Vineyard Cottage - Private Pool - View Hills/Aegean Sea

I stayed at the cottage in mid-September. There was plenty of sun on the terrace for most of the day. Actually, the cottage was so peaceful that I had a hard time leaving, even to get groceries. I did make it one day to tour Bodrum and another day to a beach. Besides that , I pretty much spent a week enjoying the views and tranquility.

I had read the review before booking, so I knew to expect a small kitchenette and shower/bathroom combo, neither of which were a problem for me. I cooked full meals in the kitchenette with little difficulty - everything I needed was within reach.

The best part of my stay was the tranquility. The second best was Frank and his staff, including two awesome dogs who escorted me up and down from the cottage, through the olive grove. The caretaker family brought me fresh-picked grapes and walnuts and were eager to speak Turkish with me, even though my vocabulary is somewhat limited. Everything I asked for was accommodated.

You can't help but feel warm and friendly here. The vineyard cottage is truly a special place.

Vineyard cottage lived up to my expectations. Others have described the amenities, i will focus on the atmosphere. I sat on the patio, looking out over the sea (not wine-dark) and thought, wrote and then edited. When the sun was too much for me I wandered down to the pool to cool off. Then, sitting again with olives and wine at the ready, I wrote some more. Wandering overland down along the path to the town below I would meet meandering tortoises, a cow and a friendly dog. After stocking up at Migros I would return to my shepherd's hut (nicely appointed) and sigh as the sun set over the sea. Frank, the owner and host, lives a five minute walk through the trees up a winding path from the cottage. He is more of a Zorba figure than The Magus (albeit actually american) and we had an excellent time together competing over who was the more vigorous septuagenarian. With his 18 month old daughter Amber I guess he wins. He is a mine of information and together with his wife very helpfulI. If you want to retreat into solitude for writing this is a fine spot, but there are also wonderful sights to see and places to visit. I will probably only get back there in my memory, but I do visit often. The complaints about the power pole and the view are of course laughable; this is a charming spot where I enjoyed three weeks of peace, writing and playing the guitar for the patio lizards.

My husband and I stayed at the Vineyard Cottage from June 2 through June 9, 2012. We had never been to Turkey, and chose our destination based on the cottage and our emails with Frank, the owner. From there, we planned a roadtrip designed to end up on the Bodrum Peninsula.

From the very beginning our our communication, Frank was always extremely informative, friendly, and accommodating. He provided us with information about nearby attractions and offered to help us find a rental car. We paid a deposit via PayPal and everything went smoothly.

We arrived at the rental to be greeted by Frank's family and were escorted to the cottage. The description of the cottage was just as we'd imagined, and yes, you do need to be prepared for a bit of a hike to get to the house. However, I believe this is part of the magic of the property. Frank left us wine, bread, and a few treats, and we spent our first evening watching the sun go down behind the hills.

The photos of the cottage did a great job of showing us what to expect. The one surprise was that the sofa flips over to turn into a bed, so it's lower to the ground and all in one room, but this worked great for us, especially as our days were spent outside or adventuring. There are lots of beautiful antiques and books to read on the bookshelves, and the kitchen had the utensils we needed. Yes, the kitchen is small, but we were able to cook breakfast and dinner on several occasions with no trouble. The cottage was clean, as was the plunge pool and the patio.

Whenever we saw Frank throughout our stay, he always made sure to check in on how we were doing. His sweet dogs walked down to the cottage with us at night and greeted us at our car in the morning.

The cottage is in a perfect location to explore the Bodrum Peninsula. You can quickly drive to where you want, but you are also removed from busy Bodrum or some of the more resort-like areas. When you fall asleep, the cicadas and the neighborhood dog is all you hear. We spent days in Bodrum, we rented a boat for a day, we went horseback riding, and we had dinner in several of the small towns. I highly recommend a car, as it makes it very easy to get around, although the transit system looked accessible as well. If you don't have a car, you may find the walk from the main road to the house to be a bit long.

I would highly recommend the cottage to anyone heading to Turkey, and if we ever manage to make it back, we will certainly stay again. Thanks!

We absolutely loved Vineyard Cottage, the location was fabulous. The owner was really friendly and nothing was too much trouble, we loved the two dogs who enjoyed showing us down the path in the evenings and waiting until we were safely inside before going back to the main house.

The cottage was quite basic but in a very interesting way and you had everything you needed there.

We would not hesitate in returning to the cottage for further holidays in Turkey.

The terrace has beautiful views out to the Aegean. Yes the pylon is right in the middle of it but it doesn’t matter. The terrace is very pretty but never in the sun sadly. This might have been something to do with the time of year we were there, and that the tree was quite large. If you don’t like the sun or burn easily then this terrace would be perfect. Because of the shade we never used the plunge pool. We never got hot enough! Which was a shame because it did look inviting after Osman had cleaned it so nicely every morning. Maybe in the mid summer when it’s properly hot this shade is welcome. For us this meant we spent very little time at the house and went to the beaches and villages nearby. Sitting on the terrace having breakfast was a real joy. Especially when you spread one of franks locally made jams onto your toast!

The location is remote which makes for a very peaceful nights sleep. You definitely need a car unless you’re happy to sit in the shade all day. The supermarkets nearby are great and all the bakeries and markets Frank recommended in his guest book are brilliant.

For those of you that need internet you can use Franks wi fi where you park your car by the house. The passwords are in the guest book. Down at the vineyard cottage there isn’t any signal, making it even easier to switch off from work!

It really wouldn’t take much to make it amazing. Here are our suggestions:

Get rid of the wood weevils that munch all night long

Get a new cooker in the kitchen and put up some shelves so you don’t have to chop on the floor in the bedroom!

Equip the kitchen with better cooking utensils and a chopping board

Clear away some of the stuff in the main bedroom/living room to makes space for some cupboards or wardrobes to put your stuff.

Buy new sunloungers - The ones that were there were very old and one was broken so you couldn’t

Better pillows to make the bed comfier

Cut the tree back a bit to let in some sun.

A table lamp would give an alternative to the overhead lighting

Saying all this though, there was something wonderfully refreshing about staying somewhere so authentic and rustic, in a peninsula awash with identical white cubed apartments. At least the stuff we’re moaning are the local wood weevils rather than loud drunken neighbors!

Frank’s local knowledge was amazing. He recommended some amazing beaches with crystal clear waters and black sand. So definitely pick his brains when you arrive.