lake. There were lots of fun activities for everyone. We brought a small motor boat, and the fisherman among us brought home a 10 lb striper, which we cooked in the well-equipped kitchen (and gas grill), and enjoyed for dinner. We also brought our kayaks and canoe and paddled up and down the endlessly picturesque coves and coast lines. A national park is close by and a few of us took advantage of many hiking trails (we'll bring our bikes next year). For down time, the place was stocked with games and movies as well as the large screen TV. The second master bedroom downstairs had its own entrance - a nice situation for the grandparents. Although there were many other attractions to enjoy in the area, we all were simply content to enjoy time together at this great retreat. Kudos to rental managers Candy and Tony for all their helpful tips and accommodations. We'll definitely be back next year.

  Recommended for: Families with teenagers, sightseeing, age 55+, families with young children, adventure seekers.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 2/3

• Nice accommodations if you don't mind not having running water

  Nice accommodations if you don't mind not having running water

  • Guest frustrated
  • Date of stay 08/07/10
  • Review Submitted 08/22/10
  While we were not surprised by the very steep walk down to the water at this house, we were sadly surprised to encounter an extremely annoying situation with the running water within the house. A note from the rental agency cautioned against running multiple showers at the same time to avoid losing water pressure. We adhered to this warning, but still found ourselves without running water on multiple extended occasions. We started having to carefully plan when anyone would be using the water - for rinsing off dishes, showering, flushing a toilet, or running a load of laundry. No matter how careful we were with our planned water usage we still keep losing water for extended periods of time. We found even flushing two toilets at the same time could result in water loss - this meant we effectively had one bathroom with a long line at times (especially when we first returned to the house from swimming or otherwise venturing out.) Sometimes we couldn't point to any simultaneous water usage to account for why we had lost running water. It was extremely difficult to do laundry and keep up with dirty dishes given the water situation. The washer would stop filling with water repeatedly and have to be restarted. This was likely due to the water situation, but may have also been due to some other issue with the washer. Unfortunately, the water situation put a real damper on our experience. While we didn't expect our accommodations to be that of a fancy hotel, we also didn't expect our experience to be like that of visiting a third-world country. In addition to the frustrating experience with running water, we were somewhat suspect of how well the house is cleaned on a regular basis given that my two year old found a shaving razor under a couch cushion shortly after we arrived - thankfully we quickly noticed this before he was potentially injured. Overall, I would not recommend this house to anyone, and I only wish I had known about the dreadful water situation before we booked this place.

  Owner response: This incident simply didn't have to happen. Unfortunatley these guests never once in the 7 days of renting the house, bother to call us to advise us of a water pressure problem. They didn't even mention it the day they checked out with us, but the guests that checked in that very afternoon did call and advise us of low water. We immediately went over to the house to discover that the water filter was simply clogged. The problem was resolved in two minutes. I don't know why these guests didn't bother to call us, unless of course, there was some reason they didn't want us coming over to the house. Why didn't they call us? We are always available, we would have resolved the problem immediately. We can only address a problem when we are notified of one. As for the razor, I cannot for the life of me figure how that would happen unless someone purposely placed it there, or is fabricating a story. The house is throughly cleaned after each renter by a retired RN (nurse). I' guessing that since the house keeper charged these renters against their damage deposit for the manner in which the house was left, which was damages done by their dog, that this is their way of getting even. This house has been rented for over 8 years, and not one complaint has been filed about it.

  Did you find this review helpful? Yes | No Helpful votes: 3/4

Off Season (Nov 01-Apr 30) .. $139/night .. $ 900/week (discount)
Mid Season (May 01-Jun 15) .. $175/night .. $1150/week (discount)
Mid Season (Aug 24-Oct 31) .. $175/night .. $1150/week (discount)
High Summer Season (Jun 15-Aug 24) ........ $1495/week (Sat-Sat)
Please add 10% sales/tourist tax and $75 cleaning fee. CLOSED IN WINTER
Standard damage deposit/ Weekly rental only 6/15-8/25
FATHERS DAY SPECIAL: BOOK 3 DAYS FOR $550 plus tax/cleaning! TREAT DAD

Note: Until confirmed, rates are subject to change without notice.