Back Creek, Winchester, VA

Modern ranch home in the Shenandoah Valley with cherry wood floors and french chandeliers. Seven acres of pristine waterfront privacy just 20 minutes from downtown Winchester, VA. There are 3 bedrooms (1 king bed and 2 queen beds), 1 queen sleeper sofa, and 3 full bathrooms. Downstairs, there is an office space and a game room with a regulation-sized pool table and dart board. Upstairs, there is an open-concept living area with a full kitchen, pantry, and washer/dryer. The large front porch offers a spectacular view of Back Creek.
HOUSE MANUAL Please review this house manual with your guests to ensure they are informed about the property and to help keep everyone safe. This is a serene, tranquil environment, but there are safety concerns and hazards at every turn. Parties and special events are not allowed.

FLOODING ADVISORY
Please be advised this house is in a flood zone. If there is a weather emergency and flooding is occurring, you will be required to vacate to higher ground. The homeowner monitors the weather and will keep you posted, but it is strongly recommended that you download and use a weather app to keep you and your guests informed. It is your responsibility to monitor the weather, understand the flooding risks, and take every precaution to keep you and your guests safe.

KNOWN DANGERS
In addition to flooding, there are many known dangers including:
1. Poisonous snakes - water moccasins, rattlesnakes, and copperheads
2. Wild animals - black bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, otters, beavers, skunks, groundhogs, possums, and bats
3. Poisonous, stinging, biting insects - spiders, wasps, bees, horseflies, gnats, and flies
4. Nails, broken glass, and debris left from previous flooding events
5. Deep holes in the ground where trees have fallen or have been taken down
6. Uneven walking areas
7. Falling trees and tree limbs

SECURITY CAMERAS
There are 4 security cameras installed on the property:
1. Front porch facing the entrance
2. Front porch facing the creek
3. Front porch, second floor, facing the front door
4. Back porch facing the gravel parking area

SLEEP OPTIONS
The house has three bedrooms with one king bed and two queen beds.

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT
The full kitchen includes the following equipment (mostly Cuisinart):
1. Drip coffeemaker
2. Coffee grinder
3. Slow cooker
4. Rice cooker
5. Juicer
6. Instant Pot
7. Ninja Air Fryer

FISHING IN BACK CREEK
Back Creek is a tributary of the Potomac River. It contains all kinds of fish including largemouth and smallmouth bass, bluegill, catfish, gar, and trout. The creek is stocked every year with rainbow, brook, and brown trout, so fly fishing is very popular in this area.

Fish all you like, but do not bring the fish onto the property or into the house. Whether fresh caught from the creek or from the grocery store, fish are not allowed in the house due to the foul odors that can persist for days after guests have checked out.

Also, the Virginia Department of Health and other environmental organizations have issued warnings about fish consumption for the broader Shenandoah River Basin, which includes Back Creek. Due to general risks of contamination in Virginia's waterways, it is not recommended to consume fish from the area. Fish from Back Creek and the surrounding Shenandoah River watershed may contain pollutants caused by agricultural runoff that accumulates in fish over time.

INTERNET
Internet is available via Starlink. There are 3 televisions upstairs and 1 downstairs. All TVs are connected to Starlink and a DVD player. The available applications include Amazon, Netflix, and Youtube. The master bedroom has a PS5 with a large gaming monitor and has Fortnite installed. The second bedroom features a PS4 with Fortnite installed. There are two PS4 games available on CD: Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat.

Starlink provides fast internet and streaming, but it goes down occasionally in bad weather and for system updates. When this happens, it can take an hour or longer before service resumes. To keep guests entertained during an outage, there is a selection of books and children’s books in the library room and there are movies, TV programs, and games in the living room TV cabinet.

Network name: Starlink
Password: Johnson031717!

BOOKS
Guests are welcome to enjoy these books onsite, but please do not take them home. The homeowner purchased the art books in foreign countries and they cannot easily be replaced, so the replacement and restocking fee would be significant.

