OakView, Kashagawigamog Lake

This was our second stay at OakView and once again we had a great experience. The property is quite large and very private. Swimming and fishing off the dock was a major highlight, and there is a marina just next door which makes renting equipment super easy and convenient. It would be awesome if the cottage included a stand up paddleboard in the future!! The cottage is quite roomy for 2 couples / families. Everything was extremely clean and the kitchen is well stocked. Haliburton is just 10 mins away, super handy for groceries and other shopping. The Haliburton Wolf Centre was a hit with our kids. We also enjoyed the Log Chute hike and kayaking in Minden. Thanks for a great stay!
~ Laura

Date of stay: July 2022

Our stay was lovely. The cottage was very comfortable and well stocked. The cottage is a really nice size and really well laid out. There are elements that are unfinished but are not really noticeable. Beds are very comfortable and lots of blankets. The owner was super helpful and available. Property is very private even with the marina. There was very little boat traffic. Neighbours are very quiet. There is a great cottage road for walks. Road across the lake was closer and busier than expected and is constantly busy but after a while you don’t notice it. Would have been nice if there was a few essentials like oil and sugar. Had a lovely stay overall and would recommend.
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Date of stay: August 2022

The previous reviews were very useful to adjust the expecting on where we were going ( closeness to road and Marina, the road to get to the cottage and the number of steps to get to the water) Overall it was a good cottage and had everything that we needed. The fridge and the wine cooler were super clean when we arrived. The dyson vacuum was very handy to keep the cottage clean. The washer Dryer was very handy too. Suggest a few upgrades. The bbq was not working properly and need to be replaced. The cutleries were very poor quality and you couldn’t cut anything with the knives. The kitchen knives were very poor quality. The pans were old and not good quality. Lastly the wine glasses were not really wine glasses!!! A couple of fresh new set would be great addition.
~ Leili Hamid Pourkashani

Date of stay: June 2021

We had a wonderful stay at OakView and would recommend it for its spacious layout (two families sharing was no problem), beautiful sprawling property, and great lake experience ie. sunsets, canoeing, and swimming off the dock. Having the marina so close was great; we rented a kayak and stand up paddle board. For young kids (ours are between ages 3 and 5) it was a great experience for them. Walking down to the dock was certainly steep, but doable. The cottage was well stocked with kitchen items and basic needs. The only small negative I would mention is that there are many parts of the cottage unfinished. This is mentioned in the ad, but was more than we were expecting. Not a big problem.
~ Laura M

Date of stay: July 2021

This cottage is beautiful. The kitchen has a lot of counter space and the kitchen was well-stocked. The main floor was very spacious. The pictures on the website are old and do not show the present arrangement of a 3-person sofa, a 2-person loveseat and another comfortable chair that made the living space a great place to hang out. The basement also has furniture that is not shown in the pictures. The outside deck was roomy and comfortable for meals for 6 and just relaxing but you can hardly see the lake from the deck. The swimming was great, with deep diving off the dock and swimming along the shoreline. A special treat were the raspberry bushes that line the road down to the cottage and deer were seen on this road almost daily. The downsides have been mentioned in previous reviews. The drive off Wigamog road is very steep uphill at which point there is a garage and flat area with parking for two cars, then a steep downhill to the cottage. That road downhill is gravel and an AWD is required. After a thunderstorm, there was a huge canal that formed on that gravel road that made the driving even more difficult. There are 75+ steps down to the lake which are not easy to navigate. The marina is right next door and when boats went by, the floating dock rocked quite a bit. It was also tight to fit 6 chairs on the dock. Also, the highway is directly in view when sitting on the dock and is quite noisy but the dock gets the sun late in the afternoon and early evening and looking down the lake away from the highway is beautiful as the sun is setting. Overall, the cottage is spacious, nicely decorated and very comfortable for 6. We had a great time there.
~ Donna

