reviews for: listing #12166 - Sonoma, California House rental
- bedrooms 5
- pool yes
- type House
- baths 3½
- hot tub yes
- community Sonoma
- sleeps 12
- pets allowed yes
-
rates (USD)
$695
-
$995
/nt
$3,990 - $5,500 /wk
$12,000 - $16,000 /mth
Great Family Reunion Home!
susie r.
(ohio)
Review submitted: September 25, 2011
Date of arrival: July 3, 2011
This well appointed Mediterranean home was Ideal for our family reunion. We had family members coming from coast to coast, including the middle, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in wine country, at the Black Sterling Villa. What a treat it was--not only having vineyard views from most windows, but also we enjoyed watching the owner, working some of her beautiful black horses---which i guess are imported from somewhere in Europe. Home was everything and MORE than we expected. Cooking in the well supplied kitchen was a breeze, and even my picky aunt was happy. Great room has soaring ceilings an just a great place for all of us to gather. We rented both homes and will be back. susie
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Helpful votes: 0 / 0
Great Family Reunion Home!
susie r.
(ohio)
Review submitted: September 25, 2011
Date of arrival: July 3, 2011
This well appointed Mediterranean home was Ideal for our family reunion. We had family members coming from coast to coast, including the middle, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in wine country, at the Black Sterling Villa. What a treat it was--not only having vineyard views from most windows, but also we enjoyed watching the owner, working some of her beautiful black horses---which i guess are imported from somewhere in Europe. Home was everything and MORE than we expected. Cooking in the well supplied kitchen was a breeze, and even my picky aunt was happy. Great room has soaring ceilings an just a great place for all of us to gather. We rented both homes and will be back. susie
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Helpful votes: 0 / 0
Well appointed Mediterranean home was Ideal for ou
susie r.
(ohio)
Review submitted: September 23, 2011
Date of arrival: July 3, 2011
This well appointed Mediterranean home was Ideal for our family reunion. We had family members coming from coast to coast, including the middle, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in wine country, at the Black Sterling Villa. What a treat it was--not only having vineyard views from most windows, but also we enjoyed watching the owner, Janna, working some of her beautiful black horses---which i guess are imported from somewhere in Europe. Home was everything and MORE than we expected. Cooking in the well supplied kitchen was a breeze, and even my picky aunt was happy. Great room has soaring ceilings an just a great place for all of us to gather. W rented both homes and will be back. susie
Recommended for: adventure seekers, age 55+, families with young children, people with disabilities, families with teenagers, girls getaway, pet-friendly, sight seeing
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Helpful votes: 0 / 0
Spacious - House Not Well Maintained
Jp M.
()
Review submitted: September 18, 2011
Date of arrival: August 28, 2011
Our friends arranged this house for all of us to stay. It was spacious but if you happen to get one of the many pull-out beds (wine cellar) they are not comfortable AT ALL! Full of springs poking you in the back. My wife and I could not even sleep in the same room and 3 weeks later I am still paying the price for trying to sleep on that contraption they call a bed. Others in the house had the same feedback on the beds. Some of the towels had burns and were torn as well. The garbage disposal did not work the entire week and when the handyman finally showed up, he had no tools and used a "dime" in the outlet to verify power. There was power, but after the sparks flew it turned out the next day he had shorted out the circuit in the laundry room so I could not iron my shirt before wine tasting. The black beverage cooler also overheated and did a poor job of keeping our water and drinks cold. The dishwasher stopped working but we were able to get that going again on our own. The upstairs bathroom toilet also stopped working and was down a day and half. They also left the pool cleaner with the long hose etc. in the pool the entire time and we were skeptical about trying to remove it for fear of breaking something. It made it tough for swimming. Overall it was an average place due to functionality and comfort. If I am going to stay in a home some of the most important amenities to have is a reasonable bed to sleep on, nice towels/linens, and functional appliances/bathroom fixtures. These owners appeared to me to just be getting by with as little up keep and maintenance as possible and over sell the property when they say they can sleep 12 people (not comfortably). Overall, this house has somewhat reasonable accomodations for about 6-8 people. Beyond that your guests/friends will be extremely uncomfortable like I was. If you are a group of 6-8 people looking for a spacious house at a reduced price for the area and want to risk the disruption of what we had to tolerate in this house then this is the house for you. At first appearance this is an incredible house, but once we started using it, our opinion of the property went down hill fast!
Owners response:
We always appreciate input, as we strive to make your stay in wine country as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. The rental agreement for the rental reviewed above listed a total of 10 guests legally staying in the villa. With queen beds in 3 separate bedrooms, a king in the master, ad two queen sleeper sofas in separate sitting rooms, we would NOT recommend using a cold wine cellar with no windows or heat, as a sleeping area for an adult, nor do we recommend it in our listing, as a valid sleeping area. We are SO sorry someone was made to sleep on an uncomfortable couch in the wine cellar and can only suggest that they ask for a refund from the person in charge of their rental. The maximum capacity of this home is 12, NOT including anyone sleeping in the wine cellar!
The Bosch dishwasher is 3 yrs old and still under warranty. We DID find a broken wine glass and excess food in the drain on aug 30, removed it, and the dishwasher has worked fine for every other guest in 2011.
Because we are on septic, we DO ask guests to use the plunger located in the bathrooms, should they clog the toilet. The plumbing works fine in this luxury home, but if someone clogs the toilet, unlike a hotel, we do ask that you plunge the toilet yourself when renting this country home.
The "black beverage cooler" is not a beverage cooler. but a state of the art WINE cooler equipped with the newest thermoelectric hating technology should the ambiant temperature fall below set temperature, which for most wine is 64 degrees. We suggest guests utilize one of the two large refrigerators in the home to cool their beverages and beer, and use the wine cooler for storing wine, as intended.
In most rental homes, the pool is serviced weekly, thus a pool sweep is maintained in the pool during the week (hotels have pool service daily, most homes in the country have weekly pool services). The hose for the pool sweep is easily put to the side, if the sweep is in the way when swimming or pool is in use, and we recommend guests ask our on site full time groundskeeper to show them how to automatically open and close the pool cover, and put the pool sweep to the side, during use, if they are unsure on how to operate pool equipment.
We DID appreciate this guest suggestions re: linens and towels and have equipped the home with ALL NEW linens, towels, bath mats, sheets, and comforters. Thanks for your suggestions!
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BETTER Than in Any of the Photos!!!!
lauren17holla
(ohio)
Review submitted: June 8, 2010
Date of arrival: May 16, 2010
All i can say is... the photos do NOT do this place justice!!! What a nice luxury home, with views to absolutely DIE for!!! I got married at Cornerstone and we rented both the Black Sterling Villa, and the sister property next door, the Black Sterling Vineyard Estate.
We thoroughly enjoyed BOTH properties, annd they were walking distance to each other.
My friends and family had a superb time sitting on the various decks and sipping wine, while gazing at the adjoining vineyards. Bonus: watching the baby friesian horses. My bridesmaids even surprised me with a riding lesson one one of the stunning friesian horses!!
This was the nicest vacation rental we have ever experienced.
We WILL be back!!! I would highly recommend this home to anyone visiting wine country.
Lauren
Recommended for: adventure seekers, age 55+, families with young children, people with disabilities, families with teenagers, girls getaway, pet-friendly, sight seeing, romantic getaway
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Helpful votes: 1 / 2
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