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Comments from our Guests
The following are excerpts from letters and emails sent to us by our guests, the words are theirs:-
Thanks so much for a great holiday. Because you have thought of everything we had nothing to do except enjoy ourselves. We did visit the theme parks and Busch Gardens was our family favorite.
SC, Grand Cayman
Just a few words about our GREAT holiday at your wonderful home. Firstly, the photo’s and description do not do it justice! Its lovely and we really enjoyed staying here and looking after your home for a couple of weeks.
AT, Lincoln, UK
Finding somewhere blind on the internet was of some concern! Was it real? what would it really be like? The pictures did not do it justice, what a lovely, fine home! All the comforts of home and a pool ! Hope to return next year
RR, Georgia, USA
Our first experience of staying at a "Vacation Rental Home" was wonderful. .. while sitting in the screen room we saw a dolphin swim by and a little later it went by again. Very exciting !
All in all the most comfortable vacation we’ve ever been on.
SC, Alaska, USA
Our stay @ the Villa was absolutely marvellous !!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was one of the best weeks of our lives. Thanks for offering such an accommodating home. We fished every day & enjoyed the pool, patio & backyard view.
My husband wants me to add that if you ever consider selling your piece of paradise to please give us first dibs.
Thanks so much!!! Sincerely,
MR, Ocala, USA
We all enjoyed our stay here, the location was very scenic. …now we know where your lovely house is we will spread the word to those people who think that Florida is just Disney
PB, Surrey, UK
We … had a great time in your lovely home. The swimming pool was wonderful and I liked the fact it was enclosed - as our 3 year old liked to wander to the screen room - hence safety issues. The Fort Island Beach was the best and so near which was a bonus.
We saw dolphins, and a variety of heron, hummingbirds and fish. This was wonderful and exciting, we also had a go on your canoe.
At the beach we saw dolphins and they came into the bay.
We hope to come again in the future.
JO, London, UK
We just wanted to tell you that we had a wonderful stay. Your home is lovely, very comfortable and very welcoming.
Thanks again for our wonderful stay
TF, Georgia, USA
We have just returned from Crystal River after having one of the best … holidays ever. Best because of the house, the area, the wildlife, the golf, and not least the fishing.
All the information included on your website told us exactly what to expect and we were not disappointed.
You may be interested to know that although we did not see a Dolphin outside the house, we did see a Manatee with its baby, thank you for allowing us to stay in your home.
GK, Blackburn, UK
Just a short note to thank you for the use of your "dream" villa.
The villa was more than we ever expected.
We were extremely pleased to locate your home and were even more impressed with the standard of care that you have given the home. It was by far and away the most well looked after rental home or apartment that we have seen. You must be commended and must be proud of the retreat you have created.
MB, Ontario, Canada
Hi Peter, We really enjoyed your home. It was more then we expected I enjoyed just sitting in the screen room and hearing all the sounds. The next time we get back to Crystal River we will try to rent it again.
WH, Indiana, USA
Hello Peter, We had a lovely stay at Crystal River, very relaxing (despite the evening thunderstorms-very impressive) The canoe gave us plenty of manatee encounters even in June and all in all it was a great break for us. ………….. Many thanks again for a great stay.
MR, Maidstone, UK
Hi Peter, We had a wonderful holiday bar hurricane Dennis et al and have left very positive comments in your ‘book’ at your villa. Please feel free to use these on your website as you feel fit.
NW, Derbyshire, UK
Your place is Great! We had a wonderful time. Thanks for having your boat slip available, we brought a little boat & we were able to visit the springs whenever we wanted. The Springs are a lot like my wife & I remembered. The snorkeling was fun. My oldest girl, enjoyed your screened porch & sunning area, my youngest one enjoyed your pool.
RS, Florida, USA
We had a wonderful time in Crystal River. We had great weather and no hurricanes (I was beginning to think that hurricanes were following us)! Your home is so welcoming and comfortable. It just immediately puts everyone at ease. My son …. had such a wonderful time swimming. It was especially great for my father. He looked relaxed for the first time in months (things have been crazy here at the office).
TF, Georgia, USA (return guests)
Hi Peter,
We actually only returned yesterday, spending another week in Cape Coral. We had a wonderful vacation overall, this being our second one in Florida.
