Katchawanooka Resort - Lakefield, Ontario

neildont2

Another enjoyable time at this lovely old style waterfront resort. My wife and I enjoyed 3 nights at this resort, remembering old days of being there as a child in the 60's with my parents. The owners SHOLEH AND MOE have maintained the comfortable, clean cabins as well as the property itself. Always a pleasure to chat with Sholeh by the waterfront. The view from your own dock is lovely all day long. You can sea the sandy beach area across the lake which is easy to reach by provided canoe or paddle boat. Don't hesitate to spend a relaxing time at this resort. You won't regret it.

X6276BHnicolasv

This was the worst experience I had ever had. The lake was great but everything was ruined by the nasty attitude of the owner. She would come out yelling at my kids for playing too loudly then yelled at my wife for not watching them (she was), they were 9 and 10 years old at the time. Units were disgusting, smelly, falling apart and lacking the basics. Do NOT book this resort. The 10PM lights-out time should be listed in the policy too. Never going back.

Sarah J.

Stayed here this past weekend with a group of friends and can genuinely say we all had the best time! The cabins were clean and comfortable, and the resort was absolutely stunning!! The lake is clear and blue and there are canoes and paddle boats available as well which was just so much fun! The owner is so kind and accommodating and I’d recommend this resort to anyone!!

Inessa G.

If you are planning to book this resort be ready

- To follow very strict and unreasonable rules.
- To go to bed at 10pm as no activity is allowed at nighttime, no campfire or stargazing.
- To not have parties as louder music is not allowed. We tried to enjoy a pretty quiet birthday party, but the owner kept coming and disturbing us every 5 minutes as she was annoyed by the music at like 7pm. It wasn’t about other campers being disturbed as we booked all 11 cabins. So, the party was ruined.

If you try to argue the owner will yell at you: go home, it’s my property, you came to occupy it.
She lives at the resort and will watch your every step.

The cabins are small, dirty and smelly, no ac or fans. The shower is tiny, unsanitary and the water is cold.
Bring everything with you as there is no dish soap in the kitchen or even a sponge.
Everything in the cabins is falling apart and outdated, and can break easily. Also, our TV did not work whatsoever.

The location is good though and the weather was excellent most of the time.
Overall I would not recommend anyone this resort and will not ever go back there. The owner’s attitude caused us a lot of unnecessary stress.

Oleg E.

Location: great, plenty of space, clean water. Boat traffic was moderate. The resort even has a very small 'sand beach' ( about 10 ft wide ).

Cabins: outdated, smelly, very poorly maintained. I guess they were built 40-50 years ago and had never been upgraded. Rooms are tiny, no AC/Fan, TV wasn't working. Forget about the dishwasher - they didn't even provide sponge/soap for the dishes. I'd compare the cabins to the slightly upgraded camping tents, definitely not a 3 stars hotel as advertised.
If that was everything I could say - I'd probably give them 2.5-3 stars, the place has great potential, just needs some investment/work to do...

*However* the greatest problem was the resort manager. I could never imagine a business owner can be so rude and offensive. First of all, we were not allowed to stay outside (!) after 10 pm. We were not aware of this restriction at the time we rented the place. The manager claimed she cannot sleep since we're walking and talking outside. The next day we planned a birthday party - played some music, not that loud music, at about 5 pm. She came out of her house to us, screaming, that the music is too loud since she can hear it in her bedroom. My feeling was her only desire after we paid for the entire week, was to force us to leave. Huge disappointment - will never book again, at least until the owner/manager is replaced.

