CAMP IDLEWOOD

REVIEWS*

Date of Stay: July 2024
Posted On: 7/7/24 by Jennifer B.

“My family stayed here for the 4th of July week. My sister and BIL have graciously rented cottages on the Fulton Chain for all of us the past 4 years. This one has a lot of nice features. The cottage is well laid out, w/a large updated kitchen, 1st floor laundry & powder room, a cozy living room & large dining room. The decor is classic, w/many vintage pieces I suspect have been kept w/the house as it's aged (it's 104 years old!). It was fun to check out the antique bureaus & dining hutches. The fire pit was well-built and the dock was well-maintained. The swimming was great as well, sandy bottom w/no reeds to get feet tangled. The view on 4th Lake is unparalleled, especially for the fireworks shows. It's very quiet there as well. There were some significant & less significant issues: - Upon arrival, we were dismayed to find there is NO direct vehicle access to the house. We had to lug ALL of our gear & food up & down 34 steps. If you're a young, fit family, you might be slightly inconvenienced. If you have older or infirm relatives, it's next to impossible to navigate those steps every time you come & go. -The private road isn't terrible but it's not easy to traverse: lots of deep ruts, & it's hard to see if anyone is coming around the bend w/the trees so close to the path. -There were several light fixtures & lamps w/dead bulbs. My BIL replaced the ones he could but the old-fashioned hanging fixtures were either out of reach or too delicate to risk breaking them. -The 1st floor powder room is barely big enough for an average person to use. If you're very tall or large, forget it. -Only 1 full bath for 9+ ppl for a week is a bit inadequate. Thankfully, the owners have decorated w/plenty of mirrors throughout the house that you can use to get ready, but you might need to draw up a shower schedule if you have a lot of guests. -The enclosed back porch is lovely but we could only open the windows on the east side, as I found that the west windows needed to be forced back into the locks, & only my BIL was strong enough to do it. Not a big deal, but a cross breeze would've made the porch more comfortable. It was too stuffy to sit out there otherwise, even w/the ceiling fan. Ditto for the old dining room windows - very hard to open & the screen was ripped on one, which meant bugs could get in, but we had no choice- the room would've been too stuffy otherwise. -The sliding door fell off the track 3x the first day even though we were just using it normally, not slamming or yanking it open -The modern tub & shower w/chrome accents doesn't fit the vintage feel of the cottage, and it has a very heavy, curved sliding door that, thanks to the slightly slanted upstairs floors, won't stay closed no matter what you do - you have to aim the shower head just so in order to keep the water in the high-sided tub, otherwise you risk soaking the wood floors (which, incidentally, constantly creaked ominously underneath the thin new tub). The bathroom also looks as if it's been updated a bit sloppily - the old wallpaper is easily visible under the crinkled new white paper -A couple of the bedrooms had no door latches, just a loose knob & a hook-and-eye lock on the inside of the door, & the doors didn't stay closed w/o the lock if there was a breeze. If there was some sort of emergency in the middle of the night, someone would've had to break the door down from the hallway to get in -A small set of steps to the dock should be installed in the yard, it would be much nicer than the small-but-steep incline -The dock needs a better set of steps down into the water in the swimming area. The one step that is there is a bit rickety & it's not down low enough to comfortably step into the water, you have to hop down (not a big deal for a healthy person, but if you have bad feet, knees & lower back problems, it is a little painful) Overall, this is a very lovely place to stay. It's conveniently located, has fantastic views of the lake & surrounding mountains (especially from the balcony attached to the two main bedrooms!), & it's quiet & spacious, w/many amenities. I recommend it for young families or for very fit folks who want a well-appointed cottage that's got a lot to offer. It's pretty cool with all the antique furniture, plus the fact that it's pet friendly was great. My sister's two little dogs had fun there too! I suggest the new owners seriously consider putting in a proper sloping driveway. With that and a few other minor tweaks, this place could be just about perfect. ”

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