This family-owned property exudes simple elegance while being rustic and charming. The large cabin we stayed in had ample parking for our big one-ton diesel pickup right next to our side entrance door so "moving in" for the night was a breeze. We were greeted with a clean, contemporary cabin with all the amenities that includes a kitchenette (fridge, sink, hot plate, toaster, microwave, two-handled pot, two small sauce pans, plates, bowls, silverware, k-cup brewer) with a breakfast bar separating it from a living area with a TV and comfy sofa/sitting chair. The bathroom is a full double-shower bathroom, and the bedroom houses with two queen-sized beds, a small nightstand & a small chest of drawers. There is another entrance to the building that accesses the central landscaped courtyard and the cabin's patio. Each patio has two tables (one larger, one smaller) each with seating for two. It's a great place to watch the lawn area where there's a fire pit and a badminton net set up. Or if it starts raining like when we visited, you can sit and watch the weather under the canopy that shelters the patio.
In the kitchen, we made a simple meal, heating a frozen fajitas dish from a local store. The only thing we felt lacking was the lack of a frying pan or skillet, which would have worked better, but we made due. We sat at the breakfast bar to eat, which a choice of four barstools to use. All of them were a smidge rickety and a higher quality furniture would have been welcome. They seemed like a lawsuit waiting to happen down the road.
Because of the heavy rain and cloud cover, the Roku-operated TV seemed to have an issue, but we're not well versed with using a Roku so it may have been operator error. There was no local weather station to check out, and the channel offered "Weather Nation" had not been set up unfortunately. It would have been nice to know what weather issues we might be facing the next day. We did get access to Amazon Prime so there was plenty of variety. The sofa and the easy chair were comfortable, and having a nice coffee table helped make it easy to relax after our 8 hour day's drive.
The bed was fresh and comfortable, and we slept well. The only thing that might have improved our settling in might have been a small bedside lamp instead of a Himalaya salt lamp that wasn't easy for a sleepy person to shut off but was too bright to leave on. Minor inconvenience; just a thought.
In the morning we microwaved a couple of premade breakfast bowls we'd brought with us before taking showers. I spilled some juice on the floor, and as I wiped it up, I was astonished and pleased that the napkin came up as just OJ. Housekeeping had done a great job at washing the floors. The whole place was pretty immaculate.
The bathroom was plenty big, and as mentioned earlier, the shower stall had TWO shower heads. The stall was lined with a beautiful slate tile and felt very luxurious. There was a sign on the vanity counter that talked about the locally made soap, but there were no examples of it in the bathroom, only a couple of tubes of liquid soap and a couple of tubes of shampoo/conditioner. We don't know if we were supposed to get them and they forgot to stock a bar soap, or if we were supposed to ask for some. Still, that which was provided worked out fine. There was no bathroom fan so you'll have to crack a window. There were plenty of fluffy white towels and washcloths. There was even a basket of "mud cloths", rags to use if you're covered with the red clay dust that covers pretty much everything when recreating in the area.
And on the subject of the "mud cloths", they came in handy when making a second cup of coffee in the non-Keurig k-cup brewer. The thing spewed coffee grounds all over the place. As near as I can tell, it was because they provide cheap, no-name k-cups for your morning joe. The brew failure we experienced was the same as we experienced at home trying the off-brand k-cups. We had brought a couple of our own Keurig brand with us (because our next night was going to be at a Hilton), and when we used ours we had no issues. If you're staying here for any length of time, bring your own coffee. Or instant coffee if you wish. Tea bags were provided as were sugar packets and a small variety of creamers, including a french vanilla flavored.
All-in-all, we had a very pleasant stay. The staff (which kept a fair distance because of CV19) were helpful on the phone and the limited amount we interacted face-to-face. When we're in the area again, we'll be sure to stay at the Bluff Gardens Cabins.
Wifi is provided.
My Verizon phone had no service whatsoever.
My husband's AT&T worked as a phone but there was no LTE.
There was a cell tower right across the way at the top of the bluffs but our phones didn't seem to connect. read more