Date of stay: July 2021

My family and I really enjoyed our stay at the OakView cottage for 2 weeks. The cottage was very clean when we arrived, the kitchen was well stocked with pretty much everything you need to cook - some rentals have really poor quality pots and pans or none at all - so we were happy! They must have read the review about the wine glasses and bbq because there was nothing wrong with either items. The Dyson vacuum was AMAZING and very handy. Sandy (who is your contact while staying there) was very easy to get ahold of and when we noticed one of the steps was loose she had someone come right away to fix it. We really appreciated it! We knew about the many stairs to the lake, the Marina and the road being very close so that did not bother us. One thing I would suggest is getting a dehumidifier in the cottage. We had a lot of rain and it was extremely damp especially the basement. Also, the pictures don’t show that a lot of the cottage is unfinished. Most of the drywall and door/window trim etc are not finished. Other than that we had a great time and it was a great place!
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Date of stay: August 2021

We loved the spacious modern rustic cottage. We also liked the treed privacy surrounding the cottage. The deep water swimming off the large dock was very enjoyable.The steep walk to the water was more challenging when you had to walk back up in the summer heat. The boat traffic wasn’t too bad, but the road noise from highway 21 was constant. The cottage and large deck helped to make up for traffic noise.
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Date of stay: October 2021

This cottage is beautiful and obviously loved by the family that built it. There are so many lovely features. First, the good things: This cottage is on a beautiful, heavily wooded lot. If you love privacy, trees, birds and wildlife, this is your spot! We saw wild turkeys, deer, pileated woodpeckers - so many animals! It's a naturalist's paradise.We loved walking down Wigamog Road with our dogs every morning - it's heavily wooded and shady, and just so peaceful. (Note that the abandoned Wigamog Inn is about 3.5 KM down the road and fun to visit!) The cottage itself is spacious and beautiful. The kitchen has everything you need, the laundry works perfectly, and the bathrooms are modern and spacious. There are fans in every bedroom, and lots of windows for a cross-breeze. Screens keep the bugs out - we've actually never stayed in a less buggy cottage! It's also very easy to keep clean. We noticed that it isn't completely finished - you can see in the photos that there's still some unfinished drywall on the main floor, and some other areas aren't quite done either, but this didn't bother us. And of course, the lake. It's so beautiful, perfect for fishing and swimming. The dock is big and sturdy with enough chairs and enough shade for everyone - and plenty of sun if you want it, too! On the downside, the driveway is impossible to navigate without an SUV. It's over 200 metres of soft gravel - and it's probably a 40-degree angle. We had a minivan and a coup, and it took three tries to get the van up to the top. That was after everyone but the drive was out of the car! The smaller car still had to gun it to the top, and with so many trees, it was a little unnerving! Renters should also be aware of the 80+ steps down to the lake from the cottage. This was no problem for us, but if you're bringing parents or grandparents to the cottage, it really has to be a consideration. It's also a bit of a pain if you want another drink or have to use the washroom! We had some issues that were probably unique to our trip - life jackets for the canoe were MIA, internet went down for more than a day (to the horror of our teens), and OMG it gets hot during a heat wave, even with the fans! Overall, it's a beautiful cottage. I know others complained about the nearby road, but this really didn't bother us at all. It's really not that noisy. If you have a car that can easily navigate the driveway and if you don't mind all the steps, this cottage is probably a great spot for you and your family. There's a lot to enjoy.
~ Aimee Kessler Evans

Date of stay: July 2020

The cottage was very nice - up to date, spacious and clean. Lovely deck and very private at the cottage level. Caretaker was very kind and responsive when the wifi was not working. However, some things are not exactly as represented in the ad. The driveway is very steep and not well maintained in some areas so we could not drive our non-4x4 car all the way to the cottage. The trip to the dock is very long and steep with many stairs that are not in the best shape and would not be suited to anyone with accessibility issues or very young children. The cottage is actually next door to a marina, the channel to the next lake and a highway so the waterfront level is very busy and not at all private. It was fine for our family for a week but we would hesitate to recommend it without all of this being more clear to renters.
~ Meredith

Date of stay: July 2020

The cottage looks exactly as advertised on your website, so no disappointments whatsoever. The only downside and a suggestion to the owners is that they should make an effort to clean the kitchen cupboards and drawers more thoroughly and make sure that all the dishes are spotless clean for the new renter. Other than that, highly recommended!
~ Diana

Date of stay: July 2020