This was our second stay at Mindy’s house on Lake Champlain.
If you have children and you’re looking for lake access and water sports, this rental is hard to beat. Lake Champlain is the largest and deepest lake in New England. The water quality is good, and it’s consistently breezy. Mindy’s house is adjacent to, but not part of the Basin Harbor Club. Basin Harbor is the only full resort on Champlain, with golf, tennis, heated pool and lake swimming areas, and a nice marina. But, partly because the entire west shore of the lake is the protected Adirondack Park, there is very light boat traffic. It’s quiet, and the Basin Harbor boats have it pretty much to themselves. The scenery, as you’re taking a lap on water skis, wake boarding or tubing, is first class, with Adirondack peaks and cliffs to the west and the Green Mountains visible behind the rolling farmland on the east shore.
Basin Harbor offers an assortment of cottages and suites. However, Mindy’s house, comprising 3 bedrooms on two full floors with a lake view, is a lot roomier, quieter, and more private. Importantly, it has a full kitchen, for those who prefer not to make every meal a restaurant meal.
Mindy and her husband Bill fully renovated the house in 2016. It’s nicely decorated and furnished, with fixtures and appliances in good condition. When we arrived, everything had been thoroughly cleaned. Mindy is allowing 10 day periods between renters to follow VT COVID guidelines.
We appreciated the new barbecue and patio chairs, the screened in porch has new, wrap-around windows, so it can be used more flexibly, and fresh flowers in the common rooms.
One of the smoke detectors started beeping for maintenance. Mindy and Bill responded quickly and solved the problem. Mindy was readily available by text or phone for any questions.
Our kids especially appreciate the independence they get here. It’s an easy bike ride from the house to the resort. Basin Harbor is at the end of a long, dead-end access road and surrounded by farm fields. There is zero through traffic by anyone not here for the resort. The few cars observe the low speed limits. This year especially, we felt spoiled to have so much facility with such a small population of guests.
Can’t recommend this vacation highly enough!