The Fern Lodge — Hotel in Town of Chester

As a couple, we stayed at the Fern at the end of September for 6 nights. I have cancer and prior to the trip Wendy was as nice as could be - flexible and accommodating in every way. I wish I could say it stayed that way. A free boat ride on the lake is a feature of all stays. It started with her offer to take us on a private boat ride the next day, rather than have to go the day of arrival w others. We accepted her offer. I texted her 15 minutes prior to confirm & find out where to meet, and she had forgotten about it. Rather than apologize, which we would’ve understood and forgiven, she made up an excuse about the water being choppy and windy (it wasn’t) & texted “Tomorrow looks fabulous. Why don’t we do it then?” We had prior plans, it was our vacation! Her response “we will make it work, no worries.” * To repeat - we texted her beforehand to find out where to meet, I.e. Wendy - yes, we we were showing up in response to yet another outright lie in your response below that we weren’t! Truly unbelievable. *Wendy never followed up after this. I mentioned it TO. HER the day before we left early PM. She said 5pm would work but it would be cold & windy, dress warm. We declined. She had forgotten again. No apology. Her assistant Sasha had a sour attitude the entire time we were there. Never a smile. You have to ask for toilet paper. They keep it locked up. What?! She actually questioned why we needed another roll! Like others, we had breakfast brought to our room. She would actually knock on our door to see if we were done because she wanted the tray back. We finally told her we’d bring it back when we were done. The room itself (pine room) had multiple problems. The fireplace was broken. A real letdown. In contrast to her response, both she & Sasha were in our room masked many times. She in fact came in & tried to fix the fireplace herself per her words, she said the pilot came on & went out right away. She claimed she didn’t know beforehand. As manager it’s her responsibility to test this before every guest comes. In her response she stooped as low as to use my illness and nobody entering the room as an excuse for not doing her job. We had 3 windows and one didn’t open at all. Again there was no accountability. Because of this, ventilation was lousy. We had turned on the A/C because of this and the firepit that was on most nights and caused very smoky air in our room. ASTHMATICS beware. Sasha reprimanded us because of this. “Why in the world did you put the air on when it’s comfortable outside?” Then the air leaked all over the dresser. There was no chair in the room - just a worn out couch. The heavy, stiff bedspread on the bed was old and unlikely to have been washed between guests. It would be too big a production for a small outfit to undertake. Which makes it very unsanitary. See attached photos of this and the carpet on the hard wood floor which has no padding making it extremely uncomfortable to sit on so if you’re eating breakfast inside your room it’s difficult. Photo of breakfast too In contrast to the bountiful breakfast shown on the website, we received very small amounts of food - ROTTEN berries, a piece of ham literally 1” big, 1/2 cup of scrambled eggs. The area itself has next to no place to eat unless you drive at least 20 minutes for pizza and the like, want to eat unhealthy bar food, or pay a fortune for a healthy meal at Friends Lake Inn. And a good supermarket? Good luck!! Lastly as we were more than ready to leave, the exterior door going out to the parking lot from our room doesn’t open correctly and slammed back onto my hand causing a black and blue, painful bruise.

This is an honest review, hoping to help others make a good decision. No sugar coating. For an immunocompromised person and her husband trying to get away and enjoy an escape, we were extremely disappointed. The flowers and chocolates were nice touches but the lies, smoke & mirrors, & actual experiences tell a different story. The best part of the visit was the view of the lake and...

I can’t say enough good things about the Fern Lodge! My fiancé and I stayed here with our very small wedding party for three days late June, and couldn't have picked a better spot. The lodge is truly at its best in June, with flowers in the garden and even along the roads leading to it. It really gives the feeling of having a welcome mat rolled out for you!

We stayed in the Forest room, which might be our favorite room on the property with its amazing spalike shower of natural stone, proximity to the sauna, and its exit straight out to the patio. The exterior lights are turned off at midnight, and we do advise staying up until then—on a clear night, the stars are fantastic, and you can even see the Milky Way. If you’re from the city, this is not to be missed!

In the morning, the breakfasts the lodge offers are consistently impressive. There are always plenty of beverage options, as well as a pastry, fruit dish, and main course, or eggs and toast if you don’t feel like whatever culinary delight Chef Stephen has made that day. His specialty is pairing foods with sauces both expected and unexpected, and thanks to his example, I’ll be putting mint in my fruit salads for years to come.

