The Waterstone Lodge Story and Philosophy

Most vacation rentals, even the very high-end ones, are created from a fairly standard template. Not so with Waterstone Lodge on Lake Travis.  We are so excited now that it is finally complete, we decided to tell the story of how it came to be and what makes it such a uniquely wonderful place.

The idea for Waterstone Lodge came from our experience in previous lake rentals and extensive travel all over America and the world, including numerous luxury villas and five-star hotels and resorts. We always remembered what we liked and what we didn’t. We often remarked on features we always wanted, but never found. From this list of favorites and deep wishes we created Waterstone Lodge on Lake Travis.

Starting with the beautiful scenery of the Texas hill country outside Austin on the deep and clear water of Lake Travis, we purchased a two-acre waterfront lot in Lakecliff. This exclusive gated community is on the south side of the quiet end of Lake Travis, and it has world class golf and tennis facilities besides this most magnificent lake.

Lakefront lots in this area are on a cliff, and most of them are very steep requiring high and difficult-to-navigate stone stairs from the house to the lake. This was one of the aspects of our lake experience we didn't like. It made the lake less accessible and made it a chore to go back and forth, especially with food and gear.  For the elderly, it made it virtually impossible.  Because of this,we found a lot not only with a spectacular view of the lake, but one that had a gentle slope down to the lake on which we put a drive path for a golf cart.

Having a place in Aspen, we came to love mountain lodge design and we melded this with Texas Hill Country style; both are rich in the use of natural timbers and stone. Also, we added large expanses of glass to exploit the scenic views that give it a bit of a modern flavor.

The home was designed with the “form follows function” philosophy, where the function here is fun, relaxation, beauty, romance, intimacy and luxury. Waterstone Lodge sleeps up to 14 people in five bedrooms to accommodate several families or a large extended family. From the spacious master with a wonderful lake view, its own fireplace, and a 50” plasma HD TV to the rustic bunk room for children, everyone gets to snuggle down in top-quality beds and the finest pillows and linens. We guarantee you won’t miss sleeping at home.

Waterstone Lodge was designed with both active and relaxed living in mind. Because our guests go in and out of the home to the pool, the patio, the lake, golf, etc., it needed to be warm, beautiful, and also very practical – easy to live in and easy to keep beautiful. Both goals were achieved with the extensive use of stone on the first floor and warm earth tones in the furniture.

The interior living area is centered in a very open “great room.” Because Waterstone Lodge guests normally come to spend intimate time with their friends and family, we believe that they want to feel connected at all times, except when in the privacy of a bedroom. The great room accomplishes this by connecting the main living room seating areas, the dining area, the breakfast bar and the kitchen. There are two main seating areas: one at the main fireplace and another at the expansive glass overlooking the lake. The mantle above the large fireplace hearth is composed of beautiful stone going up to the 23ft ceiling. At the top and around the sides are magnificent wooden beams with art and trophy animals that give it great warmth and interest within this scenic setting. The furniture is extremely comfortable and again, practical, to respect the relaxed and casual nature of its purpose. When guests first enter, there is a gasp of Wow! The setting immediately makes people just feel good.

We realize Waterstone Lodge guests come mostly for the lake, the beautiful scenery, golf, tennis, friends, and to get away, but we also know they don’t want to give up the comforts of home. We added a number of features beyond what is customary even in elite homes.  Waterstone Lodge has more modern amenities than anywhere else, we promise!

While many guests come to get away, that does not mean they don’t want to stay in touch, have easy access to information, and be entertained. Despite its remote location and the local absence of DSL and cable, we went to the extra expense of purchasing line-of-site wireless broadband internet to the home. We have three high-end , gaming-level computers for our guests whether just for email and web surfing, or action games for the kids. We also have WiFi (802.11g) throughout the house, so you can even bring your own laptop and surf the web on the patio with your coffee at dawn. We also have a printer, scanner and fax for your use. Finally, we provide our guests unlimited long-distance (US/Canada) phone service because no one wants to be hassled with phone cards or get ripped off with exorbitant long distance charges. Again, we want your stay to be not only fun, but easy.

