The pool and pool setting is lovely and picturesque. If you squint, it's like a Mediterranean grotto was picked up by a twister and dropped smack dab in the middle of the Hill Country, surrounded now by twisted oaks, hard scrabble rock, and tufts of dry grass.
The common spaces are the star of the show. There’s a good kitchen set up: with bar seating so those who aren’t cooking can still be a part of the action. The decor is tasteful and "very Austin" complete with guitars, an eclectic selection of books, and some boho touches like a lovely shell chandelier and aloe plants.
The house is located about 20 minutes from downtown Austin, but somehow feels like another world. It’s rolling green hills on a two lane highway and a couple of lefts off the beaten path to ranchville.
If you are looking to just get away from it all, but still have the option to go Downtown easily and you want a beautiful pool, this is the place for you. But before you decide, you may want to ask the property managers if they've resolved the issues we had when we were there.
Number one: Very strong mildew smell in the master bed/bath area that made it impossible to sleep there. I checked and I'm not the first person to notice this, so either it's an ongoing issue that some folks don't mind or it comes and goes. My husband and I both found it impossible to sleep in that room. We tried a nap there one day and woke up with itchy eyes and congestion.
Other smaller issues that irked: It had rained prior to our stay and there was a big puddle of standing water next to the pool that made one of the staircases to the pool inaccessible. It dried up by our second to last day, but along the way it became sludge/slippery stuff that wasn't safe or sightly. The grill grate is rusted and unsafe to use unless you like ingesting rust. The Galaga machine wasn't working. The deck is lovely, gets a nice cross breeze, but the seating is uncomfortable and rickety. The kitchen pans were all scratched up probably because they are non stick and the house had only metal utensils. These are all fixable and so I would just recommend asking before you book if those details matter to you.
For those of you with the gift of an active imagination, I'll add that it's a big place with lots of doors and windows, set back from the road, on a hill and a lot of brush and trees between you and the next home. If you're staying there with a big group, you may never notice or care because of the safety of numbers, but there were a couple of times when I was there alone and my husband was on a grocery run that I felt like I was in the proverbial "cabin in the woods." But even that may have its own appeal for some, so your mileage may vary depending on your disposition.