Texas Ranch Life — Local services in Bellville

There are no complaints coming away from our weekend at Texas Ranch Life. We stayed at the Lakehouse and had no issues whatsoever. The house was perfect, the property well maintained. ||||Accomodations - The Lakehouse is off on its own, away from the main HQ. If you do not want to see another person you can do that. The house was neat and provided exactly what we needed...a place to rest our heads after our days of fishing and hanging outdoors. ||||The lake was great. There were older reviews complaining of lily pads overgrowing, but this was no longer the case. It appears the problem was taken care of. We spent hours fishing and catching bass all day long. We took out our own kayak the water was cool and clear.||||Service - the owners were great to deal with before we arrived and truth be told we really did not need to speak with anyone outside of the initial prep. We did speak with a couple of the staff (one was an owner) and they treated us with the utmost respect and as helpful in person (at 6 pm on a Friday unexpectedly) as they were on the phone. ||||The main headquarters had seemingly unlimited quantities of farm fresh eggs and the gardens were beautiful. We picked greens, and onions. Both were amazing. ||||One recommendation would be if you are picky regarding your kitchen utensils or need tupperware for anything it is recommended you bring your own. The kitchen items were sparse, but had what was necessary. Items such as aluminum foil were not there and since you are not exactly down the street from a grocery store it can be a hassle. BUT everything we needed was there so I cannot complain, just a mention.||||The entire property seemed to be open to explore. There were not many other guests during our stay so it is hard to say if this would be limited if the facility was booked up.||||The wildflowers were in full bloom and simply amazing.||||Wildlife - We saw a seemingly never ending amount of wildlife. Buffalo, birds of all ||types, colors and sizes, fish, coyotes, the nearby wildlife preserve had elk and other deer, there were other animals as well...Can't forget the longhorns roaming everywhere.||||We did not take part in breakfast so we cannot speak to the breakfast part of bed and breakfast.||||CANNOT WAIT...

Dad, Mom and 3 teenagers had a great 3 day get-away to kick of Thanksgiving week. We've spent some time at a few other vacation Ranch lodges (this is NOT a dude ranch) and Texas Ranch Life was up there among our better experiences. ||||Owners John & Taunia have done an outstanding job renovating and decorating 7-8 historic homes from the surrounding area. Some of these homes are near the ranch house (stay here if you want to be near the activity of the Ranch), and others are scattered out on the 1800 acre ranch (stay at these if you really want to get away).||||During our 3 days here, we fished, rode horses (Craig was a knowledgable and enthusiastic guide), explored the ranch on Kawasaki Mule's with John, hiked the hills and creeks, read a good book, enjoyed the farm animals, and took long naps.||||We didn't want to cook, so we headed into Bellville for dinner one evening, and into Brenham for dinner the next. Taunia has a lot of recommendations that were excellent. And close by is the Blue Bell Creamery (call ahead to see if they are running tours), Washington on the Brazos (the birthplace of The Republic of Texas), Round Top with many events and shopping, and many other local landmarks and attractions.||||If you're expecting a hotel like setting, head back to town. If you appreciate rural relaxation and a 2 mile drive down a dirt road, then you'll love your stay here.||||We look forward to returning again, and being within 2 hours of Houston and Austin, and within 3 hours of San Antonio, it'll be easy to make it back ... to...

The location of the ranch is great if you want solitude. Really rural location and you will need to drive if you would like to visit local bars or diners. Very pretty landscape and nice views. Be warned, there are lots of bugs and insects so it is advised not to open the doors from sunset throughout summer. The AC in some rooms of the house did not was not great for the Texan heat. The house that we stayed in looked nice from the outside but was rather shabby on the inside - stained carpets, stained lamps and a very basic kitchen with poor utensils and pans. There was dust everywhere and the kitchen could have done with a real scrub/deep clean. However, the bed linen and bathrooms were nice. The main seating area was also not that comfortable, with old sunken sofa's. This ranch was meant to be a working ranch but there was little sign of life. We stayed for 4 days and did not see much action at all. The best part of the stay was a horse ride with the cowboy (Craig) - really excellent instruction and interesting company. The horses on the ranch are great (placid) if you follow the cowboys instructions - which I did as a nervous first time rider. Next time I would choose a ranch that was a bit more busy with nicer/cleaner...