Living room upstairs:
1. Tate Modern Museum, London
2. The Vatican, Rome
3. The Louvre, Paris
4. The National Gallery, London
5. Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds
6. The Complete Guide to the Dog

Library downstairs:
1. Women Who Run With the Wolves
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Where the Crawdads Sing
4. The Last Dance of the Cheyenne
5. Thinking in Systems
6. Several People Are Typing
7. They Both Die at the End
8. The Call of the Wild
9. Animal Farm
10. The Bible
11. Rick Steves Travel Books for Germany, Spain, Italy, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Belgium, London, Rome, and Paris
12. Agrigento, Italy
13. Tower of London
14. The National Gallery, London
15. West Virginia
16. American Dirt
17. The Ties that Bind
18. Outlander
19. Educated
20. The Nightingale
21. The Silent Patient
22. The Hot Zone
23. 1984
24. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
25. Untamed
26. The Midnight Library
27. The Handmaid’s Tale
28. The Brothers Grimm Complete Fairy Tales
29. The Iliad & The Odyssey
30. The Complete Works of Shakespeare
31. The Native Americans
32. Native Americans
33. North American Indian Women
34. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology
35. The Native Americans
36. A History of Art
37. Essential Surrealists
38. Michelangelo and Raphael in the Vatican
39. Louvre The 300 Masterpieces
40. Salvador Dali

Children’s Books:
1. Animals (Baby Touch and Feel)
2. Fox in Socks
3. Are You My Mother?
4. Baby Animals
5. Baby Shark
6. Taylor Swift
7. Elvis Presley
8. Green Eggs and Ham
9. Bluey
10. Hello Farm!
11. 10 assorted coloring books

MOVIES/TV SERIES ON DVD:
1. The Office (TV series)
2. Breaking Bad (TV series)
3. Avengers Endgame
4. MIB International
5. The Lion King
6. Star Wars Rogue One
7. Tolkien
8. Joker
9. Just Dance 2020

GAMES:
1. Monopoly
2. Sorry!
3. Life
4. Jenga
5. Taboo
6. Farkle
7. Dominoes
8. Cards
9. Fire-Side Chats
10. Find & Seek Scavenger Hunt Card Game

Outdoor games and equipment available upon request:
1. Cornhole
2. Telescope
3. Movie projector and big screen
4. Croquet
5. Volleyball net
6. Kites - 4
7. Flying Discs - 2
8. Wiggle Cars by FanttikRide (ages 3 and up, 150 lbs) - 2

KIDS’ ROOM
There is a secret play area under the stairs for small children. The room is equipped with a table and two chairs, a large magnetic chalkboard, board games, magnetic tiles, and stuffed animals. To find the entrance, go through the gameroom downstairs and past the kitchenette and you will find the door on the left.

PETS
Attention fellow dog lovers! Dogs are welcome here, but they must be leashed whenever they are outside. You must pick up their poop and deposit the poop bags in the designated trash can located under the front porch facing the creek.

Cats are not allowed.

Please keep your dogs off the furniture while indoors. There are two large dog beds in the house, one upstairs in the living room and one under the pool table downstairs. While outdoors, you must keep your dogs leashed to prevent them from entering neighboring properties and killing or injuring livestock.

PARKING
There are three gravel parking areas for vehicles. Please do not park in front of the garage or anywhere on the asphalt driveway to allow full access to Winchester Fire and Rescue in case of emergency. Park anywhere on the gravel areas.

GARAGE
The garage is off limits to guests. The owner stores personal belongings, equipment, pesticide, and other chemicals in the garage.

TRASH
After your stay, please bring all bagged trash to the trash can outside under the back porch.

SPEAKING OF BUGS…
Gnats are a huge problem here! Once the gnats get into the drains, it becomes an expensive nightmare to get rid of them. The property owner has gnat traps installed throughout the house. Please do your part by keeping doors and windows shut. Do not leave food out uncovered. Dispose of food waste in trash bags and tie them shut. As soon as trash bags are full, move them to the trash can outside under the back porch.

SEPTIC SYSTEM
Please inform your guests about the septic system. Guests should flush human waste and toilet paper only. No diapers or sanitary products. Nonbiodegradable items can clog pipes, damage the system, and lead to backups.

OWNER CAMPSITE
The owner is semi-retired and maintains an RV campsite on the south side of the property. She travels a lot and enjoys hosting guests, walking her dog, fishing, and paddleboarding. She is very respectful of her guests’ privacy and only interacts with them if they need something.