welcome to finekettle
Thank You & Welcome
Welcome to Finekettle and Happy Vacationing!
Finekettle has been in our family since my grandfather built the original house as a small vacation cabin in the 1960’s. We have made so many wonderful memories there and we adore sharing this special home with guests. If you have any questions at all during your stay, I’ll be more than happy to help.
In this little guide, you’ll find what you need to get connected and settled in at Finekettle, as well as check-out instructions and hopefully everything you need in-between, but if I’ve left anything out or there’s anything you need, feel free to get in touch. I am always happy to help.
With warm regards and wishing you a wonderful vacation,
Elizabeth
Checking In, Getting Connected and Settling In
WiFi
For all your streaming, tweeting, and remote working requirements, Finekettle has high-speed unlimited wifi. The network name is FinekettleofFish and the password is harry123.
Dock & Outdoor Light Switches
All light-switches for the outdoor lights have a black tip on the switch.
Entrance-way and flood lights on the road-side of the house are the left-most switches below the dimmers to the left of the entrance door.
Dock walk-way floodlights are on the left-most switch next to the cabinet and French doors from the living room.
Upper deck and lakeside grounds floodlights are to the left of the door to the deck from the sunroom.
Deck lights are on the switch next to the far left door in the master bedroom.
Deck and side-grounds floodlights are to the right of the right-most door in the master bedroom.
Reading lights in the master bedroom are controlled by switches on either side of the bed near the window frames.
Kitchen Trash Compactor
If you choose to use the trash compactor during your stay, please place paper, plastic empty food containers and aluminum cans only into the compactor. Any other materials such as food scraps, liquids, grease, glass or metal will cause the compactor to jam and damage the appliance as the gear is fairly temperamental. Thanks!
Operate the compactor only when the bin is at least half full by turning the start control on the left of the control panel clockwise to stop and release. The compactor will compact the trash, reverse and stop.
Remove the full bag and replace with another - additional bags are located under the small sink.
Kitchen Hot Water Dispenser
The kitchen hot water dispenser located next to the small sink dispenses very hot water for cups of tea and other hot beverages in single serving sizes. Please be careful to avoid burned fingers.
Games Room and Pool Table
A large flat screen tv and selection of dvds are available in the upstairs games room for movie nights. Please have a great time playing pool but don’t set food or beverages on the pool table and treat the felt with care. Thanks!
For Bumps and Scrapes
A large first aid kit is located in the living room cabinet. Smaller kits are located in each bathroom.
For a Game Night
There is a selection of board games, poker chips and puzzles in the tall cabinet in the living room closest to the sun room. Giant Jenga, Connect 4 and Corn Hole sets are in the downstairs family room.
For a Bubbling Bath
Directions to operating the master bathroom whirlpool tub are taped to the wall near the bath.
In Case You Forgot Something
Extra toiletries and toothbrushes etc can be found in the welcome basket.
Lake-side Towels
The 12 striped towels in the clear tote bag are for your use on the dock, your boat, or anywhere lake-side. Please leave the white bath linens indoors. Many thanks!
Water Safety, the Boathouse & Boat Storage
The same key that opens the house also operates the boathouse lock.
Life jackets in a range of sizes for children and adults are located in the boat house, and we urge all of our guests to exercise caution on the lake. We have attempted to provide a range of life jacket sizes, but, particularly with young children’s life jackets, fit is very important. If you do not find the sizes you need in the boathouse, we recommend Parkway Marina which will be able to provide them as rentals during your stay.
The striped bath sheets in various colours are for your use on the dock. We kindly ask you not to bring the white towels from indoors down to the lake. Thanks!
Please feel free to enjoy any of the floats and other water accessories in the boathouse during your stay. If anything needs inflating, air pumps are located in the boathouse.
Feel free to use the additional chairs stored in the boathouse while enjoying the dock and kindly replace them in the boathouse after each use, as a strong wind can blow them into the water, thanks!
Unfortunately, the boat lift is not available for guest use; however, you are welcome to secure any motorized watercraft in the covered boat slip area using the cleats attached to the dock.
The Grill
Happy cooking out! Please make sure to turn the grill off after each use for safety, and let us know if the propane tank for the grill is empty on your departure so that we can replace it for the next guests. Before your departure, please clean the grill. If our cleaners need to tackle this, you will be charged $75 as this is their fee to us for this task. Thanks!
