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Charming Cottage in the heart of Portage Lake

Photo gallery for Charming Cottage in the heart of Portage Lake

Exterior
Living area
Living area
Dining
Interior

Reviews

10 out of 10
Exceptional
2 bedrooms1 bathroomSleeps 6

Popular amenities

  • Parking available
  • Dryer
  • Washer
  • Fireplace
  • Kitchen
  • Outdoor space

Explore the area

Map
Pinckney, MI
  • Pinckney State Recreation Area
    ‪7 min drive‬
  • Whispering Pines
    ‪8 min drive‬
  • University of Michigan
    ‪24 min drive‬
  • Ann Arbor, MI (ARB-Ann Arbor Municipal)
    ‪27 min drive‬

Rooms & beds

2 bedrooms (sleeps 6)

Bedroom 1

3 Single Beds

Bedroom 2

1 Queen Bed

Bedroom 3

1 Double Futon

1 bathroom

Bathroom 1

Bathtub or shower · Toilet

Spaces

Deck or patio
Kitchen
Dining area

About this property

Charming Cottage in the heart of Portage Lake

This little gem is in the heart of Portage Lake, which is on the chain of 7 lakes. Fully updated recently, I wanted to make people feel like they were really at home with personal touches, vintage items and inviting cozy family friendly spaces.
Lake access is 500 feet from the cottage. We are also within walking distance (4 min.) of a pizzeria, village store/liquor store, brewery & cider house and ice cream shop. 3 minute drive, 10 minute walk, to the boat launch.

Property is tucked off the road with a shared driveway. Semi-private back and side yard is perfect for some corn hole or just sitting at the outdoor furniture socializing. Front of house has a new wrought iron rocking bench, just like grandma use to have. Inside is a cozy cottage that has everything you need and more to make some great memories. Use the sunroom for some cards or board games or head to the well stocked kitchen to whip up some family favorites. Bedrooms have top of the line linens and pillows. Master has reading lights on each side. Bunkbeds each have their own personal light and USB mounted on the post so there is no fighting over plug space or blocks. :)

I also provide a few starter items until you are able to get to the grocery. There are coffee pods, sugar and powdered creamer to get you going on your first morning. There are also a few laundry pods, fabric softener sheets and bleach if you need them. Cleaning disinfectant, paper towels, vacuum cleaner, broom, dustpan and laundry basket are also provided if needed. I hope to make your stay stress free and you feel the effort put forth to make it as homey, and above and beyond, of a stay possible. Thank you for checking out my little cottage, named Ruby.

Property manager

Holly Balzer
Premier Host

Languages

English

Add dates for prices

Amenities

Kitchen
Washer
Dryer
Free WiFi
Air conditioning
Outdoor space

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House Rules

Check in after 3:00 PM
Minimum age to rent: 25
Check out before 11:00 AM
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Children

Children allowed: ages 0–17
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Events

No events allowed
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Pets

No pets allowed
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Smoking

Smoking is not permitted

Important information

You need to know

Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card, debit card or cash deposit may be required at check-in for incidental charges
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges; special requests cannot be guaranteed
On-site parties or group events are strictly prohibited
Host has indicated that there is a carbon monoxide detector on the property
Host has indicated that there is a smoke detector on the property
Safety features at this property include a fire extinguisher and a deadlock

About the area

Pinckney

Located in Pinckney, this cottage is on a lake. Hudson Mills Metropark and Pinckney State Recreation Area reflect the area's natural beauty and area attractions include Bel-Mark Lanes and Leslie Science & Nature Center. Jet skiing, kayaking and waterskiing offer great chances to get out on the surrounding water, or you can seek out an adventure with horse riding nearby.
Map
Pinckney, MI

What's nearby

  • Pinckney State Recreation Area - 7 min drive - 4.3 km
  • Whispering Pines - 8 min drive - 8.6 km
  • Legacy Center Sports Complex - 17 min drive - 17.6 km
  • University of Michigan - 24 min drive - 28.9 km
  • Michigan Stadium - 26 min drive - 27.8 km

Getting around

  • Ann Arbor Station - 23 min drive
  • Ann Arbor, MI (ARB-Ann Arbor Municipal) - 27 min drive

Restaurants

  • ‪Zukey Lake Tavern - ‬10 min drive
  • ‪McDonald's - ‬7 min drive
  • ‪Hamburg Coney Restaura - ‬11 min drive
  • ‪Frosty's Icecreamery - ‬7 min drive
  • ‪Dairy Queen - ‬12 min drive

Frequently asked questions

Is Charming Cottage in the heart of Portage Lake pet-friendly?

No, pets are not allowed at this property.

What time is check-in at Charming Cottage in the heart of Portage Lake?

Check-in begins at 3:00 PM.

What time is check-out at Charming Cottage in the heart of Portage Lake?

Checkout is at 11:00 AM.

