Quiet nights of quiet stars, quiet walks by quiet sea, quiet thoughts, quiet location, oh how lovely . . .
August 15 arrival and a departure August 22 is a nice deal.
A June 2026 guest sent me a text replying to my question how did the place live - "It was wonderful we really enjoyed it and the location was perfect! We couldn't have asked for a better place to stay!"
One thing I hear from some guests is can I check-in early. I ask the departing guest to see if they are leaving before 10am. If so, I try my best to get the cleaners in first thing. I have had a number of guests that drive home leave the day before and then the new guest can be in before noon.
Another guest had this to say: "Songbird is a cute little purple house on a quiet side street on Anna Maria Island. I referred to the house as little, it is really quite spacious & comfortable. This is our 6th stay at Songbird & we are looking forward to our next stay. This trip we were on side B but have also stayed on Side A, both are equally as nice.
The kitchen is well stocked with all the cooking essentials. Pots, pans, coffee maker, toaster, blender etc. There is also a charcoal BBQ in the backyard.
The living room is open and airy with a loveseat, comfortable couch & a large TV. The master bedroom has a king bed with a comfortable and supportive mattress. Nightstands, a dresser and closet gives plenty of room to unpack so you won`t feel like you are living out of your suitcase while staying here. The 2nd bedroom is quite large & has twin beds. According to my daughter and travel companion the beds and room are very comfortable.
Washer & dryer are located in a porch outback and shared with people renting the other side of the house. We have never had a problem with this, as knowing it is shared anyone keeps their eye on the laundry and removes it as soon as it is finished.
The wi-fi reaches the backyard and there is free US/Canada wide long distance on the house phone.
I hope this helps with your decision to stay here. We highly recommend it."
Is it perfect? No way, but it is clean and comfortable.
1. The Gulf beach access is 4 blocks but 3 are short blocks and it ends up being 3 in length and having done it a number of times you cut the corners at 64th street and Holmes Blvd and when you arrive at Gulf Drive and 65th there is the beach access and a few parking places. The real good thing is that you don't cross Marina Drive [busy street]. Some guests have driven over and parked or dropped off people and headed back to Songbird and walked back to the beach access.
2. Located in the middle of the block on a quiet street.
3. Free fast wifi and Washer and Dryer at no charge. Hair dryer also.
4. Everpure H-300 under sink mounted water filter with glass filler faucet and hooked up to the ice maker too.
5. There is central air installed in 2019.
6. New refrigerator 2025 with automatic ice maker in the freezer. New stove and microwave too.
7. The BBQ is a charcoal type 2025 and I do not supply coals.
8. The kitchen has been updated with upper white cabinets in early 2000's and is fully stocked with cooking utensils and almost always salt and pepper. Also all linens, towels and so on.
9. New base kitchen cabinets 2025 with a very quiet dishwasher. Quartz countertops.
10. House landline phone provided for local calls and free long distance to North America and Territories. Canadians like this idea a lot.
11. New 2025 King Bed mattress and box spring. New 2025 medium firm twin mattresses and box springs Maximum 4 people and maximum 3 adults minimum age 25.
12. The closest restaurant Ugly Grouper is about 5 blocks and is popular. Scott’s Deli is 3 blocks and top shelf Key Lime Pie.
13. 7 blocks to Island Shopping Center [think 1960] with restaurants, clothing stores, hardware store, art gallery, parrots and more.
14. Holmes Beach public library is 5 blocks away. Sweet library!
15. Updated kitchen and bath fixtures 2025
16. No stairs here as an easy living ground level place.
17. TV is a 65" flat thin screen 2025. Samsung QLED
18. 2 bedrooms and 1 Bathroom with step-in shower.
19. No pets and no smoking. A number of people verify no pets as they have allergies and, yes, no pets.
20. The cleaner has been cleaning for about 3 years and does nice work.
21. The patio is covered and has a table with chairs.
22. Outdoor shower when home from the beach.
23. I supply dish soap, dishwasher pods, hand soap, one or more rolls of paper towels, more than one roll of TP, dish sponge, laundry soap no scent and garbage bags.
24. A free trolley has a stop 1 block away to go north and a stop to go south is 3 blocks at the beach access. 6am-10pm and runs at 20 minute intervals.
25. Parking space for two cars.
26. Backyard is a nice size.
I have found that people arrive and unload luggage and head to the beach. The busiest street on the island in this spot is Marina Drive and you do NOT cross it on the way to the beach. The access is a 3-4 block stroll. And the property is located in the middle of the street not on a busy corner or street.
Again, thank you for your time.
Post on FB in 2023. "Our first day we ate at Hurricane Hanks as it was recommended several times on this page and others. There was no wait when we went for an early dinner (4:00.) The food was good. several people raved about the grouper tacos, they were good but not memorable. Everyone else’s meals were rated “good or ok.”
We began to believe that people staying here were on a vacation high and everything on the island seemed “wonderful” because of that. Kind of like a movie that gets tons of great hype so you set your expectations impossibly high only to feel a little let down by a perfectly “good” movie.
The next few evenings we tried to get in at Wicked Cantina, the Ugly Gouper, the Porch, and the Feast. The wait times were all 2 hours+. No one wanted to wait so we decided venture in to Bradenton and Cortez and see what we could find. Paces we found that were good for families and reasonably priced (in our opinion)
and worth mentioning were:
-Pig out BBQ (would visit again)
-Danny’s Pizza (great pizza)
-Poppo’s (Bradenton)
-Olympic cafe (gyros are good)
-Star Fish Company (off of Cortez)
-Habanero’s (good sit down Mexican)
- Minnie’s (on island breakfast, banana bread French toast was delicious)
-Ginny and Jane E’s (cinnamon rolls were ok, again, raved about, but just good)
-Publix deli was good for sandwiches
-Hometown desserts (bought a few slices of cake. orange cream, coconut and coconut lime were all delicious)
-Los Chiludos (our favorite meal)
-Teriyaki cove (very good, would go again)
We took a tour with Island Time boat tours. (941) 877-1885 Beth and Matt were great and we enjoyed that immensely. I would recommend them highly. I would also suggest, if you're taking a boat tour do it towards the beginning of your trip rather than at the end (which we did.)
This was a great place to vacation but even as a first timer, I could see the writing on the wall here. We stayed in an older more traditional home (that was for sale) surrounded by new, modern, huge houses. At the rate things appear to be going, I’m not sure we will be able to afford to come here again so I’m glad we chose to come when we did. It is as everyone says, a little slice of heaven!"About pets:No pets allowed.About checkOut:Check out before 10:00 AM.About children:Children allowed: ages 0-17.Low traffic street and nice backyard for kids..About checkIn:Check in after 4:00 PM.About smoking:Smoking is not permitted.Smoke outside..About minBookingAge:Minimum age to rent: 25.About events:No events allowed.
