At a beach house, sitting here relaxing, enjoying
the sound of the water. The beauty is I didn't
have to drive to the States. I didn't have to
go to Muskoka. I am right here in Wheatley, Essex
County at Pura Vida Beach House. And I'm here
with the owner, Emily Branton. Hi. Hi. It is
heaven here. It is heaven here. I love it. I
don't know if you guys can hear it, but the waves
are crashing like crazy. making me want to go
to sleep. Yeah, very much nature's sound machine
out there. And this we are in, I don't know if
you'd call it the garage or the man cave, the
beach house bar, the game room, which is huge
to have all of our gear. How did you find this
perfect place? Oh my gosh. So I guess maybe to
back up a little bit. We love Costa Rica. I go
there every year, and we always thought we would
buy a vacation rental property there and spend
some time there. And Pura Vida is the way of
life in Costa Rica. It's about the simple life,
the good things, nature's pleasure, just really
connecting with friends and family. And it's
just the lifestyle that I want to be in. The
pandemic was kind of a big awakening for us realizing
what it would mean to own a property internationally.
And so we pivoted our plan and decided to get
something close by. My husband, Matt, grew up.
in the area so he lived in Leamington, his best
friend is five minutes away, his brother and
our sister -in -law and our nephews are down
the road and we come to this area, you know,
we were renting cottages like two or three times
a year to go to wineries and so we decided to
keep our focus area here. We'd looked at maybe
10 properties and none of them worked out and
I had given up and I said I'm gonna just give
it a year, I'm getting so... discouraged and
frustrated not finding our place and so I put
my down payment back in the market and then this
place came on Realtor and I couldn't believe
it and I called my real estate agent and I said
we're back in the game. I think I found the property
that has beachfront like as a hundred feet of
beach. I never would have guessed we would find
that and Five minutes later, after I called my
realtor, my best friend messaged me the listing
and said, me and the kids just saw this on Facebook
and we think that this is the perfect property
for you. And that's how we found it. It is right
outside this sliding door. The waves are crashing.
The beach is awesome. The dog's down there playing.
And this is a huge spot just on itself, let alone
the house. which is massive. And before I go
too far, this is a rental. It's an Airbnb and
It's a lot bigger than what it looks like from
the outside. Yeah, there's four bedrooms, two
full baths inside. It's fully all seasons. Like
it's kind of done up really nicely. Sleeps 10.
And then you get this extra garage space. And
then we just started hosting weddings as well.
So we hosted our wedding here. We hosted Matt's
parents 45th anniversary vow renewal here. And
then we just host a wedding for someone else
last weekend. And now how many people came? Do
you know like for the micro weddings how many
people it fits comfortably 25 is the max. Yep
So anything under that's really comfortable and
you can set up like an alfresco dinner out on
the deck under the string lights Watch the sunset
behind you and then you know, the garage is here
for weather Issues so the whole setup the same
thing you do on the deck You can fit with moving
some of the furniture around inside as well.
And there is also a little bar fridge and a bathroom
here in the garage as well so it's it's perfect
I just love this place yeah me too it's such
a dream I mean I would never want to leave no
it's very like sometimes I cry when we have to
leave especially when I know we're not going
to get to come down for a while it's hard it's
really hard to leave this place this isn't booked
up pretty good Yeah. Yeah, we're usually booked
solid from like mid May all the way through October.
So this is like a little short window of four
days that's open. But otherwise, we were fully
booked through that whole stretch. And then in
the off season, we get a few weekend bookings,
but not as many as I think we should. It's such
a great place to escape to in the winter as well.
She's from Sarnia. And I mean, us people in Windsor,
you don't even think of Wheatley. And like I
was telling you a few minutes ago, I don't even
know if I've ever been through the main strip
of Wheatley. I have been to Wheatley Provincial
Park, but... It's a cute little town. It's so
cute. There is a great restaurant, barbecue place
called Renny's that's on the corner of the four
corners of Wheatley right next door is ice creams
and ice cream place. You're not that far from
Point Pelee. You're also really close to Wheatley
Provincial Park. Like you said, Talbot trail
golf course is like five minutes away and we
give buy one, get one free rounds of golf coupons
to all of our guests. Nice. My husband, it's
one of his favorite nine hole. courses it's so
beautiful there's just it's so cute the harbors
right here you have all these fisheries and it's
the biggest freshwater fishery in the world yeah
yeah it's it's just a cute little hidden gem
out here it really is and I'm definitely gonna
have to remember Wheatley a little bit more because
it just seems that everybody goes from Leamington
the other way towards Kingsville, Namisburg,
and Harrow, and all of them, and then Windsor.
But this is a cute little nook. It's a little
farther out, but you're still close enough to
hit all the wineries and everything. Absolutely.
