We had a fantastic get-a-way weekend at the Lavender House. Everything was clean and very comfortable. We really liked the wood stove as an option for heat at night.

The ranch itself is big and you can spend quite a bit of time petting the animals or hiking. Our favorites were the adorable donkeys and Charley, a very sweet 34 year old (!) horse with one eye. Of course, I can't forget that we were greeted by Frankie, the feline ambassador as we unloaded our car.

The location is really great for getting to either the bay area (Los Gatos is 10 minutes away) or the coast (just a bit further the other way).

Initially we were in the good hands of Jen and Sean, who live onsite, as Toni was away for part of the weekend. Both were there for anything we needed. I found out the last day that Jen is the artist of both the water tower on the property and a very vibrant painting of a dog inside the house. She is obviously very talented as well as being fun to talk with. Sean made us feel at home and even surprised us with a couple of eggs from the chicken coop when he dropped off some wood for us. We were really glad we got to meet Toni before we left because she was a real pleasure to talk to and couldn't be friendlier.

We will have to come back again when we are looking for another stress free weekend.