Where is Charming Cottage in the heart of Portage Lake located?

This family-friendly Pinckney cottage is located on a lake, within 2 mi (3 km) of Huron River and Hudson Mills Metropark. Pinckney State Recreation Area and Arise Dog Park are also within 3 miles (5 km).

Reviews

10

Exceptional

Reviews are presented in chronological order, subject to a moderation process, and verified unless otherwise labelled.
Learn moreOpens in a new window
Rating 10 - Excellent. 30 out of 31 reviews
Rating 8 - Good. 1 out of 31 reviews
Rating 6 - Okay. 0 out of 31 reviews
Rating 4 - Poor. 0 out of 31 reviews
Rating 2 - Terrible. 0 out of 31 reviews

10/10

Cleanliness

10/10

Check-in

10/10

Communication

9.6/10

Location

10/10

Listing accuracy

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Nikki S.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy
Stayed 3 nights in Feb 2025

10/10 Excellent

Stephen D.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Amazing location.

Absolutely wonderful. Communication with the host is fantastic. The cottage is lovely, and in a great location. Close enough to Brighton, where you can run into town and back in less than an hour. Just far enough away where the sky’s are beautiful, there’s little to no noise pollution. I’m looking forward to re-visiting this property. Completely worth it!
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2025

10/10 Excellent

Charlene W.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Cute cottage

Great place. Loved it. Bunk beds were more for youth than adults. Otherwise everything was great. Thank you for an excellent place to stay
Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2024

10/10 Excellent

Ashley D.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Perfect cozy fall weekend 🍂

Ruby was the perfect place for our weekend! Super clean, adorable decoration, and everything we needed. Our kids cried when it was time to leave. Thank you for such a cozy spot for us to stay!
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2024

10/10 Excellent

Mary I.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Low key crafty bachelorette party!

We had a lovely time spending time at the cottage (so clean!), kayaking, hiking, and walking to the pizza place (SO GOOD) , icecream and cafe. It was the perfect stay! There is a beautifully crafted guide printed guiede for your use in the cottage. giifor your use in the the
Stayed 2 nights in Jul 2024

10/10 Excellent

Micah R.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Cozy and Relaxing

Second time staying here with the kids. Very comfortable, cute, and well kept.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2024

10/10 Excellent

Abby T.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Our Stay In Ruby

We thought Ruby was very cute, she had that cozy cottage feel. Holly was great very friendly and informative.
Stayed 2 nights in Sep 2024

10/10 Excellent

Ruth M.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Loved it!

Super cute cottage! Private setting that is a quick walk to beach at Portage Lake.
Stayed 4 nights in Jul 2024

10/10 Excellent

Stephanie M.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Perfect Alternative to a Hotel

We came in for almost a week for a family wedding nearby in Chelsea. This cottage was perfect for us and our 9 month old. Being able to spread out, have ample room, a full fridge, tub and sink for bottles was clutch. And laundry as well. Even though the rooms are with a curtain as mentioned in other reviews, with our daughters sound machine, putting her to sleep for naps and bedtime weren’t an issue. If you plan to watch tv bring your Roku or fire stick (I may have missed this in the write up but we had our Roku and it was perfect). The decor was so cute (I will note lots of little decor pieces so if you have little ones take note of those and move to higher spots lol) the bed was so comfortable. If you’re visiting in the summer the AC works great that is set up (and was turned on prior to our arrival. Many thanks for that). Overall we were so happy and the cottage was so clean and cute! If we’re back we’ll be hoping to rent again!
Stayed 4 nights in Aug 2024

10/10 Excellent

Melanie T.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Super cute cottage

Worked great for a UM graduation. Not too close to the madness of Ann Arbor grad week chaos and not too far to zip in for the events. Loved downtown Dexter for meals without lines out the door. Cottage was quaint, clean and very accommodating. We would definitely book it again!
Stayed 4 nights in May 2024

10/10 Excellent

Kathy S.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Fun Sisters' Weekend

The cottage was adorable, cozy, and clean. The mattresses were comfy. The four of us had everything we needed to enjoy our weekend together.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Brian Y.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Perfect in every way

Really, it was perfect. Perfectly charming home. Perfect decor. Perfect owner. Short and easy trip to campus. We could not have enjoyed our time any more. Perfect.
Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2023

10/10 Excellent

Peggy L., Fort Mill, SC

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Adorable

The cottage was adorable and had everything we needed. Would definitely stay there again.
Stayed 14 nights in Jul 2023

10/10 Excellent

Ricardo B.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Pickney Michigan girls get together

Nice small cottage. Very well appointed. Sat in the back yard table for a bit, that area could have been wiped down but after we did that it was pleasant. Screened in porch is also nice! Beds were comfy. Nice stay.
Stayed 3 nights in Jun 2023

10/10 Excellent

Matthew C.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Perfect Base Camp for Fishing Trip