Trash Service
We’re delighted to have trash pick-up at Finekettle after many years without it! Trash pickup is on Saturday mornings, so we ask our guests to ensure that as much of the household trash as possible is secured in sealed bags in the outside bins on Friday evening, as precise pick-up times can be irregular.
A Personal Note About Fire Pits
As you know from our House Rules, we do not have a fire pit at Finekettle and we do not allow fire pits to be brought to Finekettle. We also know from damage to the grounds and grass that some of our guests choose to bring them anyway.
Our “no fire pit (or fireworks)” rule doesn’t come from a place of being “un-fun.” Our family experienced a catastrophic house fire many years ago at another home and we are highly risk-averse when it comes to fires. In summer 2021, the lovely home belonging to our neighbors on the point caught fire due to an outdoor kitchen and fire pit coupled with variable winds, which is why that lot is empty today. Fortunately, like our family’s fire, no one was hurt, but a cherished family home was destroyed.
Finekettle’s beautiful position on such a large peninsula lot affords it incredible privacy and beautiful views. It also makes it very vulnerable to changing winds and it is not a safe location for a fire pit. Please don’t bring one with you, or use fireworks on the property, and thank you for respecting our wishes about this.
But what if….
Everything isn’t perfect?
Please do drop us a line if Finekettle isn’t exactly as you would expect on your arrival. We are very committed hosts and want your stay to be perfect. Finekettle has been in our family since the original house was built in the late Sixties, and we want you to have a wonderful vacation there. We have a wonderful cleaning and maintenance team, so if something was missed for your check-in, we all want to make it right as soon as possible.
The power goes out?
In the unlikely event of a power outage, please contact Southside Electrical on 1-866-878-5514 to report the outage or 800-552-2118 for assistance, then find your flashlights which are located in each bedroom. Then, please do drop me a message so that we can do everything we can to help!
You accidentally stain something, break something or other general human happenings well, happen during your stay?
We understand that accidents happen and things sometimes get spilled or broken, and what we most want to is to keep Finekettle in great shape for everyone who stays with us. Don’t worry or stress, just drop us a line so we can get it all sorted as soon as possible as the next guests may be arriving the day you depart and we want to address any issues immediately. Note there is carpet stain remover in the laundry room in the event of any spills, and we’re more than happy to call in a member of our team to deal with anything that may occur.
Anything I’ve forgotten to mention or that you’d like to know?
Please do get in touch and I’ll get right back to you!
Checking Out
Checkout time at Finekettle is 10 am. This allows our cleaners to get the house ready for our next guests who often are arriving the same day as guests are departing, so we ask all our guests to check out promptly to help make sure the house is ready for the guests checking in later. We love to be flexible with these times when we can be, but it often just isn’t possible, particularly in the summer season. Please do ask if you would like a later check-out, and I will be happy to accommodate you if it’s possible!
Our cleaning team will take care of your towels and linens, so there is no need to strip the beds, and towels may be left in their respective rooms.
Generally, in terms of check-out, we just ask that you put anything back where you found it, remove anything you brought with you, empty your household trash into the outdoor bins, run and unload the dishwasher before leaving, and make sure lights are out and doors are locked before you leave.
Please clean out the refrigerator of items brought with you, make sure dishes are clean and dry and back in the cabinets, and wipe down kitchen surfaces.
Please make sure you leave the grill clean when you check out - if we need to pass this task on to our cleaners, you will be billed $75.00 which is what we are charged for this service.
Please make sure the kayaks and paddles are clean and back in the storage spaces where you found them before leaving, and that the boathouse has been left in good order and locked.
If you have moved any of the furniture during your stay, outdoors or indoors, please replace it as you found it.
Please make sure tv remotes are left near their respective televisions.
If your pet joined you on your vacation, kindly make sure they are cleaned up after.
Before your departure, please make sure that all household rubbish from every room is placed in the bins outside and that the lids to the bins are tightly closed. Again, if our cleaners need to tackle this, their fee to us will be passed on to you.
Please make sure that all doors, including all French doors, are locked and lights are turned off before your departure.
Place the keys as you found them in the lockbox and secure them and have a safe and happy trip home!