The White River Cabin

Good & bad; with that in mind-I give the home a 3.5.

Good: Area is GORGEOUS! We were constantly in awe of how beautiful the area was, the wildlife, the coyotes howling in the distance. Manager was HIGHLY responsive; contacted him re:the AC prior to our arrival per email, & he called me in less than an hr to address (AC no issue). The seclusion is fantastic if you lead busy lives & want to get away. 2 coffee shops in town, both good. Loved the proximity to the river. Kitchen was adequately stocked, & I cook on vacation so this was great.The wifi & satellite service worked fine for our family of 5. The citizens are friendly.

Bad: NO service. NONE. iPhones can get iMessages; otherwise, I hope you have FB Messenger or something as you WON'T be receiving calls (only bad depending on how "away from it all" you want to be). Firepit had cans & trash in it. We didn't use it :-(. Pretty big carpenter ants @ the kitchen window area; kids saw spiders a few times. Daddy just got Raid. There's not a lot of "other" to do-went to the Blanchard Springs & Caverns, visited Mirror Lake waterfall, & went to Batesville for shopping & Colton's Steakhouse. The housekeeping was...not great. Tidy, but not clean. One of the doors to the laundry closet was broken, which wasn't an issue, but I like to know ahead of time (personal preference). Someone brought a pet @ some point, & there was still pet hair. In the rug, on the stairs-everywhere. I swept the stairs asap. Within the day, there was pet hair again. If you have ever lived in a pier & beam home, you know this is sometimes an issue with the ac unit; possibly needs a good vacuum & the filter changed. As my kids have asthma & allergies, we spent a lot of time giving breathing treatments in the house. Oddly, the outdoors didn't pose much of an allergen issue.

The other: For young & older people: cabin is on a hill. You walk down to the river, & back up the incline from the river. Going "TO TOWN" as my hubby calls it takes about 30-35 mins; 20 is just on the road the house. Road is CURVY. It's easy to get turned around, read Brant's instructions. Narrow street, 1/2 paved, then shale. WILDLIFE. DRIVE SLOWLY.

Truth: If you're looking for a vacation home, you're gonna be disappointed. Perfect for my husband & myself;kids were intermittently bored. If you're looking for what this is-a fishing cabin, it's a classy updated cabin! Great for adults on fishing trips & outdoorsy fams! And groups of college kids per my hubby.

We arrived at the cabin to no air conditioning. And in my opinion the cabin only sleeps five comfortably. The couch does not pull out. They had an air mattress. While the owner got an air repair company out there the next day, they had no clue what they were doing. The cabin was between 79 and 89 degrees the entire time. Well, we had one night where it cooled off. But it was only because of a storm and slight cold front that moved thru. When we checked out the cabin was again at 82 degrees. In general, inside is nice, bathrooms are tiny but clean. Outside is dirty, needs a serious power wash. We wanted to go to the river but guess what, the path was completely covered in poison ivy. Yea nature, I get it, but the path to the river should be safe, to get there you have to walk thru the stuff all over the ground. It does say river access. You can’t get there without traipsing thru the stuff. My kids and myself are allergic, so that was out. And how about this, we get a call at eleven on check out day asking why we Hadn’t left. Our itinerary stated that we checked in at 10 am and out at 3 pm. We were all in the middle of brunch and the owner wants us out by 1pm. Two hours early. Honestly, I just felt like the whole experience was more of an ordeal than I care to have again on a summer vacation. My 80 year old grandparents were with, and not having air conditioning was so hard on them. I felt horrible. Truly felt it was a bust.

The cabin needs attention, housekeeping definitely needs to improve on the cleanliness, sheets were left in the dryer, tables and floors were not dusted or vacuumed well- mirrors were dirty-light bulbs were out in the kitchen and ants in the kitchen stove top was filthy-and dirty plates ~ we cleaned before we enjoyed our stay- the cabin itself is beautiful-

Our family had a magical time here!

I loved where the cabin was as it was right on the river and off the beaten bath. It is arranged great and very comfortable. It has a beautiful view and offered peaceful surroundings. I didn't like a few things about it though. It has a problem with lady bugs and carpenter ants. We had to clean when we first arrived as their were dead lady bugs all over the floor. You couldn't walk without crunching them. The carpenter ants were doing some damage in the wood around the kitchen window. There was about an inch of sawdust and dirt in both sides of the sink and behind the sink and window ledge when we arrived. I had to clean all that and go buy spray to make them stay away for our stay. They kept coming back. The other thing you need to be aware of is that this house is listed for sale and can show at anytime without warning. We were gotten up our 3rd day there by a realtor wanting to show the house. My daughter-in law had just gotten in the shower and my son and newborn baby were still in bed. I was still in my pajamas. They insisted on showing it at that time and did. I was not told before hand the house would be showing while we were there or it would not have been a problem. We would have been ready. It was very inconvenient and intrusive since we had just gotten out of bed and were not dressed. Would have been nice if someone had let us know and we would have been up, ready, and had the house straightened.