Son and I take an annual fishing trip and this year decided to head up to MI for a long weekend. This cottage was perfect for 2 people and all the fishing gear. Close enough to dinner spots and plenty of good fishing nearby. If we head back to this area in the future we will certainly see if this cottage is available.
Stayed 5 nights in Jun 2023

8/10 Good

Penny S., Leland

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Charming remodeled old cottage

We enjoyed our stay and appreciated the clean white towel and linens. Pretty much just slept there as we stayed for u of m graduation activities. It would have been good to know the heat wouldn’t be on when we got there as it took most of the night the warm the place up with the gas fireplace. We enjoyed the vintage touches and appreciated the drinking water filter as the water had a bit of sulphur smell. It is a sweet little cottage with nice touches.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2023

10/10 Excellent

rudi m.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Christmas stay

Beautiful cottage great location host was super nice and helpful
Stayed 5 nights in Dec 2022

10/10 Excellent

Heidi M.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Such a sweet cottage!

We enjoyed staying in this cottage, for personal reasons and for the location. It’s clean, up-to-date where needed (appliances, tv, etc) but has a cozy, homey feel with its decor and layout. The owner is easy and kind to work with and we appreciate her accommodating our requests when we messed up with the dates of our visit, as well. :) The neighbors are close but they’re quiet, many thanks to them! Hope we were quiet enough for them too. We did go when it was cold out so this place is heated with an electric stove (like the old pot belly kind but this is much newer, of course) and the instructions given were helpful but do try not to get in late at night or you’ll wait a little while before taking off coats to get ready for bed, but that was our fault!! There were board games available and books/magazines if desired, we appreciated that they were offered for some family fun :) We enjoyed the sweet touches of decor and even their genius ways of storing things, as it is on the small side but there were 4 of us so it didn’t feel cramped. My grandparents had cottages in Northern Mi that we used to go to every summer while growing up and this adorable place took me back there and made me (all of us) smile often and feel at home!! It made us want to have our own cottage like that to go to, as we have family in the Pinckney area but would like a place to stay for extended periods of time. Oh, and while it’s nice of them that there aren’t notes everywhere (which we personally don’t mind), one to remind guests to take their shoes off at either entrance would be good.. it’s in the notebook of info provided but please be considerate and don’t mess up their floors or carpeting, tracking in anything you’re not aware of from outside!! (Our personal note, they didn’t say anything) Thank you, Holly, for the sweet accommodations during our trip to go see family!!!
Stayed 4 nights in Nov 2022

10/10 Excellent

Ron P.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Michigan Football Weekend

Enjoyed all the vintage touches and the wood stove! Just adorable!! Thank you! xoxo
Stayed 2 nights in Nov 2022

10/10 Excellent

Shirley M.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Wedding Stay

We enjoyed the stay. Water pressure was low only when two points of use were working. We would go back again.
Stayed 4 nights in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

tammy F.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

This “Ruby” is quite a gem!

This is the sweetest little cottage! It is well appointed, clean, and cozy. The owner was very attentive to details. It was the perfect location for us for our long weekend visiting family. So much better than a hotel. A big thank you to the host!
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2022

10/10 Excellent

Stevie S.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Charming and well appointed

Very charming, clean and well appointed house. The beds and furniture were comfortable. The only “con” was that there are not doors on the bedrooms, just a curtain. This means that any noise in the living room or other bedroom is easily heard in the other bedroom. This probably isn’t a big deal to most, but if you plan on putting kids to bed or going to sleep and closing the door to have a quite room, there isn’t a door to do this. Maybe this was mentioned in the listing and I missed it! Overall a good experience
Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2022

10/10 Excellent

Karen D.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Overnighter

Fun place to stay with friends! We found the largest pots in the oven.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

10/10 Excellent

Alisha T.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

So cute!

The cottage was incredibly cute and very clean, and not too far from Dexter. The decorating was top-notch and gave me quite a few ideas for how to improve my current home! My kids loved the triple bunk beds. The only critique I have is that the property sits in between two houses so if you are looking for ultra privacy, this may not be the best option but we did meet one of the neighbors and he was totally awesome, let us borrow wood and play with his basketball hoop. Silver Lake is only a short drive away where they have a Metro Park where you can rent kayaks, canoes, and row boats and a pier for fishing. Definitely has the up north feel, but only a short drive away from major cities.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

10/10 Excellent

Susan F.

Liked: Cleanliness, check-in, communication, location, listing accuracy

Perfect

This was perfect for what we wanted. We did a race weekend and this property was less than an hour away. It was very clean and cozy. Loved all the little touches if you really looked around. LOVED the lemon wallpaper! Very close to restaurants and other little towns to find anything you need. The sun porch was my favorite! Owner was very quick to respond to messages.
Stayed 2 nights in Aug 2022

About the host

Hosted by Holly Balzer

Host profile image

Languages:

English

Premier Host

They consistently provide great experiences for their guests