Country French Chateu - Lake Front /Castle Farms-Weddings/ Fall Special - Color

Vacation ended 2 months ago. Still have not received security deposit back. Owner has told me 3 times that he is sending it.

My extended family stayed in this home during the last week of July. Because we had so many people, the make up of the rooms was important but the web site isn't really clear about it. So here they are:

Two King suites - King bedrooms with a full bath each.

Three Queen bedrooms that share a bath with one other room

Two rooms with two twin beds each

One room with a Queen bed and two twins. We wanted to put a family with two children there, but the twin beds were too high and the children too young (2 and 4 yrs. old) so we put three single men there. It worked out well.

Pros:

- the kitchen was large and well-appointed. We cooked every night and had all the pans we needed. Plenty of dishes and glasses and places to sit, both indoors or outdoors.

- new fire pit by the dock that we used several times.

- large deck that was great for reading, eating or letting the toddlers play. There was a baby pool available that we set up on the porch

- very responsive owner. There were several issues that were not his fault but he was very quick about getting them taken care of. The boat lift was broken two days before we arrived and he made arrangements to have it fixed. We were lucky enough to have a car with a hitch so we could put the boat in the water ourselves until it was fixed. Also, someone before us had set the septic tank alarm to silent and did not alert him that the tank was full. As soon as we called he made arrangements to get it pumped out, it was taken care of in less than 24 hours. He called to check in a couple of times as well.

- Very close to two lovely beaches: Ferry Park, lots of shade for adults, lots of playground equipment and play space for kids, easy access to dock for picking up/dropping off people from a boat or wave runner. Lake Michigan Beach within walking distance to downtown Charlevoix, lovely sunny Lake Michigan beach with plenty of Petoskey stones.

- lots of refrigerator space

- grocery store nearby

Cons

- no beach, although we could have seen that from the pictures

- heating and cooling challenges. When we first arrived the house was way too cold. We turned off the air conditioning, but one room became too hot. For the rooms on the first floor, the King suite was too cold, so the occupants turned up the heat, but that made it unbearable for the couple in the Queen room at the other end. It took a few days/nights to get the right settings in the rooms so that everyone was comfortable. The rest of the house was fine.

My wife and stayed with a few other couples over New Years Eve to attend the wedding of a close friend at Castle Farms. The accommodations could not be more perfect. The house was HUGE and well laid out for groups or families. The property itself is beautiful and right off the lake which made for quite a picturesque environment. I can only imagine how fun it would be to have a week here in the summer. And the best part of all is that it is less than a 5 minute drive from Castle Farms. Do yourself a big favor and book this house if you would rather share a luxurious experience with close friends and family than drive from a tired hotel a half hour away. I spent days looking and there literally isn't anything else in the area that compares!