After a long and active day, many guests enjoy a relaxing evening by watching movies or TV together. Waterstone Lodge not only has a dedicated media room with a large widescreen High-Definition TV and a library of DVDs and CDs, but we have several other HD TVs throughout the house with Dish Network’s HD satellite service with over 200 channels. The master bedroom even has a stunning, top-quality 50” HD plasma TV. You'll have a great time even if it rains.

Waterstone Lodge has deluxe kitchen facilities for your gourmet or casual dining, whether you cook yourself or hire a chef. Inside there are two large refrigerators, an ice maker, two ovens, microwave, stove, wine cooler and much else. The Miele automatic coffee/cappuccino maker makes the perfect cup of coffee at the touch of a button from fresh beans. With its built-in milk steamer, you can have a latte or cappuccino in just a minute. There’s no need to run to a Starbuck’s.

Because the lake area is so beautiful and most people like to spend the majority of the time outside in the patio and pool areas, Waterstone Lodge has an outdoor kitchen complete with a Viking grill. Next to it is an ice maker and the amazing commercial Island Oasis frozen drink machine that makes the smoothest frozen drinks on the planet. As an aside, in our travels through the Caribbean, we noted that every time we had a perfect Pina Colada or Margarita, it came from an Island Oasis shaver/blender, and after a long search we found one on EBay, since they are only sold/rented commercially to premium bars and clubs.

Speaking of the patio, most of it, including the outdoor fireplace area, is under cover so you can comfortably lounge with your Margarita even in the heat of the afternoon. Evenings are heavenly. After eating your scrumptious grilled meal outdoors, you will sit around the fireplace and look out at the beauty of the hill country and lake. One of the very few negatives of this area at night is the bugs, but we’ve even taken care of that with a built-in and non-toxic automatic spray system that eliminates the spiders and their webs along with most of the flying insects. Off to the side, we have a fire pit for the kids to toast their marshmallows.

No luxury resort experience would be complete without a romantic pool and spa. Ours is next to our patio and outdoor kitchen and it overlooks the lake and its cliffs. Kids can play and the adults can take a hot whirlpool in the spa after their grueling tennis match.

Going down to the lake is easy with the gentle-slope golf cart path. The floating boathouse (Lake Travis’ depth varies with the season) has two boat slips – one reserved for guests – and a jet ski landing ramp and exterior docking facilities. The boathouse is more than just a place for boats. Attached to it is a float trampoline for fun jumping and swimming. There is also a staircase that goes up to the top deck where people can jump into the lake or use the trapeze swing to launch themselves in. Note, US liability law forces us to highly restrict access to some of these facilities because people who are not fit, too young, irresponsible or not sober can get hurt. Jumping, swimming and boating have inherent dangers and we want everyone to play safely and responsibly.

Well, how about the kids? We’ve already talked about the lake, the boat house, the floating trampoline, the trapeze/jump, the fire pit, the pool, the media room, and the computers with games. But there is more. We have a game room with Xbox with many games, a TV/DVD along with the three gaming computers. Of course this room also has a great view of the lake. We have ping pong in the garage and there are lots of big fish to catch in the lake. If your kids say they are bored, immediately send them to the doctor because there is something seriously wrong!

Naturally, there are games for the big kids too. If your game is golf, then you have your choice of two first-rate Arnold Palmer golf courses; one surrounds the house in Lakecliff and the other, Barton Creek Lakeside, is only two miles away. Waterstone Lodge has a membership at Barton Creek and our guests can play there with a guest fee.  For evening fun with family and friends, we have a number of board games.

Tennis players certainly aren’t neglected. The Lakecliff Racquet Club, only a few blocks away, is a superb facility that has all three major tennis surface types: hard, clay and grass. It is an extremely friendly place with a great clubhouse. The pros can accommodate your every instructional or match play need. As with Barton Creek, Waterstone Lodge is a member and our guests have access to it with a simple guest fee.

There is much more to Waterstone Lodge than we can ever write about. It helps to have hundreds of pictures and video on our web site, but to really understand, you must first experience it yourself. We’ll see you there soon!

Pam and Tom Bernhardt, May 2005