Vacation Rentals by Owner

Thank you for sharing your cottage with us

Guest: Grace F.
Date of Stay: 02/03/12 Review Submitted: 02/26/12

Maria, I want to thank you for sharing your cottage with us. It is so quaint and cozy, so much nicer than staying in your regular run of the mill sterile hotel. We had everything we could have wished for and more, your nice homey touches were very much appreciated. You really did think of everything. We were sorry to leave after our weekend and thought the cottage was so cute, we couldn't bear to leave it messy. We love Niagara on the Lake but our Wishing Well Cottage stay made it all that much more enjoyable. Again thank you so very much and you will definitely be seeing us again sooner rather than later. Regards, Nancy & Jeff

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We had a wonderful stay!!

Guest: Grace F.
Date of Stay: 02/01/12 Review Submitted: 02/07/12

Dear Maria, We always enjoy our stay at Wishing Well Cottage. This is our 4th year staying at your lovely cottage. We have spent about 30 nights here. This is our 4th anniversary and we will be back to celebrate our 5th Anniversary. Thanks again, Grace and John

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Great place to spend Christmas Dec 25, 2011

Guest: Shireen M.
Date of Stay: 12/22/11 Review Submitted: 12/29/11

What a great place to spend Christmas with my children, husband and in laws. It had everything we wanted full kitchen, comfortable beds, 2 great bathrooms. We even found a self serve continental breakfast that we appreciated. The cottage was very convenient and close to all amenities. We were sorry to leave but we will be back. I highly recommend this cottage for family getaways and get togethers.

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

GREAT CHRISTMAS STAY DEC 25, 2011

Guest: Shireen M.
Date of Stay: 12/22/11 Review Submitted: 12/29/11

GREAT CHRISTMAS STAY DEC 25, 2011 Perfect place for a family reunion. There were 2 grandparents , 2 children and 2 adults stay at this lovely comfortable historic cottage rental. It has everything we needed, kitchen, comfortable beds, 2 bathrooms even a Christmas Tree. We would have liked to stay longer, but there was a reservation. We appreciated the self serve continental breakfast, wine, chocolates, wine tasting vouchers and wine tours. All of these extras made our stay more pleasant. The cottage is close to all the conveniences, grocery store, Tim Hortons, Gas station, Shopper's Drug Mart, etc. We will be back, we look forward to seeing the outside garden in full bloom. Thank you Maria for everything.

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KEEP SINGING MARIA -THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR LOVELY HISTORIC COTTAGE RENTAL

Guest: Anonymous
Date of Stay: 10/08/11 Review Submitted: 10/20/11

Dear Maria, We enjoyed our stay. The cottage is adorable. Wish we could have seen the garden during the spring/summer, when it was at its best. We enjoyed having you sing to us, that was a real treat, that doesn't happen everyday. To be sung to for our Wedding Anniversary by Canadian Soprano Maria Rekrut....that was a real treat. We appreciated your signature wine that you left us. I understand that you have your own German Wine maker that makes it to your specifications, how fortunate to have sampled this great wine. We'll be back and look forward to enjoying your lovely garden next summer. Thank you for all the extras and all the customer service. I highly recommend this historic cottage to anyone who wants a truly unique vacation experience. Denise Lawrence

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

Falsely Represented

Guest: Peg (Wisconsin, USA)
Date of Stay: 09/29/11 Review Submitted: 10/16/11

The 4 of us were quite appalled at the condition of the cottage, not as advertised, not even close. The photos on the website are a minimum of 10 yrs old. The fact that there is NO internet access (contrary to the listing) was minor compared to the other disappointments. There were cobwebs hanging from all the light fixtures (some filled with dead bugs also) and the curtains appeared to have not been washed in the past several years, the deck and yard were inaccessible due to overgrown plants etc. The so-called "organic garden" has not been maintained for several years. Plug-ins DO NOT compensate for nasty odors. For the amount charged per night, there is no excuse a professional cleaning crew should not be engaged! The "welcome gift basket" consisted of a no-name bottle of wine and open, unwrapped chocolates on a plate. The "self serve continental breakfast" consisted of open containers of cereal, oatmeal, juice, milk etc. no indication of how old these items were. We will most definitely look for other accommodations on our return trips to the area. If there was a lower category than "poor" that's how we would rate Wishing Well Cottage.

Owner response:Dear Guest, I'm sorry that you weren't satisfied with your stay with us. I would have preferred you calling me personally and discussing your concerns or disappointment. I welcome you to call me personally at this time, and we can further discuss your comments. Maria

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Disappointed

Guest: Dick (Oxford, CT)
Date of Stay: 08/30/11 Review Submitted: 09/09/11

After reading all the great reviews from previous years and the owner's description, the Wishing Well cottage fell well short of our expectations. Our first impression on arriving was an indication, as we found the exterior plantings overgrown and not well maintained. The back deck, which looked so nice in the photos, was inaccessible due to vines growing across the entry. The advertised wireless Internet was not available (the owner confirmed this), a significant short-coming in this Internet age. The gift bottle of wine was an Australian shiraz, not what we would expect given all the good local wineries, and there were no promised chocolates. All the advertised makings for the do-it-yourself continental breakfast were there but the cereals, pancake mix, etc. were in large, half-empty boxes, which we chose not to use since we couldn't tell how long they had been sitting on the shelf. On the positive side, the beds were comfortable and the bathrooms fine. The kitchen appliances worked fine. We would have preferred a better, larger sitting area, with a TV there rather than in the bedrooms. Overall, the cottage was adequate for our needs but certainly not what we were expecting. We will look for different lodging on our next trip to NOTL.

