This is a perfectly pleasant cottage in a private location, a stone’s throw from the owner’s home so if there are issues, there’s somebody on site to try to help. Decent kitchen and living space, relatively comfortable sleeping accommodations. The fireplace is huge, a nice feature that we utilized to make s’mores during the summer week we spent there. All of that said, unfortunately the thing I’ll remember most about the house were the ants.
We saw big carpenter ants every day, in every room, on the floors, on the couch, on tables, on chairs, and a few times, in our beds. The owners, Kathy and Jay, said that this normally doesn’t happen this time of year, but when we checked in on Saturday, there were already a few dozen dead ants in the sliding area for the glass door leading to the back deck, which means the problem could’ve and should’ve been diagnosed prior to our arrival. Kathy dropped some pellets on the exterior that did nothing to reduce the population, and so on the Monday after our Saturday check-in we insisted they call an exterminator. I don’t know if the treatment benefited the people who stayed after us, but we saw no reduction in the ant population while we were there.
Kathy was sensitive to the issue after overcoming her reluctance to call an exterminator, but any follow-up was initiated by us. We never received an unsolicited check-in to see if the problem was improving, and the issue merited no mention or apology when we saw her on the morning we left after our week-long stay (Jay was away). In an email exchange after we checked out, Jay indicated that they don’t look to control the problem with an exterminator because “We, and our other guests, have viewed the ants as an annoyance, but something that did not warrant the human exposure to the exterminator's materials.” I can only speak for myself, but I would think that most people would opt for a responsible exterminator doing his job over ants crawling into bed with the kids.
Why 2 stars instead of 1? Under ant-free conditions it’s a nice cottage with a lovely view of the water. That said, for visitors deciding whether or not to stay here, I’d be concerned this issue could recur unpredictably. The owners indicated this was normally an early spring problem, but the fact that it occurred in mid-August means that the ants have decided not to abide by a predictable schedule.