Yeah, I like to call it the compound when I'm
here because it's so quiet in this area. There's
not a lot of traffic noise. The neighbors are
really, really a mate. Like, they're so sweet,
but it's so private. So I... You know, it's fun
to go out and do stuff, but I also love to just
like get all my favorite food, my favorite snacks,
my favorite drinks and like hunker down for a
couple of days and have some fires and it's just
be really peaceful. Well, that would be something
good too, like somebody from Windsor. You don't
even have to have an event of like 10 people
staying here. Just you and your spouse come or
your significant other just coming for a little
weekend of... Hunkering down. Yeah, we have a
couple that comes every year They were just here
two weeks ago They come with their two dogs and
just the two of them and they just come and hunker
down for three or four days It's nice and relaxing.
I love it. So now Now that we're on the opposite
side of Essex County, how close are we to, say,
Chatham or London? Yeah, Chatham is about an
hour. London is about an hour and a half. Chatham
is maybe 15 minutes. It's about the same as Windsor.
So I mean, it's still in the perfect spot where
it's just in the middle of everything. It really
is. Yep. And most of our guests actually come
from Windsor to London stretch. But then we've
also had guests come as far as New Mexico, Texas,
Colorado. that are doing some sort of road trips
or maybe grew up here and have family here and
are coming to host a little family gathering.
We had a woman's 90th birthday celebration here.
It's just so special. This is why I want people
to... realize that Essex County needs to be a
destination place? Yeah, I think one thing people
don't fully appreciate is actually how much warmer
it is here. I can't believe sometimes in the
winter, there's a 10 or 12 degree difference
between here and Sarnia. And because the sun
comes up right at the end of the break while
on our beach, you get sun all morning, all afternoon.
So it's actually warm. So in the winter, we have
a lot of daytime fires outside, and it's just
nice to be able to get outside and it not be
freezing cold. When we were getting ready to
come out here, I checked online and it was actually
a little bit warmer here than it was in Windsor,
considering you're right on the lake. I know,
I don't understand how it works, but it's always
warmer here. You're also doing events? Yeah.
The one coming up, is this the first event you've
held here or have you done before? Yeah, so it
was just last weekend, like just three days ago,
I guess. Yeah, we hosted the first wedding that
was not... friends or family. And it was just
so cool to get the message from them after. And
they said, we'll be back. This is now a special
place. for us. Oh, yeah. Now, do you offer retreats
here as well? Yes. So different types of retreats.
So offering to people who host retreats to rent
the space and we give them advice on how to set
everything up and local vendors and things in
the area to contribute to their retreat. So we
do that a few times a year. And then I've also
hosted retreats here. So I'm I also have another
business and I'm a yoga teacher. So a few times
a year I'll do retreats here as well. So yoga
on the lake? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like sometimes
out here in the garage we'll do the yoga because
we have a strobe light out here and speakers.
I also do ecstatic dance sometimes at the retreats
and then I also try to incorporate a lot of just
downtime. I call them nervous system resets and
sometimes when you go to retreat it's... fun,
but it's not always relaxing. It's like yoga
class after yoga class after activity. So I build
in a lot of downtime. I say let's normalize naps.
So you can lay on the couch and hear the waves
or lay in the bedroom and let's just actually
enjoy nature and peacefulness and not feeling
all of the time. Or go for a nice leisurely walk.
Exactly two creeks and like I said Wheatley Provincial
Park are so close there's beautiful nature walks
here or even just walking around the block here
with the lake everywhere it's stunning. Now are
they all? privately owned beaches along the lake
here? Yeah, this stretch is privately owned and
then there's an easement at the end of our beach
that is public property for the neighbors. So
they can go a little further if they want to
walk along. Yeah, I think the neighbors are pretty
friendly here. If someone wants to do a beach
walk, nobody gets too upset about it. Oh, that's
nice. Yeah. And how's the fishing for the guys?
Amazing. So sometimes people will fish here,
but most of the time people will just drive down
to the actual pier at Wheatley Harbor. And there's
always tons of people just fishing right off
of the pier. And how far is that from here? Oh
my gosh, like a one minute drive. You could walk
it in maybe 10. Oh, nice. Yeah. It's great, and
there's a boat launch right down there as well.
So bring your boat. Bring your boat. The driveway
is huge. It is. So lots of room for boats in
the driveway. Now, how long have you had this
for? Almost four years. I think we've hosted
125 groups between direct bookings and Airbnb.
We're one of the guest favorites in the area.
We're Airbnb super hosts. I think we got almost
90 reviews, and they're pretty much all five
star. Awesome. Yeah, that's great. So it's not
just Airbnb. It's also direct. Yeah, so people
can book direct. We just have them pay a $500
security deposit and show us a proof of ID if
they do. So we make sure they are who they say
they are. But that also saves 13%. So Airbnb
charges the people who book a 13%. Booking fee
a lot of people don't look into that and they
think Oh Airbnb and that's the only play the
only way I can rent it and yeah You see some
of those prices and all the extras and the extra
extras and then the tax on the extras Yeah, it's
a little unnerving. So to know that you can also
direct book. That's really really nice Yeah,
I think the average that it saves in the summer
for a week long booking is $500 if you book direct
Yeah, cuz I was looking at it even for an I am
like, oh Here, baby, you're not fun anymore.
