Secluded Cottage on 6.2-Acre Homestead IN TOWN 10-15 min to Beach/Downtown

I would be pleased to host you again. Thank you for taking care of my cottage!

"Awesome experience" from my side as well. It was such a pleasure to host Dennis and Pat, and I would love for them to come back - again and again. :)

What wonderful guests! They were easy to communicate with from the time they booked and all through their stay, and they left the house spotless. It was a pleasure to share my space with them, and I do hope they come back!

I loved loved loved hosting Virginia and her kids. Thumbs up, and I look forward to their return one day, hopefully soon! :)

It was a pleasure hosting the Denholms, and I certainly hope for a return visit. They left the house clean and tidy and were just all-around enjoyable. I'm glad I could help with the flat tire and was there when they needed to use my cell phone (the cottage has cable and internet but does not have a land line)!

Thank you for such a gracious review and kind compliments, Becky! I thoroughly enjoyed hosting Becky and Eric. They were here for a month and I would not have changed one thing with their stay. I look forward to their return next year!

Wonderful guests. The only thing I would change is that I wish they were here longer! 🙂 Thank you, Andrew, and I hope you'll be back soon.

Nothing but good to say about Wayne and his family. They were a pleasure to host! They left the house as they found it and were easy to communicate from start to finish. I sure hope they will come again!

Thank you for the lovely review and for choosing my cottage for your stay. It was my pleasure to meet and host you and John, and I hope you'll come back someday (hopefully when the hens are back to laying eggs!). Thank you for leaving everything so very tidy! All the best. :)

I can't say enough good things about Elaine and Mike, my neighbors for a month. Wonderful guests, wonderful people. I wish they could have stayed forever!

It was a pleasure hosting Gail and Drew's first Sarasota vacation, and I am thrilled (and proud!) that they enjoyed their stay. I liked the fact that they "lived" the house and property. It was a first for guests using my garden, but I was happy to allow it and will certainly welcome it in the future. They left the house tidy and promised to come back. I will hold them to that. ;)

Hosting Robin, her husband and their granddaughter was my pleasure. I loved it that they got to do so many different things the short time they were here, plus spend some time just relaxing and enjoying the homestead. They left my cottage in absolutely tip-top shape. Amazing, really! Hoping for a return visit :)

It was a pleasure sharing my "little slice of paradise" with Deb and Ray. They left the cottage absolutely spotless and wrote such a nice message in my guestbook. I would gladly open my doors to them again, anytime!

It was a pleasure hosting you and your family, Ethan, and I'm so glad you chose my cottage! Thank you for being awesome guests. I hope you'll come back again!

Michelle and her mother were such wonderful guests. I just loved it that they seemed to truly enjoy being here, and they left the house beautifully clean. I certainly look forward to their return! February and March are always Sarasota's busiest months, but traffic this year has been worse than ever! Depending on the time of day, getting to the beaches can take longer than usual these months, particularly if one of the bridges is open to let boats pass under. I agree with Michelle: my property is a good base to visit all of Sarasota's attractions (and surrounding). At least during high season, visitors who want to spend all of their time at the beach would probably be better off staying on the beach.

I am honored to have received such a glowing review! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and hosting Eileen and her daughter and granddaughter - and the hens did, too. :) They treated my cottage as if it was their own, and I would welcome them back any time. Eileen's only suggestion was that I update the photos in my listing, because they didn't do it justice. And so I did, just yesterday! Thank you so much, Eileen, for taking care of my cottage, for an excellent review, and for nudging me to make a much-needed update!

I'm so glad you chose my cottage/property for your getaway! I enjoyed having you and your friends here and having the opportunity to chat. Please come back soon. :)

It was a pleasure to host Roberta and her daughter. They were a perfect fit, and I sure hope they come back again. Thank you so much Roberta! :)

Thank you for choosing my cottage/property, Jeremy! It was a pleasure to host your family, and I hope you'll come back one day. :) Sorry for the late response. I'm just seeing this!

I was surprised and disappointed to read this review as Melissa was very kind while here and had nothing but good things to say about the property and about me. I invited her and her party to a fun event the night of their arrival and gave them fresh eggs from my hens and, in return, she thanked me for my hospitality more than once and texted "You've been wonderful. Thank you so much!" to me before leaving. I reached out both via text and via VRBO and asked Melissa to please tell me what was wrong so that I could improve as a host, but I got no response. I don't understand the point of writing an "It was alright" review without any explanation. The only things I can think of, both of which I thought had been resolved, are these: They reserved on the 10th of June and I sent my rental agreement that day. Five days later - three days before their arrival - she emailed me to ask if there was a designated smoking area because three of the party were smokers. It says in my listing and in my rental agreement that "Smoking is strictly forbidden inside the Guesthouse and anywhere on the Property." I called VRBO and offered to refund all of their money if they wanted to find somewhere else to stay (VRBO was going to allow me to cancel the reservation and keep their money due to the short notice). Melissa assured me that smoking was not necessary for them and that they preferred to keep the reservation. I thought that issue was resolved and that we had moved forward. Secondly, at 10pm their second night, Melissa texted me to ask if the fire pit was available for use by guests. My rental agreement says that the fire pit is "off-limits to Guests unless approved in advance by Owner." I told her that I wouldn't mind, but not at 10 at night. It is very dark on my property, I would have to collect wood, pull the tools out of storage, explain everything and stay awake to be available while they were using it. Her response was, "No problem at all, was just curious." If these are the reasons for the dismal review, then so be it. I put my heart and soul into my property and try to accommodate guests to the best of my ability. I hope my other reviews over the years demonstrate that.

Christine and her parents were wonderful guests. Christine was very easy to communicate with before and during their stay, and they treated my cottage and property with much care and respect. I would love to have them come back!

Manju and her family were wonderful. It was a special treat to have them here. Fantastic guests from start to end that I would gladly welcome back!