HeathBrooke was plenty of room for us to spread out in. The view was pretty in the morning, as the house faces east, so the sun brightens it up well. After about noon, though, it's kind of dark inside, with the mountain behind it and so many trees shielding it from the nice daylight.
Lots of counter space in kitchen, and lots of cabinets, but not lots of available space to put your own things. We ended up leaving a lot out on the counters. King-sized mattress wasn't very comfortable, but the coverings were plenty warm. Once the floor heaters are turned up for a while, they seem to do a good job, except for the air coming in through the window glass. When it was just a decent chill, it wasn't bad, but it took quite a deep cold turn at the end of our visit, and it made a major difference then.
It's quite a curvy, ascent up the mountain to reach the house (and then the steep driveway,) but you find that you're kind of doing that everywhere you go while you're there anyway, so it becomes one of the prettiest drives! And it really is located pretty centrally to Boone, Blowing Rock, Grandfather Mountain, Banner Elk, Sugar and Beech mountains, so even for hiking, you have quite a selection with relatively short drives from this house.