Sonoma Field House

"The Sonoma Field House was an amazing and beautiful property. The views were outstanding and the house is gorgeous, bright and clean. Very thankful to have the opportunity to stay here for the night."

"The Sonoma Field House is a beautiful property, a lovely house set amongst the vineyards. Quiet and serene. It has every amenity you could imagine. The host is very thoughtful and responsive. We will definitely stay here again."

"Sonoma Field House We, a couple from Germany, booked the vacation home for 16 nights. We decided on this property due to the promised privacy and in this regard it did not disappoint. The house sits on a large piece of land, is gated and fenced in, and very quiet. Inside it is very comfortable and exactly as advertised. Now to the issues we would have liked to address directly with the owner, Byron, but did not feel encouraged to do so. The only time Byron reached out to us was to ask for permission to show potential future guests around the house which we politely declined. Otherwise, he initiated no contact, never asked about our well being or if perhaps something was amiss. The instruction binder in the house provides the guests with two phone numbers to contact in case of an emergency, but only via text, no calls allowed. We felt the owner does not want to establish a host/guest relationship but prefers a provider/customer contact and this should be as impersonal as possible. Especially when renting to people coming from another continent and therefore not familiar with the local proceedings you should, in our opinion, openly offer advice if needed. In the following we present our advice to Byron, offered in the most open way we could imagine: • The road leading to the house is full of wide and very deep potholes and we were glad our car has sufficient ground clearance. A little warning in advance would be nice because guests arriving in a sports car are basically screwed. • The only way to leave the property without a car is by climbing the gate as there is no keypad inside the fence to activate the gate – simply ridiculous. • Upon our arrival we found two biscuits as a welcome gift that had already expired two month ago… really tasty. • The house water comes from a well and besides a statement from the owner in the instruction binder that he thinks the water is good no other assurances were given. The water turned a lovely shade of yellow several times a day, the house is surrounded by farmland and the grapes and crop are probably treated with chemicals. Simply assuming that the water is good is not good enough, it should be tested on a regular basis and the results of these tests should be part of the instruction binder. • As we care for our health we therefore bought lots of bottled water only to find out that the paying customers of Sonoma field house are not supposed to produce garbage, even when they are staying for 16 nights and preparing their own meals. There were no garbage bins outside the house and no instructions given on how to handle the garbage. We ended up collecting the recyclables in a huge black plastic bag, storing it outside the house and disposed of the smelly stuff ourselves at grocery stores or gas stations, not knowing if that is even legal in California – appalling. • Beyond the four lounge chairs shown on the pictures the house does not offer any patio furniture. No table or dining chairs so no breakfast or dinner outside is possible. We think these things a necessity for each vacation home but obviously it never crossed the owner`s mind that one might enjoy a meal in the Californian sun. • On the property sits another building, a big three garage structure. It is surrounded by a well manicured lawn which is taken care of by a landscape company whose employees drop by unannounced for their work. On the other hand the house is surrounded by knee high grass and weeds and looks rather neglected – very weird. Bottom line: We will not be back and we will not recommend the Sonoma field house. This property is not only managed without any thought about the well being of its temporary occupants, it is managed unprofessionally."

"Beautiful little house on private field. Very clean and comfortable. Great sunrise in the morning!"