Boone

"My husband and I just enjoyed 5 peaceful days at Trout Retreat. The weather was pretty bad, but we made the best of it, and there's nothing better than being trapped indoors under a tin roof in a log cabin if you have to endure 4 days straight of rain! My husband did quite a bit of fishing and once he switched to live bait (you can get it at the hunting store next to the Food Lion up the road), he caught bass, bluegill, chub , but unfortunately no trout). The road down to the property is not for the faint of heart but we both love driving mountain roads and enjoyed every bit of it. We hiked around the area a bit as well. When there is no one occupying the adjacent property, there is a ton of privacy. Even when someone is there, the owners have done a good job of putting privacy screens in the form of trees between the two cabins. The cabin has everything you could possibly want, though I suggest bringing a beach towel or two for around the area or if you want to stretch out in the meadow or along the rocky area by the stream. The wifi was a very nice surprise, so thank you for adding it - without it, you are completely cut off from the outside world (I am not sure whether that is a good or a bad thing). A couple of things to note for others thinking about renting - the cabin sleeps 4, but it would definitely have to be 4 people who really like each other. It's a loft bedroom upstairs so expect to share noise if you have two sleeping below you. It is the perfect size for two people. We didn't bring our dogs, but it is definitely pet friendly and ours would have had a great time there. I had an allergy attack when I used one of the blankets downstairs that was on the couch, so I recommend being aware if you have a lot of pet allergies. The owners keep a separate stash of towels and blankets for pets, so obviously a prior guest didn't pay attention to that and let a dog sleep on a "human" blanket. Like other vacation rentals we've used, there is some element of "housework" that is asked of you, like doing a load of laundry before you leave, taking all trash with you, running the dishwasher and putting them away, etc I prefer not to do any housework on vacation as we have 4 kids and one of the best parts of vacation is no laundry! However, we had an issue with an early morning departure and the manager told us not to worry about it. We managed to get it done anyway. Overall it was a great stay, loved the place, and will definitely be back!"