Gather the Fam for Major Fun at Long Cove’s Luxury Lakefront Community

Just a short one hour’s drive from Dallas, there’s a beautiful family memory-making spot called Long Cove! As empty nesters, we’re always looking for a way to induce our adult kids to join us for some fun! This luxury lakefront community on Cedar Creek Lake was the ideal setting for a recent getaway with our son, Weston, and daughter-in-law, Sarah. With amenities like multiple bass fishing lakes, a 2-acre putting green, a 9-hole golf course, swimming, boating, biking, and more, we found plenty to do and see at this resort-style lakefront community.

We spent three days and two nights at Long Cove as a part of their Stay & Play package. It’s designed to provide an opportunity for families considering a lakefront property to experience all that Long Cove has to offer. (And it offers a lot, lemme tell ya’!) With more than 1,000 acres of hardwood forests and six miles of shoreline, we found breathtaking views and opportunities for family fun around every corner. The accommodations? Long Cove’s adorable Camp Houses.

 

Well-known Dallas developer, Don McNamara, spent twelve years planning Long Cove! Inspired by the master-planned communities that dot Florida’s scenic 30A (like Watercolor and Seaside), his concept was to create a luxury lakefront community near Dallas with all the comforts of home, multiple amenities, and low maintenance. They say that at Long Cove, weekends feel longer because the entertainment is built-in! Their on-site valets will take care of everything from having your groceries delivered to having your boat gassed up and ready to go when you arrive.

We headed out from Dallas late Friday afternoon and got to Long Cove just in time for the breathtaking sunset. We could feel ourselves relax as soon as we passed through the front gate! After checking in, Weston headed down to the dock to throw a couple of lines in the water. Not long after that, we headed out to the nearby town of Malakoff to grab some dinner. Long Cove is only about 15 minutes away from the adorable town of Athens, and only 5 minutes away from Malakoff. Although our house was all set up for cooking, we loved the option of having several restaurants nearby when we didn’t feel like cooking. We ate at Ochoa’s Mexican Restaurant (yummy!), but Long Cove residents say that HF Family Table is another delicious Malakoff option.

Early the next morning, Bob and Weston hit the bass lakes and pulled in fish after fish! With everything there is to do at Long Cove, we had a full agenda, so they didn’t get to fish for long (although they managed to coax the girls to one of the fishing lakes a few hours later)!

Long Cove is set up to minimize maintenance and hassle, and maximize family time, playtime and memory-making. With a Toy Barn stocked with community bikes, footballs, soccer balls, fishing rods, and more, families can easily take advantage of the well-manicured football-size Play Field for pick-up games, and the miles of hiking and biking trails that connect Long Cove’s six neighborhoods. We did!

 

 

A highlight of our morning was putting on the 84,000 square foot Thistle Never Dhu putting green, designed by Dave Zinkand.  It warmed us up for a round of golf on the Tripp Davis-designed 9-hole Proving Grounds Golf Course later that afternoon.

We loved learning all of the details about Long Cove during a boat tour with Long Cove staff. They showed us the newly developed Henderson Bay neighborhood, which will feature harbor front townhomes designed for a lock-and-leave lifestyle, on a quiet 40-acre cove and park. Renowned architect John Boyd designed the townhomes, and well-known Dallas builder, Robert Elliot Custom Homes, is building them. There are walking trails throughout the area, and a stunning view of Long Cove’s signature Hennybay Bridge. Also, plans are in the works for an amphitheater and a waterslide that will feed right into the lake!

 

One of the things that impressed us the most about Long Cove is its full-service marina. It features their unique Boat Valet service (as well as dry stack boat storage). When I talk to friends who own lakehouses, one of their critiques of the entire experience is the maintenance of owning a boat. At Long Cove, you don’t have to worry about that! The Long Cove Marina features a unique Boat Valet program. As a Long Cove homeowner, when you’re ready for your boat, you use the Long Cove app to ping the marina, and your boat will be delivered to your dock gassed up, cleaned up, and ready to go. I think that’s incredible! Even better, if you’re not into boat ownership, but you want to have access to one, you can join Long Cove’s Boat Club. It allows you shared access to anything from a ski boat to a pontoon boat, and all delivered to your dock just by making a reservation.

Long Cove takes valet service to the next level in their commitment to providing their homeowners with all of the joys and convenience of resort-style living. If homeowners need housekeeping service, party supplies, a plumber, or a fridge full of groceries, they simply text Long Cove’s valet and consider it handled. Wow!

If a homesite is what you’re after, know that Long Cove believes in taking things slow, so they only release a limited number of homesites each year. It’s a big decision, so I highly recommend you take advantage of the Stay & Play package. For $1,495 (credited back at closing), you can experience three days and two nights of everything Long Cove has to offer, including a no-pressure tour, use of a golf cart to explore the property, and lots of free time to make memories and explore the possibilities.

 

For more information about Long Cove, or to book a Stay & Play package, call 214-817-0319 or email [email protected].

With everyone scattered and working, it can be challenging to get multiple generations together for family fun! A lake house with easy access to all the amenities you could ever want seems like the perfect way to make that happen.

Many thanks to Long Cove for hosting our family and for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own!

Blessings,

 

 

 

Professional photos by Megan Weaver.

P.S. To check out more photos of our memory-making weekend, click on the Long Cove highlight on the Empty Nest Blessed Instagram profile page.