My family (husband, wife, 18 month old daughter, and 2 dogs) just spent the week at this cottage. It is in a BEAUTIFUL location!! This property is on Wilke Lake, which is a small lake just a few mins away from Kiel, Wisconsin. We loved how the lake was not crammed with houses and lots of traffic on the lake. The week we were here averaged about 70 degrees, so it was not quite swimming weather and also more boats may have been out if it had been warmer. The lake is small, but if you have a boat or jet skis, you can still have a fun time. The lake is shallow so it would be great for kids to splash and swim along side the dock. My husband and I brought our kayaks and had a great time on the water.
The house itself was small, but efficient. It was cozy but would easily sleep 6 (2 bedrooms and a pullout couch). We brought our dog kennels with us for our two large dogs which set up nicely in the upstairs entry way. There is only one shower (no bathtub for the kids - which made things interesting for bathing our daughter, but we made it work). The kitchen was large enough for only 1 person to comfortable fit in and do the cooking or washing the dishes. But the kitchen was fully stocked with all necessities such as, pots pans, cooking utensils, and dishes which was VERY nice. It has an apartment sized stove and a full sized refrigerator. The living room leads to the upstairs and I was nervous about having our daughter have access to the stairs on both the top and bottom, but I found an adjustable baby gate in the laundry room that we used constantly all week and was very happy to have accessible to us!! There is a laundry room and many laundry baskets available for your use which also were great!
Outside the home there were two main areas: Down by the water and up on top of the hill by the drive way. The patio area is beautiful, but not a place for children. I was watching my daughter like a hawk since the water comes right up to the patio and dock. There is a "fence" along the majority of the patio, but my daughter could easily climb through and get to the water. I did find a long fold-able baby gate in the boat house that we used to block her from getting down by the water (it was a life saver). Second, since we had our dogs with us, we greatly appreciated the large yard for them to run in. It is not fenced, but still has lots of space to run!
I would DEFINITELY recommend this place to a friend and we will be back as well! Thank you!