This house is beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice. It is a notch above (maybe more) anything you might expect at a bed and breakfast. Elizabeth shows a view of the lake with her pictures, but that is the view you wake up to, out your bedroom window, FROM your bed. You can also go down and sit by the lake, in her backyard. As I looked out at the lake at various times, I saw a turtle, a heron, two woodpeckers and two cardinals and she and her husband said you will see other animals.

Elizabeth and her husband were very welcoming and asked whenever I saw them, if there was anything I needed, but there wasn't much missing. I chatted with her a couple of times, but I was mostly there to sleep.

Everything was spotlessly clean and there were towels and washcloths in the bathroom, plus soap and shampoo and there is a hairdryer in one of the drawers.

The bedroom is big, and the bed is very comfortable. The chair and fireplace in the pictures are in your bedroom. Obviously in the summer I did not need a fireplace. You would have to ask if that could be used on cool days.

The breakfast she provided was very basic, oatmeal, milk and some granola bars. There is a Kuerig coffee maker with plenty of coffee and there are dishes for two people. But this is in a kitchenette that is for your use only. It includes a stove a microwave and a mini fridge, so I didnt think it was necessary that she didn't have a lot of variety for breakfast.

I was at family events where they fed us all day so I ate oatmeal only once. On the last day, when I actually ate something there, I bought microwaveable Asian chicken, fruit and yogurt and ate it sitting out by the lake, with a cup of coffee.

There is also a family room where the kitchenette is which I used a couple of times. Elizabeth has her studio (she is a painter) in half of that room and her office in another room downstairs. She said she comes down and paints sometimes in the day, but I was hardly there, and in the evenings she says she rarely comes downstairs so you have a lot of privacy. I saw her just a couple of times when she went into her office.

I was in St Paul for a funeral services, plus family gatherings that stretched out over four days so I was gone almost all day, everyday. But this was a nice place to come back to and unwind after some emotional, very tiring days. Sanctuary describes it well. .