735yanag

Renter beware (also read multiple reviews on Google maps)||***********************************************************||We stayed at the resort at the end of July as a group of several families. The GOOD: the grounds are nice and well maintained. The lake is a typical Kawartha lake and is swimmable (seaweed starts 2-3 meters from the shore). Each cabin has its own BBQ ( which are in good shape and clean) and a picnic table. There are 3 pedal boats and 2 canoes included with your stay. The BAD: the cabins are very basic: no microwave, no fan, no electric kettle, no hand soap or dish soap, no kitchen towels or paper towels. You get one garbage bag and one roll of toilet paper. So bring your own. You may also want to bring your own pan, the ones that are provided are in really bad condition. The lighting is very poor and the cabins are very dark in the evenings. The beds are double and most of them are a mattress on a platform built between the walls, so if you are tall, it will be hard to fit in. The showers are also tiny and moldy- you hit the walls all the time. There is no heating during the summer, we had a rainy day and a couple of very cold nights and it was very cold to sleep even with 2 blankets. Only one fire pit that is right next to the owner’s house. THE UGLY: the owner’s attitude towards their guests. When I read negative reviews from last year, I thought there was probably a conflict and some people were left unhappy. Well…, it is impossible to avoid the conflict. The owner lives at the resort and sees the renters as intruders. Any attempts to discuss and resolve the situation were unsuccessful. Multiple times during the stay we were told that we are at HER HOME and if we don’t like the rules we can have our money back and leave. And don’t get me wrong-I am not talking about a group of parting youngsters. We are responsible and respectful adults in their late 40s-early 50s. Great weather and good friends for company compensated for an almost ruined vacation. I rarely write reviews, but this time I felt I have too, so others wouldn’t fell into this trap. ||P.S. I wouldn’t trust the 5 star reviews, the resort itself would be 3 stars, the owner’s attitude brings to 1 star.

George K.

Inessa said it best. Our experience is similar. We (a group of 20 plus golfers - many retired) have come to these cottages for 30 years. The behavior of current the owner is bizarre to say the least. The last 2 years the majority of the group have decided not to return. The few that did stay here this year probably won't next year. We dropped off one of our friends there and the owner was already out of her house telling us to leave...no visitors allowed. We barely had time to unload his clubs. The guys in one cottage were instructed not to flush any toilet paper down into the septic tank - all used toilet paper be placed into the wastebasket. And no going to another cottage to play cards. The last night a handful of men were sitting around outside enjoying the warm fall evening and she came out with a pail of water and doused the campfire.
So much for the quiet enjoyment of your rental cabin. .

Daniel O.

A great location at a great value not too far from the city where you can go to disconnect and relax. The reason for the low rating is a combination of the accommodation quality and the host's hospitality.

Context: we organized a large group of family friends and rented out all of the cottages at the resort for a whole week. We had both very young kids as well as a few seniors and figured we would not disrupt any other visitors since everyone knew each other.

Even though the location was great, the level of hospitality was quite low. Throughout our stay, it felt as though we should be grateful for being given the opportunity to stay at the cottage as opposed to being treated as paying customers looking to enjoy their vacation.

"Quite time" starts at 10pm but none of us anticipated that meant to stay inside and not make any noise. Sitting outside by the campfire and just chatting is disallowed after 10pm which was a bummer. After our first night, the host knocked on our door at 8am and complained that we made noise after 10pm exclaiming "I wake up at 5am, so you need to be quiet in the evenings." We were outside talking after 10pm, but there wasn't any yelling, loud music or anything of that sort. In addition, just because the owner of the property wakes up early does not mean that others have to be up at 8am as well.

There was one night when we were celebrating someone's birthday by doing a Hawaiian night, but the host came to the party at around 7pm and said we were being too loud... There was definitely music and we were having fun, but it was early and we were not disturbing any other guests.

Pros:
- Area is very relaxing.
- Lots of great activities to do include shuffle board, nearby hikes, swimming in the lake, canoeing, etc..
- Every cottage is equipped with a BBQ and gas tanks are provided by the host.
- Close to the city but feels like you are far away.
- Fishing is allowed!

Other Cons:
- Quiet time after 10pm is no joke.
- Some of the cottages had mold in the showers.
- The cutlery and kitchen from cottage to cottage so it is hard to know what to expect.
- Flushing toilet paper is not allowed.
- We were not able to turn on heating during cold nights because it is disabled through October.