5BR Family Lakefront Cottage, Walk to Bala!

Just 10 min. walk from downtown Bala, very close to grocery store, ice cream store, restaurants, coffee shops, liquor store, beer store, etc. The cottage is family owned, on great small lake with great swimming and fishing, with a fireplace, and an open living room/dining room/kitchen. Wifi Internet, satellite t.v, 112' of waterfront facing South West, beach on property, lake-side fire pit. Built in '94, all amenities. Outdoor BBQ grill. A bit rustic in terms of finishes, but lots of character.

Main Floor Bedroom #1: Queen Bed (overlooks the top deck and lake)
Main Floor Bedroom #2: Queen Bed (faces into the forest)
Middle Floor Bedroom: Queen Bed (mid-size window faces the lake) - is down a flight of stairs and floor is built into the hill. Pool table, tv room and ping pong table is right outside.
Middle Floor Bedroom: Queen Bed (mid-size window faces trees) - is down a flight of stairs and floor is built into the hill. Pool table, tv room and ping pong table is right outside.
Cool Loft: 2 single beds (for the kids or the adventurous parent!), and a double bed - is up a flight of stairs and overlooks dining room.

There are lots of stairs - Property is unsuitable for young children who are not yet comfortable managing stairs without parental oversight. It is likewise unsuitable for anyone with mobility issues.

(Please note - watercraft is not available from September to mid-May)

Entire cottage and waterfront.

By Telephone and text

20 minutes to Gravenhurst
20 minutes to Port Carling
Less than 2 km from Don’s Bakery
Less than 2 km from Ice Dreams Soda Shop (Ice cream)
Less than 2 km from LCBO
Less than 1 km from Beer Store
Less than 2.5 km from Bala Freshmart (Supermarket)
Less than 2 km from Bala Falls

The cottage is in a fantastic location, easy to access and on a beautiful lake front with lovely views. It is spacious and can accommodate 12 people easily. It is definitely ideal for those looking for a comfy but not luxurious stay. It is perfect for large family get togethers and a relaxing getaway. It gently sloping toward a shallow entry sand beach, with a dock and a wonderful firepit. It has enough space for everyone to have their own bedroom, but has loads of communal space (living room with TV, Games room) to share together. The dining table seats 12. The cottage is located within 15 minutes walk of a couple of great restaurants, a supermarket, an ice cream parlour, liquor store and beer store.

Please note - watercraft is not available from September to mid-May.

Cottage is rented Friday to Friday from early June to late September. Please message if you are are interested for accomodation with a different check in or check out date.

There is a lower cottage attached that is not rented and not included. You can see this in the pictures of the cottage on the lower right.
House Rules –

Apologies for the length of our rules - we have had great success when we are transparent about expectations - are of which we think are reasonable. If you have questions, please ask during or just after booking - and we will do our best to come up to provide the rational. They are not meant to dissuade you from enjoying your stay, but to protect our cottage and our neighbours, from the rare bad or inconsiderate guest.

• Septic system. Please do not put anything down the toilets except for septic safe toilet paper! If you do make a mistake – please – let me know as soon as possible because we can mitigate the issues caused. We had a disaster in early September where the system jammed, and the pump overflowed and had to get the system pumped, repaired and cleaned up with a hazardous cleaning crew. An earlier group, who told us about the mistake – was so much easier to fix!
Please do not put the following down the toilets:
• “flushable wipes”
• make pads
• q-tips
• cigarette butts,
• paper towels,
• sanitary tampons,
• condoms,
• disposable diapers,
• anything plastic or similar non-biodegradables
• washing food scraps,
• coffee grinds,
• and other food items down the drain.

• Please be aware that you are booking this cottage with the understanding that the rules over short-term rentals may change at any point in time in Ontario. You are responsible for making sure that you are always in compliance with the most current Covid-19 restrictions and advice. If you are non-compliant with the guidance at check in or during your stay, your reservation will be cancelled and your fees will not be refunded.

• Check out is 10 am unless prior arrangements are made - sometimes there is some flexibility but we likely won't know until your arrival. Cleaning is sometimes incredibly tight – and due to Covid-19, cleaning cannot take place while you are still occupying the space, even a little. For every hour, or partial hour that you overstay, you will be penalized $350 (the cost of an hour of our cleaning crew). Our cleaners use the locking system to monitor your departure – they do not want to have any contact with our guests and will not arrive while you are there or any cars are still in the driveway. We are first in the cleaning rota - and do not want to lose our spot.

• Please do not disconnect the fire alarms for any reason. If they are disconnected a $350 fine will be levelled to cover the inconvenience of having them repaired and resynched. The cottage is part of the Bell smart home monitoring program- so that we don’t have a catastrophic fire. They don’t work if they are disconnected.

• No parties

• Please refrain from playing loud music inside after 10.00pm so not to disturb the neighbours. Please do not play loud music outside at any time.
Please be mindful of noise more generally, as we are on a lake and want to be respectful of others. You will be asked to vacate early, and forfeit your deposit if we get noise complaints. If we get a noise complaint after your departure from the municipality (and they most likely would have come to the cottage as well, though you may not have heard them) - you will forfeit your entire damage deposit. Please do not play music outdoors – the outdoors is for all our neighbours to enjoy and they may not have the same taste in music

• The plot is just over 100 ft wide, so neighbours are very close on both sides

• Please note this is non-smoking property and non-vaping and we kindly ask you not to smoke in the property. If you do smoke outside could you please collect and throw away the cigarette butts when you leave. if you smoke inside, including but not limited to smoking cigarettes, marijuana, shisha, etc. a minimum of $500 will be deducted from your deposit to cover additional cleaning (and possibly more if it impedes on the next guests use of property)

• Please do not invite any additional guests back to the accommodation without prior discussion.

• Please take good care of the property and leave it in a clean and tidy condition at the end of your stay. The expectation is that you would leave our cottage in the same condition you found it, or left any other self-catering accommodation. This means cleaning up after yourself, starting the dishwasher, making sure that all the games and game pieces are put away. We may retain an amount from your security deposit if there is a lot of additional cleaning to be done.

• Please move any furniture moved back to its original location

• Please take your garbage and recycling to the green “bear proof” bin by the top of the driveway. Garbage and recycling needs to be sorted, and only one bag of each is picked up every week. Please take any additional garbage with you or make other arrangements with me to have it removed. 2)Empty garbage and recycling and take to “bear” box at edge of driveway for pick up. Only one bag of garbage and one bag of recycling will be accepted every week. If you have more garbage, the cleaning service will charge me with a dump fee of $40 per bag of recycling/garbage/green bag waste, which I will need to pass on to you through your damage deposit.

• Please store food in your car overnight, in the fridge or in mouse proof glass containers – and not out on the counters. We would like to do everything in our power to minimise any potential mouse problem. Mice are fairly common in cottages but would like to deal with them as soon as possible. If you spot any, please let us know.

- Not suitable for young children, elderly or those who have mobility issues - there are stairs absolutely everywhere.

• We’re not flexible on the deposit and it covers us from extra cleaning due to smoking, damage to the property or not following the rules we lay out in our listing