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How to enjoy the lake and outdoor time in comfort with 20 members of your family? Cottage City Manor

A house that can accommodate senior siblings, their children and grands with enough beds and baths; a short walk to a fabulous finger lake; and an enclosed lawn for running, playing, grilling, outdoor meals and s'mores! What's better than this for a summer family gathering.

Location, location, location! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this great property, an interior reminiscent of the owner's family and a garage stocked with lawn games and water equipment. The little ones played and ran safely on the lawn while the biggers were out on the kayaks, canoes and paddle boats. The lake was perfect for swimming for all ages (with water shoes of course, but if you forget, some in the garage!) The short stroll to the water access was inconsequential and a deterrent to small, curious kids. The views of the lake, sunset and kids in the yard through the many windows in the house were a marvelous gift!

The house has 3 kitchens, and with our crowd, cooking meals and cleanup was a daily production in 2 of them. Plenty of dishes, a stock of basic kitchen supplies, washer/dryer and bathroom items made a comfy setting from the get go. This is not a high end rental with fabulous or frou frou furnishings but a family style place. We missed creature comforts of a 2nd dishwasher, beach towels/chairs, a larger upstairs bath and a stock of bath towels but it did not really impact our great stay. Many nooks and porches to gather in or spend quiet time, a must with this many adults and children. Tables and chairs outside under the tent were great for lingering family dinners, then moving under the stars to the firepit (wood on site) for storytelling and singing while perfecting marshmallow roasting techniques.

The owner was responsive to a couple of small glitches and open to hearing about a few things that needed attention, goodness knows its hard to stay on top of a house this size!

Already recommended to friend of friend looking for a great gathering spot. This was truely a memorable spot for having fun and spending time together!

Stayed July, 2018

Rating
5/5
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Great time had by all

Even though the weather was not ideal we all had a wonderful time. This property has everything you need for large family gatherings three kitchens,numerous games and a large outdoor tent for shelter from the rain. Access to the lake was right across the lake. We enjoyed the canoe kayak and paddle boat. Sharon replied to all questions very quickly. If you book this property you won’t be disappointed.

Stayed July, 2018

Rating
5/5
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Great setting and excellent layout for private and public possibilities.

Great home for our gathering of 15. Our only regret concerns the configuration of beds that made it difficult to accommodate families. Otherwise, splendid.

Stayed July, 2018

Rating
4/5
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Great house for large groups!

Great house, just as described. 3 fully stocked kitchens, plenty of space for my group! Used the paddle boat, we brought kayaks, had fires, grilled and spent a lot of time outside.Had great meals sitting all together with large kitchen table!! I would definitely rent again!

Stayed June, 2018

Rating
5/5
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Spacious home with a great yard and short walk to the lake

-owner was lovely and easy to work with and communicate with- allowed us an early check in and provided a nice check out list
-loved the yard, the tent provided in the yard and the location so close to the lake
-inside of the home had plenty of room but split up in a bit of a hodge-podge design with three kitchens on various levels
-bathrooms (with exception of the master) are very small
-house looked very "lived in" as the owners had family pictures up and lots of nick nacks
-bikes and other amenities like kayak and canoe need some TLC and maintenance

Stayed June, 2018

Rating
4/5
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Pros and cons

I stayed in this house with a group of friends and their families. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
Very large house with separate areas for different families and multiple kitchens. We had 6 families and we all fit relatively comfortably.
Very responsive owner (the AC broke while we were there and she had someone come immediately on a Sunday night of a holiday weekend to fix it).
Large, flat backyard with lots of outdoor space and outdoor furniture.
Paddle boats/kayaks and lawn games provided.
Very close to the lake. I put this on the pro list because it was a good location, but it is definitely not “lake front” as categorized on VRBO. There is a row of houses in between this property and the lake. Super convenient short walk to the little access point/rocky “beach”.

Cons:
Although the owner was very responsive and seems to be a reasonable and kind person, she ended up charging us for something out of our security deposit that I believe was either already broken when we got there or broken by her workers after we left. I don’t think she was purposely trying to cheat us out of money, but we had two very different impressions of the state of the house that caused some unnecessary stress after we left. I would definitely suggest requesting a walk through when you arrive and before you leave if you rent this property.
Not actually lake front (although see above - it is still a nice location).

Overall we enjoyed our stay, but there were some bumps in the road that made me down grade my rating a bit.

Stayed May, 2018

Rating
3/5
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Beautiful house and the place

The house is beautiful very well mantain. The kitchen is big open area we really enyoed or stay . Beautiful view over the lake . There was enough space for everyone . We would go back definitely and highly recommend this house.

Stayed December, 2017

Rating
5/5
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Great for large gathering

This is a great place for a large gathering. The large common space was great to get everyone together but in addition there were smaller spaces if you wanted to get away from the crowd for a few minutes. The house had lots of pots, pans and dishes for larger groups, made cooking for my gang easy. The season (November) prevented us from enjoying the outside more but there was space and a play yard for the little ones. I would highly recommend for gatherings up to 20 people.

Stayed November, 2017

Rating
5/5
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