Our stay in your house was a very good experience. When we arrived, at first we were in fact disappointed and worried by the first look at the front of the home, we were used to the shiny houses around Orlando and in southern vacation complexes. This bad feeling disappeared immediately when we entered the home which was indeed in a perfect state and with (more then) everything we needed. The magnificent outlook on the waterway and swamp behind the house was a wonderful bonus way more important than the front look which you don't see anyway when you're in the house. We enjoyed sitting on the terrace, especially in the early and late hours when wildlife was abundant and temperatures reasonable. Anhingas, cormorants, egrets, hummingbirds, several species of heron, including the rare black crowned night heron...The day before we left, around high spring tide, we actually saw manatee, a cow with her calf, swimming just behind the house, quite unexpected in summer! We had fantastic weather that week with temperatures around 95 F and without rain. We enjoyed nature in the many state parks in the area, we canoed from the house and spent some time at the well-equipped beach at the end of the road. I hate beaches, but with a pair of binoculars and hundreds of birds around, fish jumping out of the water and on the lookout for dolphins this was not the usual beach experience, while the children enjoyed water and sand. A very good experience altogether, and to me better than the thirteen-in-a dozen houses in the sterilized resort areas in Orlando and Cape Coral.
EVW, Belgium
Thank you, Peter for one of our most enjoyable and relaxing holidays we have ever had.
During our stay the wild life has been fantastic. We have seen an Owl, Vultures, Humming birds, Hawks, a Blue Heron plus many other birds we don’t even know the name of.
The fishing proved a little more difficult at the start until we bought some night crawlers as you suggested, then hey presto !!! We caught Cat fish, Bass, and Sea Trout .
Having read the other comments in the folder about seeing manatee by the Villa we were giving up hope until one day we had a particularly bad storm with rain most of the day so the water was very high over the wall, to the grass in fact. When Matthew was standing there and shouted manatee!!!! And two went past along the side of the wall….. Absolutely fantastic.
GG West Midlands England
Dear Peter
We had a truly lovely time. We brought our pontoon boat and were surprised at how low the water was at low tide and were not able to get it in until the neighbor (Tom) told us about coming under the bridge instead of the other entrance.
We got a bit off track on the way out of the river to scallop in the gulf and ended up on Salt River instead. What an adventure as we did not take the chart with us! We saw something that I have only read about though! The dolphins were "herding" baitfish into the shallows and then essentially throwing them and catching them in the air. It was absolutely fabulous! I plan to send you a short video of this once we are able to edit one to be e-mailable.
We look forward to coming back again and will be in touch about this! Thank you for making this excellent vacation possible with your lovely villa.
P.S. We loved Dan's Clam Shack!
ER, Florida, USA
Hello Peter,
Sorry we are so late in replying to your e-mail we have been very busy since our return to the UK. We would like to thank you for a wonderful holiday and the way in which you have looked after us. We felt as if we were staying at a friends villa, you seemed to have thought of everything we couldn't fault the place. It was everything we imagined and more and fell in love with the place. A fantastic location, comfortable -a real home from home. There is something for everyone here. You are also very lucky to have such excellent neighbours in Larry & Sherrie who were very kind & helpful making sure we knew they were on hand if we needed anything at all, and we had no worries in asking to borrow a cheese grater when we couldn't find one. We did get to see a manatee swimming past as we drank coffee in the Florida room and also a dolphin visited us a couple of times and a turtle too. We enjoyed going out daily in the canoe to see more of the wildlife and enjoyed a swim in the 'Three Sisters Springs' it was so peaceful and relaxing. We didn't always feel the need to leave the villa often wanting to stay in to enjoy our surroundings. The furnishings were very well thought out and easy to use and take care of. We would definitely like to come back, in fact we wouldn't mind coming back to stay for keeps!
Thanks again, we will always have lots of happy memories of our stay in Crystal River.
TQ, Bedfordshire, UK Thanks Peter and Ann for your beautiful house. Our children likes it very much and we have seen Manatees and dolphins.
One week in Crystal River and one week in Orlando we like it very much.
