Experience the finest among North Carolina Vacation Rentals in Highlands NC at The Lakehouse on Lake Glenville in Cashiers

From the comfort of our lakefront mountain retreat in Cashiers, North Carolina, explore America’s grandest home, the Biltmore Estate, during the holidays when rooms lit by fires create a warm glow accenting priceless treasures and special holiday decorations.

The serene lakeside setting of the Lakehouse near Highlands and Cashiers, North Carolina, presents a picture-perfect setting for enjoying a traditional, small town celebration. Main Street will be festooned with greenery, shop windows brightly decorated and the village green adorned with a majestic lighted tree.

Book your holiday mountain getaway today! 904-321-2210 / info@nclakehouse.com

There is something incredibly special about the holiday season that brings friends and families together like no other time of the year. This year, make your time together even more memorable by initiating a new ‘day after the feast’ family tradition – a family outing at one of the many Christmas Tree farms located in western North Carolina’s Jackson County to hand-select and harvest the perfect Live Christmas Tree. Two of our favorite tree farms, Ty-lyn Plantation Christmas Tree Farm and Tom Sawyer’s Christmas Tree Farm, offer rides on a vintage red fire truck or in a horse-drawn wagon, hot cider and chocolate, bonfires and even an elf village to engage young and old alike. Located on opposite sides of Lake Glenville, a short walk from the lake, both tree farms are an easy drive from our lakefront lodge. The Holiday season will be here before you know it – so start planning today!

The scenic mountain village of Cashiers, North Carolina sits at 3,500 feet in the southwest corner of the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. This is where you’ll find the Lakehouse at Katie Camp. Here, you are truly away from it all – the city, the traffic, the noise. And yet, when you are at Lake Glenville and in Cashiers you will discover scenic vistas, colorful wildflowers, rippling waterfalls, beautiful golf courses, challenging hiking trails, mountain streams, eclectic shops, stunning sunsets and starry, starry night skies.

In Cashiers there are no man-made attractions – no no huge billboards – no shopping malls or big box stores – no rush hour traffic. The village is populated with eclectic and interesting one-of-a-kind shops and cafes. A local coffee shop, village flower vendor and open-air produce market occupy three corners of the town “square”. A Village Green is on the fourth corner of the square. This scenic park hosts special events and entertainments. Just beyond the Green is a children’s park, Village Play, that families love.

How long has it been since you paddled a canoe? Fished in a clear mountain stream? Watched stars shoot across the night sky? At the Lakehouse at Katie Camp on Lake Glenville in Cashiers, North Carolina, these are just some of the adventures that you and your family can share.

There are quaint mountain villages and resort towns nearby hosting Fall festivals September – November. And for pure enjoyment, there’s shimmering Lake Glenville offering excitement and relaxation.

For reservations, please contact us at 904.321.2210 or email us at info@nclakehouse.com. Rates from $690 nightly.

Brevard is, in many ways, the quintessential Southern mountain town, its retail district populated with old-time soda shops, bicycles parked on sidewalks and colorful barrels of seasonal flowers at shop entrances. And like many small, southern towns, Brevard has a few oddities too including a large population of white squirrels and in a 110-year-old building that hasn’t changed on the outside since 1940, is the coolest toy store on the planet – O. P. Taylor’s. The 6,000 square-foot interior is a maze of color and activity overseen by The Toy Man (owner John Taylor) wearing a rainbow beanie and sporting a salt-and-pepper beard. Almost nothing in the shop runs on batteries. Contents range from the familiar – pink rain boots with lime-green butterflies, bright yellow magnifying glass, a long, plush sneaky snake  and those that feed hobbyist fancies – model trains, slot cars, erector sets, to the slightly eccentric, such as ventriloquism gear. O. P. Taylor’s, 2 South Broad Street, hours Mon. – Sat.: 10 – 6; Sun.: 1 – 5. Brevard is a scenic drive from the Lakehouse at Katie Camp.

Forty-five delicate stained-glass lamps, featuring dragonflies, moths, flowers and other scenes of nature are on display from the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass at Biltmore House in Asheville, a short drive from the Lakehouse at Katie Camp. Guests viewing the lamps can stroll the estate grounds planted with Tiffany-inspired landscapes and flower arrangements.

Pick a sunny weekday for an outing to visit the 2011 Cashiers Designer Showhouse followed by an al fresco lunch at my favorite Cashier’s lunch spot, Cornucopia. (Try the Spinach Salad with honey pecans and plan to take half home for tomorrow’s lunch.)

The 14th annual Cashiers Designer Showhouse is open August 20th – September 4th, 2011. Proceeds from this event benefit the Cashiers Historical Society. For more information on lectures, events and times visit Cashiers Showhouse.

Cornucopia is open 7 days a week and is located on Highway 107, a mile south of the crossroads in Cashiers, about a 15 – 20 minute drive from the Lakehouse.

Take a YouTube preview of this year’s showhouse at Cashiers Designer Showhouse.

                                                         The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design in nearby Hendersonville, just a short distance from the Lakehouse at Katie Camp, has a woolen installation, a part of the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, recently displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Australian mathematician sisters, Margaret and Christine Wertheim, applied mutated algorithms to the art of crochet to create the lifelike coral reef to raise awareness about the decline of the world’s living coral. Crafters from around the world, including crochet groups in Western North Carolina, have joined the Wertheim sisters’ project to create satellite reefs. The Asheville Reef, created by Western North Carolina crafters is on display through August 12.

Gather a group of friends or family and celebrate the New Year at the Lakehouse at Katie Camp.

Tips for serving champagne and sparkling wine:

• Smaller, more numerous bubbles usually indicate a better wine. Better wines also generally have bubbles that last longer.
• Champagne should be served totally chilled. An hour and a half in the refrigerator should do it. If you forget to chill the champagne, avoid placing it in the freezer; it can freeze in 15 minutes and explode. A better quick chill method is to put the bottle in a bucket of ice and water for 15 – 20 minutes.
• Champagne should be served in flutes or tulip-shaped glasses. The wine loses less of its bubbles when poured into these glasses.
• Champagne should be consumed as soon as it is purchased. It may be stored for up to three years in some cases, but will not improve with age.
• Champagne comes from the Champagne region of France. Domestic “champagne” is actually sparkling wine. 

The giving of gifts can be stressful, expensive and time-consuming for the giver – and too often the Christmas gifts are long forgotten once the holidays pass. Giving an experience, however, is a more thoughtful gift idea that will make lasting memories for friends and family. A stay at the Lakehouse at Katie Camp is one such gift that encourages the recipient to relax, spend more time with family or friends and really enjoy the natural surroundings, and is sure to provide memories for many years to come.