We also ordered a cake through the lodge. While we hoped it would be good, we didn’t expect it to be as excellent as it was—neither too dense nor too airy, delicious, and an exceptional value for the price. In fact, it was so good that I would dare say anyone who comes to the lodge and does not order a small cake is doing themselves a disservice.

The same goes for those who would come to the lodge without availing themselves of sitting in front of a fire. The lodge has many of places where one can build a fire, which matches its general love of giving its guests options for lighting. The array of lighting and shower options is dizzying—so much so that it can sometimes be tough to find which switch controls the light you want! But we loved all the options. Our favorites were the running lights between the walls and ceiling, to which we fell asleep each night.

Speaking of falling asleep, the beds are the most comfortable beds I’ve ever been in. If I could replicate the Forest room’s bed from the frame to the comforter, I would. In fact, all the décor is fantastic, down to the birchbark tissue boxes and lampshades. If, like us, you love the rustic aesthetic, this is certainly the place for you; everything has been thought of, down to the last detail, including the natural wood napkin rings.

And this care and attention to detail persists in the service. I couldn’t have asked for more kind, friendly, gracious hosts. From accepting and storing packages for us in advance of the event to giving tours to our guests to keeping our vases—not to mention answering all of my many questions, down to table measurements—Wendy the innkeeper and the owner, Sharon, have an answer for your every need, and always with the least inconvenience to yourself. Sasha always made sure we had enough beverages and served us promptly at breakfast; and Susan, who served our private dinner, is well versed in everything—she even helped pin on boutonnieres. It’s beyond the scope of this review to discuss others who helped us on our small “big” day, like the photographer and the hairstylist, but they too were consummate professionals we found through the Fern Lodge’s website, and we couldn’t have had better recommendations.

I could continue to rhapsodize about this place for ages, though probably with diminishing returns. The fact is, sometimes you find a place that simply connects with you; a place that draws you back even when you are away. The Fern Lodge is such a place for us. Ultimately, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience, and we know each of our guests felt the same. Our single regret is that we were so busy with the wedding, we didn’t have time to relax and soak it in as it deserves; but we’ll be sure to do so when we next visit—which we...

Where do I start? The Fern Lodge was releasing perfection out into the air the moment you stepped out of the car and heard absolute silence. My husband Will and I have three children and it was instant bliss. We decided to elope thanks to Covid forcing us out of our comfort zone and controlling the number of participants for our wedding. We searched for awhile and came across the idea of getting married outside, privately. The Fern Lodge had positive reviews and the images were breathtaking....even more so in person. When we arrived Wendy greeted us personally and efficiently. She gave us a tour of the lodge, recommended fantastic restaurants, and made the experience welcoming. Our room was beautiful, we stayed in the 'Birch room." It had a double sided fireplace, a jacuzzi tub, a steam shower, and my favorite a screened in porch: perfect for two people. We had breakfast there every morning. The breakfast was OH MY LANTA! The pancakes with the fresh fruit and crisp thick bacon was delicious and Chef Steven makes the best chocolate cinnamon rolls. On Saturday we got married and it was perfection. Wendy helped me into my dress and Susan kicked off our ceremony with grace and her presence was splendid. Susan was personable and gave us a couple private moments in between to say what we wanted to each other! Which was so important(my husband had posted notes to read to me. I love him)We then celebrated with some cake that was provided in the elopement package( designed by us) and some champagne with a lovely couple that we met while staying there. That was the other amazing part was the other guests that were staying there were celebrating love. There was even another couple getting married that same day but there were no constant run ins. We felt catered to constantly. Later on we went on a boat ride with Captain Sam. She was a delight and the weather was accommodating to our boat ride. We had 80 degree weather with a lot of shading surprisingly. There was a mini movie theater which my husband and I took advantage of. We had our first date at the movies and we wanted to incorporate that into our wedding plans and magically it worked out. The hot tub was heavenly and quite honestly we wanted to extend our stay. We are considering coming back to celebrate our one year anniversary! The price was right and the staff was unforgettable, as were the many moments that came with it. Thank you Fern Lodge for making our wedding day special! Highly...