Your family.Your private lake.Your entire 188-acre retreat.
Texas family reunions, church retreats and business retreats on a private stocked lake, one group at a time.
Lake Godstone4.9153 reviews · 105 Google + 48 Website
Lake Godstone is a private 188-acre ranch and lake near Graford, Texas, hosting one group at a time: family reunions, church retreats and business retreats. The Lodge sleeps 35; with cabins and campgrounds the campus sleeps 100 or more. Seven docks, boats, trails, sports fields, a 300-yard gun and archery range and an observatory are included.
The Lodge, the cabins and the campgrounds
Every stay starts with the Lodge. The Guest Home, cabins and campgrounds are add-ons for the beds you need.
Hear first when this host opens direct rates or adds a new place.
Each has its own page, and most groups are a little of all three.
The lake
Forty feet deep, spring-fed, stocked, and nobody else on it
Seven docks with fish feeders and swim ladders, three beaches, canoes, kayaks, pedal boats and a rowboat, and a rule against motors that keeps the water glassy.
I built this place for families. The lake, the docks, the trails, the crosses on the dam and the Beatitude stones along the path: every piece of it was planned so that a group of people who love each other could get away together, with nothing between them and the outdoors.
That is why we only host one group at a time. When you book the Lodge, the gate closes behind you and the whole ranch is yours. Dom and Carol, who live here, will meet you when you arrive and are a phone call away the rest of the time. Rick keeps the grounds. I am often here too, and if you ask, I will happily show you the solar system and the water works.
Come fish, swim, shoot, hike, sing around the fire and look at the stars. Then come back next year. Most of our guests do.
Jim Attrell
Owner, Lake Godstone
Guest stories
Video tours
Walk the ranch before you come
Jim’s own tours of the Lodge, every cabin and campground, the range, the trail and the lake from above.
A few of the thousands of photos our guests have taken here.
Lake Godstone
Find us
Graford, Texas, between Possum Kingdom and Jacksboro
4636 Halsell Ranch Road, Graford. From Graford take Highway 4 north seven miles, turn west onto Halsell Ranch Road and follow the gravel four miles; the lake is on your right. About 90 minutes from Fort Worth and two hours from Dallas.
All of it included with the Lodge, none of it shared with strangers.
On the water
Start at the dock
Every morning somebody is fishing off the Lodge porch before the coffee is ready. Seven docks ring the lake, with fish feeders that bring the bluegill in close enough to watch. The kids take the kayaks and pedal boats; the grandparents take the rowboat; everybody ends up on the lily pads by afternoon. Swim ladders at every dock, three beaches, a water slide at the Lodge, and not a single motorboat.
On land
Four miles of trail and a six-person UTV
The Tranquil Trail is a six-foot-wide marked path through forest and meadow with benches, a porta-potty and the comfort station along the route; walk it, run it or bring mountain bikes. The all-weather roads add six more miles for the UTV and golf carts. Geocaches are hidden across the ranch (the Google Earth map has the coordinates), and the hayride at dusk is the one thing every group does.
Under the lights
The sports complex
A floodlit basketball court, sand volleyball, a soccer and baseball practice field with goals and a backstop, horseshoe pits and picnic tables, next to the Field House and the observatory.
Things to do
Nobody will be bored
Everything below is included with the Lodge. The UTV, golf carts and firewood are the only things that cost extra.
After dark
Fire, stars and the green lights at the feeders
Nearly twenty rock fire pits are scattered across the ranch, from the six-foot steel pit at the Lodge to the little ones at the tent sites. The observatory’s Celestron telescope will find Saturn for you. And at the wildlife stands, green lights let you watch the deer and raccoons come in without disturbing them.