Owner response:Dear Guest, I'm sorry that you weren't satisfied with your stay with us. I would have preferred you calling me personally and discussing your concerns or disappointment. I welcome you to call me personally at this time, and we can further discuss your comments. Maria

Recommended for:Sightseeing

WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE

Guest: Scott (Toronto)
Date of Stay: 09/13/10 Review Submitted: 09/16/10

WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE - what can I say, so many extras and surprizes!!!!!! This was truly an experience we will never forget. We were celebrating my Birthday and we received a gift basket that included: a bottle of wine, box of chocolates, wine tasting vouchers/ wine tours, and a Complimentary Culinary Class!! Can you believe it, and at no extra cost ot us!! The self serve continental breakfast was an added surprize and greatly appreciated. Fantastic Customer Service ----Bravo, Many thanks, we'll be back next year, Scott Paul and Family

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

Maria is quite the host!

Guest: Amina & Gavin (Toronto, Ont. & Buffalo, N.Y.)
Date of Stay: 12/03/09 Review Submitted: 12/09/09

What a pleasure staying at the Wishing Well Cottage. This cottage was like no other I have seen before, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. The customer service was phenomenal and the cottage was by far a better experience than staying at a hotel. The beds (the king size bed) was extremely comfortable to sleep on. The cottage has an excellent master bathroom, with a nice size tub, and plenty of towels and shower accessories. Cooking is a wonderful idea and the kitchen is well equipped. I highly recommend staying at this cottage for all occasions; it is in fact, the perfect get-away from the hectic city-life. Thank you Maria! Truly, Amina & Gavin

Recommended for:Age 55+, romantic getaway, sightseeing.

a wonderful place for our 11th Anniversary!

Guest: Stephani B. (Toronto)
Date of Stay: 06/20/09 Review Submitted: 06/25/09

My husband and I just spent a night at this wonderfully charming, cozy cottage for a romantic night celebrating our 11th Anniversary. The stay at this cottage made our anniversary one of the most memorable, and pleasant yet! We loved the privacy of having our own room, and our own kitchen in which to cook our own meals. Dinner by the window in the dining room was so enjoyable! The bedding made us feel like Royalty! Everything was very clean and Maria was such a gracious and accommodating host. We have been to Niagara-on-the-lake every year since our marriage in 1998, we have stayed at several b+b's. This was the best! We think that now, staying at the Wishing Well cottage will become part of our annual tradition.

Recommended for:Romantic getaway

Home Away from Home!!

Guest: Dr. GT (New York)
Date of Stay: 07/01/08 Review Submitted: 07/11/08

Thank you so much for sharing your cottage with us Maria. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we appreciated your Welcome Gift!! What a treat to get a local Niagara wine, a lovely box of chocolates and wine tasting vouchers and wine tour!! Plus a great self serve continental breakfast in the fridge. All of this included in the price, you don't get this everywhere that's for sure. It's a 7 minute walk to downtown Niagara on the Lake and we had a great time at Shaw Festival theatre. Thanks again, we will be back to do celebrate our 2nd annual family get together at the Cottage!! Dr. GT & family

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

Location, Location, Location and a Comfortable Bed

Guest: Jen M (Pasadena, CA)
Date of Stay: 06/21/08 Review Submitted: 07/01/08

This is more than a cottage. It is a a two bedroom house. It is conviently located so that you can walk to the main streets during the day if you want. The parking before 6pm downtown is tough and expensive so walking distance is a real plus. The play we saw during the Shawn Festival at the Court Theatre was one of the best we have seen. Sleeping here is great. The king bed is really comfortable. The bathrooms are roomy and the water pressure good. The place is very clean. There is a large backyard that my kids would have loved exploring had we brought them. As with anything there are down sides. Here the biggest one is the noise of the refridgerator. It can best be described as an 18 wheeler passing you on the freeway. The other bad thing is the smell of the owner's office. You have to go thru it to the backyard. The smell most likely comes from the basement. However, this is minor and you don't notice the smell when in the rest of the house.

Owner response:Thank you so much for your input. I'm glad that you enjoyed staying at the cottage for your Canadian Getaway. So sorry about the fridge, it seems that the freezer motor was starting to go on the frizz. As far as the back room and the odour. That is the owners private area and guests are not invited to use it as it doesn't have Air Conditioning, and so the back office is full of humidity and you know how that is with a 140 year old home. We don't normally allow our guests to use that back area but you had asked to use it , and I didn't think that you would have found it offensive. Since, I let you know that we don't normally allow guests back there, but we did let you as a favour. So this remark is a little unfair. I have since put up a sign that we will not allow our guests to use that area of the cottage, as we don't want anyone else to complain of the odour. When I came to see you later on that weekend you could have let me know about the problems. When I asked if everything was OK, you said yes, that everything was fine. Nevertheless, I appreciate your comments and thank you for pointing out how we can improve our service. Best regards, Maria

Recommended for:Age 55+, families with young children, tourists without a car, romantic getaway.