COVID-19 MEASURES FOR CLIENT SAFETY. We hope that you and your dear ones are all safe and well. Given the pandemic and all that is going on, we want guests to know about the measures and steps we will be taking to provide a safe and secure home away from home.
* We expanded cleaning protocols to encompass the CDC guidelines and recommendations for cleaning (very thorough)
* We also use use an ozone generator to sterilize all rooms in the cottage between guests.
* Finally, based on the latest evidence, we plan to leave the cottage empty for two days prior to when guests arrive.
* Given the uncertainty of these times, we will use VRBO's more lenient plan for reimbursement of deposits in case you need to cancel.
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Rustic and charming cottage right on Lake Michigan. Sunsets in the evening, stargazing at night. Fires on the bluff. Bike riding through the orchards and around the country roads.
If you prefer rustic, remote, and quiet, this is your place for respite.

The cottage comes with million-dollar views although this is not a million-dollar cottage. This is an old fashioned cottage, not a posh condo. There are no TVs, although there is now Internet. One sometimes has to walk 100 yards up the road to get cell phone connectivity.
When our boys were teenagers, they loved their social media and Internet-based games. When they came to the cottage, however, they ended up being outside all day and reading books in the evening. Many of our guests have written to say how pleased they were to see their own children being immersed in books, rather than screens.

Although the location is remote, the twin-towns of Saugatuck and Douglas are only 8 miles to the North and South Haven is 10 miles to the South. In these towns, there are fantastic restaurants, dozens of art galleries, charter boating, film festivals, crowded beaches (if you prefer that kind of thing) and so much more.

The Wau-ke-na nature preserve is also close and provides a great place to hike in the forests when one needs a break from all the sun and beach. A few tents are available at the cottage. These are wonderful for camping on the beach up or on the bluff. Sometimes it's fun just to set up a tent for children to play in.

If you like wine tasting or cider tasting, there are plenty of vineyards and a few open wine cellars where you can sample the products. Closest to the cottage are Modales Vineyard, Fenn Valley Wine Cellar, and Virtue Cider.

The cottage has a binder with information and descriptions of many of the local attractions. We enjoy them all but--most of all-- the cottage is about respite and doing little or nothing.

The mission of the Rustic Respite cottage includes a commitment to protecting the environment and becoming a carbon-neutral property by 2025. Guests will be expected to sort cans, bottles, and paper products for recycling and they are also expected to use the compost bin for kitchen scraps.

Keywords: Cottage, rustic, Lake Michigan, Saugatuck, South Haven, Fennville, lake house, lakefront, beaches, eco-tourism.