Galloping Goose Cottages — Attraction in Dry Ridge

These cottages are undoubtedly charming, but I have a very simple requirement of any overnight accommodation: it must be conducive to sleep. Depending on where you book these, it may or may not disclose that all cottages are within 100 yards of an active railroad. I booked on hotels.com and it did not disclose this important fact. We had two loud freight trains pass by in the hours between 10pm and 6am.

But, this is not the primary reason for a poor review. Please keep reading.

There were crickets in our room. Not outside - INSIDE the room. I killed one in the bathroom near a large gap under the baseboard where it appeared it had entered. Crickets are very loud when you are within 15 feet of one and it was impossible to sleep. Unfortunately after disposing of the first, a second one could be heard intermittently through the night. It was not outside and was instead clearly inside the structure somewhere. I traced this one to the wall cavity near the toilet and could not reach it so had to tolerate the noise through the night.

Because we had booked the cottage for two nights, and our cricket issues transpired on night #1, I would have expected the property to make an exception and refund the second night when we checked out early due to the insects. But they insisted on retaining 95% of the amount and issued a token $8.00 concession. This tells me a lot about the goodwill of either the owner, the managers, or both. I will not reward this type of treatment with repeat business or a review that is favorable.

Other issues that made it difficult to sleep:

the mattresses are extremely soft. Some, such as my wife and I, will wake up sore. If you require a firmer sleeping surface, this probably won’t be suitable for you.

the cottage is so small that the wall-mounted A/C and heat unit is about 3 feet from one side of the bed. If it runs during the night (which it did during our stay due to the hot August temperatures) it will blow directly on at least one person in the bed. The combination of noise and direct air made it again non-conducive to sleep.

there are inexpensive mini-blinds for the windows and a curtain, but neither is particularly effective at blocking light. Blackout shades would be an inexpensive option to make the cottages more conducive to sleep.

Lastly, there is no room whatsoever in the bathroom to place toiletries and no place to put clothes inside the room except for 5-6 wall hooks (no hangers, no drawers). You will need to live out of your suitcase. These cottages are tolerable for perhaps one night (if no trains pass by and no crickets make their way in) but really not suitable for most people if you are envisioning an extended stay in a quiet place with an adequately comfortable bed.

I will again restate that they are quite charming, but you may find it difficult to sleep and that remains my #1 criteria in an overnight accommodation — no matter...

These cottages are undoubtedly charming, but I have a very simple requirement of any overnight accommodation: it must be conducive to sleep. Depending on where you book these, it may or may not disclose that all cottages are within 100 yards of an active railroad. I booked on hotels.com and it did not disclose this important fact. We had two loud freight trains pass by in the hours between 10pm and 6am. ||||But, this is not the primary reason for a poor review. Please keep reading. ||||There were crickets in our room. Not outside - INSIDE the room. I killed one in the bathroom near a large gap under the baseboard where it appeared it had entered. Crickets are very loud when you are within 15 feet of one and it was impossible to sleep. Unfortunately after disposing of the first, a second one could be heard intermittently through the night. It was not outside and was instead clearly inside the structure somewhere. I traced this one to the wall cavity near the toilet and could not reach it so had to tolerate the noise through the night. ||||Because we had booked the cottage for two nights, and our cricket issues transpired on night #1, I would have expected the property to make an exception and refund the second night when we checked out early. But they insisted on retaining 95% of the amount and issued a token $8.00 concession. This tells me a lot about the goodwill of either the owner, the managers, or both. I will not reward this type of treatment with repeat business. ||||Other issues that made it difficult to sleep:||||- the mattresses are extremely soft. Some, such as my wife and I, will wake up sore. If you require a firmer sleeping surface, this probably won’t be suitable for you.||||- the cottage is so small that the wall-mounted A/C and heat unit is about 3 feet from one side of the bed. If it runs during the night (which it did during our stay due to the hot August temperatures) it will blow directly on at least one person in the bed. The combination of noise and direct air made it again non-conducive to sleep.||||- there are inexpensive mini-blinds for the windows and a curtain, but neither is particularly effective at blocking light. Blackout shades would be an inexpensive option to make the cottages more conducive to sleep. ||||||Lastly, there is really no room in the bathroom to place toiletries and no place to hang clothes inside the room except for 5-6 wall hooks. You will need to live out of your suitcase. They are tolerable for perhaps one night but really not suitable for most people if you are envisioning an extended stay. ||||I will again restate that they are quite charming, but you may find it difficult to sleep and that remains my #1 criteria in an overnight accommodation — no matter...

After reading the reviews, we reserved a cottage for our trip south and were prepared for the train. The cottages are as described, cute, basic, clean. Beds & pillows were of nice comfort and quality. As far as the train, we heard it while awake, never woke us at night. It may be a problem for a light sleeper. We knew we would be arriving late so the 12:00 check out was perfect. Surprisingly the maid knocked on our door at 10:00 am. Not too big a deal as we needed to get on our way and she clearly left us a "signal" by leaving the vacuum next to our door and the cleaning "wagon" in front of the cottage. Whatever, we were on our way, maybe she had something especially important to do that morning. But.....Aahhh, after our event in NC we were headed back 5 days later. Although we'd considered making the 9 hr drive after 5, we decided to spend the night, so why not GGC. After getting to the cottage I worked on my computer late into the night, why not, get some work done, sleep in. EXCEPT, there she was again, only this time at 9:00 am, knocking. At least this time she didn't leave the vacuum. IF you want people to leave by 10:00 am then you need to change your checkout time, period. We like the place, it's clean and comfortable and would consider staying again, but they need to make an adjustment on either the service...