The cottage has been in the family since the 1950s and we have brought the amenities up to date while maintaining its individual character. It’s full of books, artwork and amusing tchotkes. It’s also very well furnished with everything you might need, including a gas fireplace with enough oomph to heat the whole place on chilly nights. The large living room looks out through the trees over the lake, and windows on both sides allow in the lake breezes during the day and the cool air coming down from the woods during the night. There is a big screened-in porch with rocking chairs for reading and a daybed for naps and a small table for al fresco dining sans mosquitoes.
We have cable TV with a DVD/VCR and a supply of DVDs and videos. There's a radio/CD player and a few CDs, but you might want to bring your own music. (There's also a cabinet full of vintage cassettes from opera and show tunes to Sinatra and doo wop, but that may not be your thing.) There are lots of books.
There’s a queen-size bed in the master bedroom, the second bedroom has two twins, and we provide pillows, blankets, duvets and duvet covers or comforters for all of them. Each bedroom has a ceiling fan. All the beds will have freshly laundered mattress and pillow covers and blankets for your arrival, but we do ask you to bring your own sheets and towels, unless that is impossible for you. We are trying to minimize our impact on the lake environment, and washing a couple of loads of sheets and towels every week really puts pressure on the septic system.
The dining area has a full-size table and the kitchen is well equipped with dishes, utensils, glassware, pots and pans and serving dishes. There's no Cuisinart or stand mixer, but otherwise pretty much everything else is there. We also provide a lot of the basic supplies you don't want to have to bring with you for a week's vacation, like white sugar, salt and pepper, canola oil, olive oil, cider vinegar, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, tea bags, various herbs and spices, dish washing liquid, paper towels, toilet paper, various cleaning supplies. There's also a barbecue with gas.
For outdoor activities, we provide an outdoor table and chairs, and lounge chairs for taking down to the beach. There’s also a fire pit on the beach for evening campfires, if that isn’t too dignified a name for a circle of rocks inside which we pile up all the drftwood until there's enough for a fire.
We always provide guests with a gift basket of local products, including coffee beans from Gimme Coffee! in Ithaca, and some of the produce that's in season.
