Owner Designed Beautiful Vacation Home

Splendid stay at the Oleander retreat. Nice and quiet. Lots of space. Excellent kitchen and plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms. Beautiful tropical preserve to stare at in a very quiet neighborhood.

The home is great but the location and privacy is fantastic. Big lot and backs up to natural areas.

Just finished a 4 week stay in February 2025. Everything was as shown on VRBO. Kitchen was well equipped with cookware as well as spices, cooking oil, cleaning supplies and trash bags. We loved the view of Lemon Bay Park behind the house (we called it Jurassic Park) there’s an entrance on Lord street by the pond about. 7-8 minutes walk from the house. Pool was great and they turned on the heat ahead of our stay. Loved the area with access nearby to Manasota, Venice and Nokomis beaches. Definitely coming back.

This house in Englewood was by far more spectacular than described. We have never stayed in such a clean, well-equipped house. The hostess was very easy to communicate with and responded quickly to any questions. The same goes for their property manager. The pool was heated and clean. If we ever return to the Englewood area, we would definitely book this house.

Well, there is so much to say about this beautiful, beautiful home. Our family enjoyed three beautiful weeks. It was everything and more than we could have imagined. Clean, spacious, everything you needed from linens, towels, kitchen, accessories, beach equipment. The host was always available. You were near to everything. The beaches were great, we spent late afternoons in heated pool and mornings at the beach or sometimes we would change it up and spend mornings in the pool and enjoy the beautiful sunsets at the beach. The location was amazing. Short walks to lemon Bay or a nice bike ride in the most beautiful quiet community. we surely did not want to leave. We’re hoping to return next year and maybe stay a little longer. Thank you for giving our family memories to treasure for a lifetime !

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Oleander Retreat and are hoping to return. The home is spacious, clean, well stocked with absolutely anything you might need and located in a quiet area. We cooked most of our meals during our stay, and the kitchen has absolutely everything. Englewood has been our winter retreat for many years, and the size and space of this home allowed us to share it the Englewood experience with family. The layout is perfect, as the home almost has separate wings with their own washrooms so that if you are in need of some quiet time, you can just 'retreat' to your wing! A very short drive to beaches, golfing, entertainment and shopping. Communication with Henrik and Heike before, during and after our stay was second to none - prompt and courteous. As Canadians, we were looking for the World Junior Hockey Tournament on TV over the holiday, and when we couldn't find it, within a few short hours Henrik had set up the NHL Network as part of the cable package so that we were able to watch the games! Thank you, Henrik and Heike. We had a wonderful holiday. The Robert Family Ontario, Canada

This was the first time I rented a house with VRBO. Not nervous but did not know what to expect. We rented from December 19 to January 7, 2023. A very nice way to get our blended family together over the holidays. Everything went well with reserving and paying for our time. We drove to Florida and located the home easily. Our first impression was very good when arriving at the home. The house looks newly painted in a nice light Floridian color and the yard and gardens were very well kept. The interior of the home was just as nice as outside. Every room was decorated in pleasant light color tones. There were very nice sized bedrooms and bathrooms, all very clean and bright. There is a very nice sized living room and dining area, plus another smaller front room available. The kitchen was very nicely sized, and several could be cooking for a crew of 8. The kitchen had a brand-new refrigerator and even made craft ice. The kitchen was well stocked with cooking pots, pans, utensils, dinnerware, flatware, etc. I brought some of everything along but didn't need to use it. We were able to cook all of our evening meals and sit together at a very large dining table, and only went out to eat one time. Money saving, time saving and easier with little children. In the living room there is a very big TV with cable, (don't remember system) and very fast WIFI. The pool was very nice and well kept, in fact the pool service people arrived during our stay. (My comments cut off.......

Great

My husband and I rented Oleander retreat for two weeks and invited two of our good friends to join us for the second week. What a lovely experience. First off - the house. It's beautiful, spacious, comfortable, well stocked and spotless. Because of COVID we cooked almost all of our meals in and were so pleased with a kitchen that really functioned. We paid extra to have the pool heated and were pleased that we did because we had perfect weather for swimming and did just that almost every day. The home backs onto Lemon Park (which several of us hiked almost daily) and is very private. There is also a small pond nearby where we watched one lazy alligator and a beautiful great white Egret. The park also has nesting eagles and we were lucky to see them too. Englewood is a sweet town and we enjoyed the Thursday open market (masked, of course). We did venture to dinner one night and made reservations at Farlow's. They appeared to be following all safe practices and the interior booths were separated by plexiglass. Food was delicious. Heike and Hendrik were perfect hosts. We would rent this home again in a flash.

Heike was a superb host. Great communication and her home is absolutely beautiful. Fully equipped with everything you could possibly need to make your stay your own home from home. Lovely area, very residential with lovely friendly neighbours. If anything the pictures do t do the house justice. We paid for pool heat which I would recommend as the pool would have been too cold without but that’s just personal preference. We would definitely stay here again.