The house was truly spectacular with lots of windows overlooking the lake - the living areas and most bedrooms had fantastic views. The decks around the house (two levels) were great and the deck with a sitting area by the water was nice. We saw lots of birds and even some eagles, and the proximity to chimney rock and other hiking was great. We had a great time with a multi-family christmas where we filled up the house. It was nice to have bedrooms on three levels, plenty of bathrooms (4), a large kitchen, and a large washer/dryer. There was an excellent grocery store within about 15 min. drive, and good restaurants within a short drive.
The main reason for 4 not 5 stars is that the driveway and walk down to the house were very very steep. The rocks on the walkway were slippery and not set in, and presented a substantial hazard. We were very grateful not to have ice or snow during our stay since we were unsure that any of our cars (even 4WD) would make it out of the driveway.
There were some other, more minor problems, including setting up the internet, a lack of baking pans, no instructions on what to do with trash and recyclables, a lack of sufficient towel bars in the bathrooms, and no coffee table in the main living area. We brought an additional folding table and chairs so that we could seat 14 on the main level. Finally, the house is hard to find, especially in the dark - although googlemaps found the property, the GPS systems in our cars could not. My suggestions - The owner should provide very clear driving directions to get to the house, fix the walkway so that it can be safely used even in rain and snow, provide an instruction book for internet, trash, recyclables etc, and add additional towel bars so that a large group can hang towels to dry.