The house is set on a beautiful piece of property on the St. George River, with few neighbors nearby. You can watch the lobster boats patrol the waters and enjoy wildlife and birds as you relax on the screened porch. There is lots of room, and both times we rented the place we used only the downstairs, where there was ample room for the two of us and our little dog.
We stayed at this residence two years ago. The only major problem we encountered at that time was that the house was ridden with fleas, which infested our little dog – a first for us. This time we noticed no flea problems. Be aware ticks will find you and your pet outdoors, as wildlife abounds. We saw foxes in the field in daytime. We saw porcupines at night. Beware of porcupines, and do not let your pet off leash. In rural Maine, an emergency vet may be at some distance.
This is a multi-generation family owned property. The person making our rental arrangement died earlier in 2016 and her son was doing his best to take care of the property as an absentee landlord from another state. In rural Maine, some property maintenance is just getting away from him. The land needs some maintenance. Asian bittersweet is choking the lilacs and several trees on the perimeter. Japanese knotweed is spreading near the barn. If left unchecked, it will take over the entire hayfield in a few years.
We wondered what we were getting for the $100 cleaning fee included in the price of this rental. The floors were dirty, especially underneath the furniture where our dog’s toys sometimes landed. It looked as if nobody had ever vacuumed. Most of the furniture was covered with dog hair; we have a non-shedding dog, so the furniture was not vacuumed prior to our arrival. The kitchen was also a bit crappy--my companion spent some time washing all the countertops and tidying up the kitchen and rearranging things neatly. I had to polish the stove top with the abrasive fluid provided and scrape it with a razor blade to get a layer of baked on dirt off. At best it had been given a swipe and a promise. There were three coffeepots in the cupboard and none of them worked – probably for lack of cleaning.
Like most dogs, our likes to roll in filth, and she had a rolling frenzy on the duvet cover. The sheets did not feel clean and there appeared to be bloodstains on the pillowcases. On the first day of our stay, we washed all the bed linens, including the duvet cover. The towels in the linen closet smelled musty. My companion did several wash loads of these towels and refolded them, but the musty odor still remained in the linen closet.
One day my companion called me when I was on a hike. A loud alarm horn went off in the basement. Due to her walking disability, she had to struggle to get down the steps, banged her head into a beam, and nearly fell on the bedrock floor, but managed to shut off a button at a control panel that said TANK ALARM. She then tried to contact our landlord, getting a message twice that his phone was out of service. I called, got him on the phone, and when I explained what was happening, he was shocked. He was unaware of a tank alarm, or what it meant.
To his credit, he dealt with the “crisis.” The alarm indicated that the septic tank was nearly full, and that something was wrong with a septic drain pump. He did get the septic service within a few hours to pump out the tank (which created a nasty smell). The plumber arrived the next day. He found that the drain pump had failed, which caused the septic tank to fill up.
We thus had to endure three days of disruptions, though the plumber and the septic service did their best to work out of our way. Unfortunately, we just could not relax and "get away from it all" as a result. We wound up troubleshooting and cleaning house instead. We cut our stay short, because we just couldn’t relax.
We wish the owners the best on resolving issues with this house in the future. It does need some extensive work, painting, and updating to justify the rent. We will be seeking cleaner and better working accommodations the next time we visit the area.
All bookings are direct with the owner 