10/10 Excellent
Steve B., London, UK
23 Jul 2018
Awesome house on a gorgeous property
I grew up in the area so I had some idea what to expect, but my expectations were totally blown away by Loblolly. The main house has a beautiful island kitchen and enough cooking and eating utensils to serve an army. Next to it is a game room - arcade games, a popcorn maker and an air hockey table - basically a kid's dream - then the cavernous living room. The enormous space is furnished so that it’s cozy despite the size, with plenty of space for both group dining and intimate conversation. Cupboards full of board games provide guests plenty of diversions. The house has a nautical theme throughout, with model sailing yachts and yachting gear dispersed in every room rand naval chart wallpaper in the loo. The master bedroom was capacious befitting a home of this stature, and the main guest bedroom would have been a master bedroom in a smaller home. There were two additional children’s bedrooms with comfortable sleeping space for six and possible sleeping space for twelve.
Outside the main house are the guest house, a second ensuite apartment with kitchen and a third one likewise equipped. There is also a glorious, granite-topped outdoor kitchen and a garage full of gear for boating, fishing, the beach etc. Around back is a screen porch that runs the width of the house, the pool and hot tub, the riverside beach and the long dock off which we caught mullet, sailcats, puffer fish, stingrays, rainbow trout and more. And living in the moss-draped live oaks by the river, a pair of ospreys watched over us the whole time we were there. It is an exceedingly impressive and well-equipped house and more than comfortable for our family (14 guests sleeping there) and a half-dozen additional visitors.
Our holiday was nearly perfect, but there were a couple of small negatives. The propane tank ran dry our second night, which was sorted the following morning, but it still cost me half a vacation day. And we'd had to scramble to salvage the family dinner off the outdoor grill. The owner comped us a pizza dinner for our troubles. The only other downside to the place was that we all suffered from numerous bug bites primarily on our legs, inflicted by “invisible” attackers. Bug spray helped some but a couple of our party ended looking like smallpox victims. But even that was a very minor inconvenience and did not deter from the overall experience which was amazing. Every family member had the same feedback - it was the best vacation we'd ever had! Loblolly rocks!
Steve B.
Stayed 7 nights in Jul 2018
