South Haven Cottage

We hope you had a wonderful stay! Before you go, please tend to a few things:

• Pans are washed and all dirty dishes are in the dishwasher, which is started.
• Bring either of the trash bins that contain garbage to the edge of the road (need to be close). Pick up is Tuesday, but there may not be a guest between when you check-out and then.
• If you used beach towels, please make sure to start them in the washer. All other linens are laundered by a service.

Thanks!

We would love it if you could take two minutes tomorrow afternoon to leave us a quick review. Of course we will leave you on in return.

A five-star rating is very important to us and goes a long way to helping our family business. If you had any issues during your stay, please let us know before leaving.

Feel free to bring the house beach towels, wagon, toys and umbrella to any of the beach options, whether it’s the private beach in the neighborhood or any of the public beaches. If you’d like to head to the public beach in South Haven, there are four options only a few minutes drive away.From north to south, they are:

• Newcome Beach — smaller beach, potentially not as busy.
• Oak Street Beach — similar to Newcome.
• North Beach — largest beach, complete with restrooms and a storefront for snacks and the like.
• South Beach — another large beach with parking.

Nearby

• The Glenn Store offers quality sandwhiches and pizza options for pick-up. No dine-in available. It doubles as a convenience/liquor store. We’ve always been impressed!
• Clementine’s of South Haven is a local staple for a reason. It’s strictly dine-in, and the only thing to watch out for are wait times.

Destination

• Ida Red’s of Saugatuck for brunch. It’s a charming place to start a day taking in Saugatuck.
• Phil’s is a great bar and grill spot for dinner after a day on the beach or shopping.
• Marro’s feels like a Chicago Italian and steak dinner destination. You can get a good pizza here too. I’m biased: I waited tables here in college.
• For food on the water, it doesn’t get better than The Mermaid for lunch or dinner.

Southwest Michigan has a lot to offer in terms of natural beuaty. If you’d like a walk through the woods or a long-trek bike ride to take it in, these should meet your needs:

Saugatuck State Park is a more traditional hike through the woods with trails that reach Lake Michigan. Depending on the season, they will be collecting the state park entrance fee. There are 13 miles of trails with a couple different routes to the beach. It is the furthest flung from the cottage, being north of Saugatuck, but if you’re looking for good trails, this is the best of the bunch.

Here are a few establishments worth raising a glass to:

• Waypost Brewing is on a farm, yet also boasts a tasting room and beer garden.
• Cogdal Vineyards is very close to home, basically 2 minutes around the corner, and it’s one of the highest rated in the South Haven area!
• Crane’s Pie Pantry isn’t just pies and apples anymore! This is a full winery and restaurant overlooking the farm.
• Fenn Valley Vineyards & Wine Cellar is a long time favorite amongst wine tasting visitors. They also have a tasting room in downtown Saugatuck.

A couple playgrounds come to mind:

• Kid’s Corner is a solid playground situated in a park with plenty of room to kick a ball around or enjoy a picnic. It’s also across the street from beach access.
• Optimist Tot Lot is another option if you happen to be on the east side of town.

We want you to have a fantastic time during your stay, but we do have to insist on a few house rules:

• No Smoking
• No Pets 
• No parties or events
• Respect occupancy restrictions (8 guests)

Televisions

The roku remotes for the living room and master bedroom should be agnostic: mix and match wherever they fall. Please feel free to log in and out of any of the services that you prefer.

Some guests prefer to bring their own streaming thumb drive (like a Fire stick). To make this simpler for the living room TV, I’ve dropped a female-ended HDMI from the television above the fireplace. It’s behind the sound bar. Feel free to plug in any video device there. A gaming console would work too–anything that needs an HDMI plug-in.

Soundbar

This vizio soundbar is paired with a wireless subwoofer next to the murphy bed. The inputs are clearly labeled on the remote. If you’d like to play music from a phone, computer or tablet, select bluetooth on the remote and pair it to your device.

Select “HDMI Arc” to use the soundbar with the TV.

Nest Thermostat

One thing that can be tricky at first: it looks like a touch screen – it’s not. Instead, all inputs are handled by turning the device like a giant knob and clicking the entire device toward the wall. Here’s a short video that may help. https://youtu.be/3Q7hm5rhw54

Does the fireplace work?

Yes! The pilot is a little intense, but it’s meant to sound like that and does its job. You only need to turn the knob to the right to turn it on (and up) and back to the left to turn it off. 

How do you get to the beach?

Don your favorite beach shoes, turn right (or west) out the door, walk about as long as it takes to whistle your favorite vacation song, and you’re there!

May I used the grill, fire table and/or solo firepit?

Yes, yes and yes. They’re there for you!

• Pit Boss Grill — There’s an extension cord in the garage that will span the distance between the exterior wall socket in the center of the deck to the grill in the corner. There’s also bags of various wood pellets for fuel. It doesn’t get quite as hot as a propane grill, but it gets the job done, and is considered more flavorful.
• Solo fire pit —  Perfect for s’mores while minimizing the amount of smoke in your eyes. Please re-cover it once it’s cool.
• Fire table — It’s very important to fully retract the overhead shade umbrella before lighting. Lift the top off the table between the chairs where you’ll find the propane tank. Open the valve by turning to the left (counter-clockwise). Turn the dial facing the chairs to ignite (makes clicking noise). Once it’s lit, adjust the flame height with the dial out of the ignition zone (stops clicking). Please re-cover it once it’s cool.

How do I use the beach tram?

Please bring the key with wristband hanging in the mudroom.  The working trams should be clearly marked. Make sure both the sliding door and gate are closed. Turn the key to the left to descend beach-ward. Please return the tram to the top from the outside switch at the bottom: other community members will need to use it, and it needs to charge at the top.