No, and I think the best half is like use it
when you're going somewhere to find properties
that you're interested in and then check and
see if they have an Instagram account or a website
to see if you can book directly. I would. That's
what I do. Yeah. Yeah. Why not? I mean, just
looking around here, we have we have the bar.
There's a little there was a tabletop little.
Oh, yeah. Foosball. And then air hockey. Darts
and a Wii. Oh, and flashback to the early 2000s.
Downstairs in the basement, the family room,
they have a DVD collection. Yes, DVD collection,
hon. Yeah, we have 300 DVDs. We call it like
a mini blockbuster closet. And at first, I didn't
know what people would think it was weird, but
I like doing that when I go to an Airbnb. And
I know people use them because I find DVDs in
the DVD player. They're all in alphabetical order
by genre. Like, we've organized them. And they're
moved around often. Or people will tell us, hey,
we had a movie night. We watched three DVDs.
It was so fun. And then the popcorn bar. Popcorn
maker, snack bar. There's an extra fridge down
there. The couch is a huge pullout. So the underpiece
pulls out. And then there's tons of blankets
and pillows. yeah it's perfect movie night spot.
And then it's the upstairs bathroom that has
a chandelier over the tub. Over a super deep
so it's so luxury this is what I mean by a great
place to stay in the winter to go and sit in
a soaker tub with a chandelier we have a little
thing that goes across the tub so you can put
your book and a place to slide in your wine glass
and we have bubble bath that we provide and then
the shower is also amazing. stand up shower with
a rain head and we have essential oil so if people
want to make like an aromatic steam shower they
can do that too yeah yeah the bathtub is big
enough somebody could sleep there oh somebody
here's an extra bed yeah you don't want to fall
asleep in that bathtub you will drown it's very
deep ah i love this place i mean i i just want
to talk here forever because this is this is
fabulous you need to have a christmas retreat
here I would love that. Yeah we put a Christmas
tree up here too. So we do our own family Christmas
here but then sometimes people will come and
host their own family Christmases here before
Christmas or little friends Christmases or we
had someone this year say that they're booking
our place as a Christmas gift for the whole family
instead of actually giving hard gifts. That is
a really good idea. And is it pet friendly? It
is. So we allow dogs, up to two dogs. Sometimes
if people have smaller dogs, we can make an exception,
but two dogs, and we provide bowls for them,
leashes, pet bags, everything. We are huge dog
lovers, and our dog loves this place maybe even
more than we do. So we like to make it really
accommodating for people with pets. So you can
save the money, too, not having to pay to put
your pet in a kennel and just bring them along
with you. Yeah, I think he's roaming around so
well. He was really desperately trying to get
into the lake for a while, but hopefully my husband
was able to keep him out of there. Yeah, I've
been seeing him run by lately. Yeah, a little
tail. Stick up. How far in advance are you booked?
So for the summer, pretty far in advance. We'll
be fully booked starting in March, so it's really
good to... get the booking in January, February
to get your preferred week for sure. So how's
it looking for spring so far? Spring has some
good availability. So we have a pretty big shoulder
season, May really all the way to October and
then with the summer months in between because
of the birders at Point Peely. So we get a lot
of birders come for migration season. But in
kind of February March time, it's a great time
to book and it's not that busy So you don't need
a ton of notice for that offseason and do you
get discounts depending on the group size? Yeah
So we like to keep it at a lower nightly rate
and then we have a variable rate for the group
size that way for couples like the one I talked
about that just want a little getaway it's not
going to break the bank because they don't have
as many people to spread it across. That's fabulous
because a lot of times it's just a flat rate.
They don't care. We want it to be accessible.
We want different types of groups to be here.
It's such a special place to us. We want to find
a way to share it with as many people as we can.
This place is so special. It has that homey vibe,
but you also kind of feel like you're further
away from Windsor than say Wheatley. Yeah, exactly.
It's the best vacation. spot like it just feels
so good to be here and I love when our guests
say that this is their special place too. Now
how if anybody wants to book can they get a hold
of you to book? Yeah, so best place for direct
bookings is just contact us through Instagram
and then we can work on the logistics of getting
the copies of the ID and then the security deposit
from there. And how do they find you on Instagram?
What is your handle? Yeah, Pura Vida Wheatley.
P -U -R -A -V -I -D -A Wheatley. Wheatley. Yeah.
and definitely check this out because it is a
very, very special place and we are definitely
going to be booking sometime soon. Can't wait
to have you. I can't wait either. What you guys
get up to. Again, my name is Tracy Martins and
this is YQG in Bloom. I hope you guys all have
a fabulous day and are able to come and get a
little slice of heaven. Have a good one.