The weather was 95 degrees very hot and one time we had thunderstorms we likes your pool and like the screen room. The Rainbow River with the tube was beautiful but 4 hours was too long we burn like a lobster red red red but it was nice.
ps before we leave your house the dolphin came to see us goodbye 2 times beautiful the kids happy what a wunderful time here in your beautiful house and garden
RU, Nieuw-Doprdrecht, Holland
We arrived to find a well maintained and very clean home. The facilities were excellent, just like being at home.
They were exactly as described and very comfortable. We have travelled extensively around the USA and Canada and always stay in private homes. This has been our best experience so far. Every thing you could want and more beside. The florida room and the pool were just great and sometimes we had to drag ourselves away as we so absorbed with the wildlife.
Within minutes of arrival and whilst looking around we watched an osprey fly past, catch a fish and perch opposite to eat it. It was then disturbed by a red shouldered hawk. How great is that. We also saw racoons, otters, manatee, shoals of fish and lots more birds.
The neighbours were fab and helped us with our attempts to fish of the sea wall. They caught some awesome fish. We hired a boat for two days and tootled around Kings bay, saw great wildlife here too. Went swimming with the manatees with Captain Mike, an experience not to forget, boating down the to the springs in the early morning with the mist on the river, it was a very special day and one we will all remember .We saw lots of manantees too.
We visited the Homassa Wild life park, which has greatly improved since we came a few years ago, a good day out. We also went to Rainbow Springs and Cedar key, two other super excursions. Driving down to the beach to watch the beautiful sunsets was also another great pastime, as was watching the dolphins in the bay. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Our Dream and would love to return sometime in the near future.
JW, Oldham, UK Hi Peter,
We had an awesome time we loved your villa. very accommodating. My husband swam with the Manatees, kids loved the pool. However the pictures on vrbo do not give the house justice, The house was awesome. very roomy I also liked having more than one TV. One suggestion some where to hang wet bathing suits I hated to run the dryer just to dry them to be used later as well as pool towels. We will keep Larrys number for future vacations. We love Weeki Wachee (My 6yr old loves the mermaids)
MR, Newport, North Carolina
Peter, my family and I had a wonderful time. And found your home to be more than we expected. I have no words to express how grateful we are. From the neighborhood to the furnishings everything was great. This was our first time to rent a home and did not know what to expect. It was great to get away and relax. Some days we just sat on the patio and watched the tide go in and out. We will miss the daily visits by the otter of which the girls affectionately named Charlie. We also got pictures of several different manatee in the canal. I grew up in the woods and roamed them day and night as a boy and never heard some of the sounds we would hear at night. Over all everyone really enjoyed the week, even the two teenage girls. We hope Larry found everything ok. I certainly hope to rent your home again if in the area. Thanks once again.
NV, Louisiana Hello Peter,
Thanks so much for the wonderful stay. The pictures on your website of the villa look very nice, but in person it is even ten times better. We were so excited when we arrived Saturday afternoon and walked out on the back screened in porch and saw the river and pool! It just was so inviting! You were not kidding when you said all we had to bring was food! We appreciated how thoughtfully set up the villa is. We were also pleased to find that we have the same taste in movies! The kids enjoyed the canoe so much. See the attached piture of them out behind the villa. Also attached is a picture of Erik and me by that pretty tree in the back yard. Erik even has on the t-shirts you gave us - another thoughtful addition. One of the big highlights of the week was snorkeling up the passageway to the Three Sisters springs. It is sooooo beautiful in there. There was a manatee in there that wanted to play also. It was so much fun. There is simply too many great things about our stay to mention! Thanks so much! You have a fabulous place. We hope we can come back again someday!
Take care!
KE, Michigan Peter,
We had a wonderful time. My parents are as in love with your home as we are. We had perfect weather. On Monday night we cooked out on the grills. As we were in the Florida room enjoying the food 4 manatees came up into the river. 2 cows with their calves. 1 baby was very small and white. I wanted to slip into the water but wasn't sure about the rules governing swimming with them when they had little ones so just sat on the seawall. They came up to within just about 2 feet. I was delighted as none of us have ever seen them in the wild.
Everything was just fantastic and we simply loved it. We hope to be able to do it again next year. Dad is having surgery on 1 of his eyes again next Tue. So I'm so glad he got to see all the beauty of your place while he was still able.
Thank you again so much
Many, Many thanks.
VT, Indiana (repeat guest)
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