Blue Cliffs Retreat — Hotel in Shepherds Flat

We stayed in the Hideaway Villa! WE WOULD NEVER COME BACK!

This property has all the makings of being amazing but falls completely flat due to missing out on all the little details! I would not recommend this property to anyone at the current prices being charged.

The spa bath is the only claim to luxury in the entire villa. The bed is beyond old (I have a picture of the mattress if anyone wants proof) and is so uncomfortable we woke up sore each morning. It's a shame the owner's don't invest in their property to make it look as nice as their pictures do. The lock on the front door is so fiddly and needs replacing.......a small amount of money could be spent and many of the issues would go away!

We spent almost $365 per night on this property and it represents terrible value for money.......for this kind of money I would expect a LOT more. A $20 French press would be a simple way for guests to have a decent cup of coffee in the morning, but we had expired sachets of instant coffee that were provided in the villa. Be aware that the only shower is an outdoor shower so if you are not a naturalist it might not suit you.

The owner's had a great idea to put little buddha's, pagodas, etc. across the property.....the real problem is that the property has not been kept up. The pagodas are rusted out and no attention to keep up the details has been made throughout the property. The lake hahaha (complete with boat) is multiple feet below the old water line and looks like a mosquito infested swamp......images need updating.

I find it appalling that the owners try to say that if something is not up to standard that they must be texted within 2 hours of arrival to be made aware..........one should not need to do this when the owners portray their property as a luxury accommodation . What a joke!

Guests should have the expectation that the details have been taken care of at this price point and they should not have to complain to have things done properly. We had multiple dishes that were not properly cleaned (I have pictures of these as well) and overall you could tell that the cleaning had been subpar at the property! I feel they use this ploy to try to discredit bad reviews. The tv stand was full of dust and had not been wiped down. ......READ the most recent other review and it is a fair assessment of the property.

We complained that there were not 2 x chaise lounges on the deck like in the picture so we could watch the stars. The owner said that he would have the picture removed, as it had been replaced with a single chaise lounge. Seems to respond with ways to try and justify bad reviews. He also is trying to blame COVID for the cleaners, etc......what a joke!

THERE ARE MANY BETTER PLACES TO STAY IN THE AREA SO DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE.

Time to properly read the reviews of your property........take note......and implement changes because you are living in an alternate reality if you think everyone thought so much of...

What an absolute disappointment. My husband and I were looking so forward to staying at this place for 2 nights, after seeing the pictures they used in advertising. We booked the dreaming room, it was more like the nightmare room. The room was absolutely filthy, bed side tables covered in dirt and dust, stains in kitchen cutlery draw, spider webs all around windows, light fitting covered in dust and spider webs, can opener dirty and stained, stool covered in stains, barbecue covered in dust and spider webs, they had a docking station for iPhone, I have never seen anything so dirty and grimey. We called the cleaners telling them we were not happy, they were going to send someone out to clean, but after we thought about it, we thought that it was not right that after such a long drive there that we should be waiting for cleaners to come and clean the place. The amount of cleaning that was required would have taken a fair amount of time, we were not going to spend the short amount of time that we had to spend there waiting for them to do this. We called the owner and sent photos to him showing him how dirty the place was, and informed him that we would not be staying, he was apologetic. We gave him the benefit of the doubt, thinking that he obviously did not know that his cleaners were not doing a great job at cleaning, letting him down. Unfortunately later on he sided with his cleaner who falsely accused my husband of hurling abuse over the phone to her, which he did not. He chose to believe his cleaner instead of us, even after providing photographic evidence. After reading all the other feed backs regarding cleanliness, and hygiene, as well as lack of basic requirements such as hand soap, SPEAKS VOLUMES. People I’m telling you, think hard before you choose this one. WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET UNFORTUNATELY. We have also done a fair bit of traveling all over the world, this is the first time we’ve come across something like this. ALSO FEEL THE NEED TO MENTION THE ROAD THERE IS NOT SUITED FOR ALL CARS IT’S A DIRT TRACK ROAD. We came in a sports car, slight damage to muffler. Just want to also mention to the owner that a place should be cleaned and ready for guest when they arrive, guest should not have to call and request that cleaning to be done. It’s called being professional. Guest want to open the door and walk into a fresh clean room with no problems. Remember they are coming there to RELAX. As I’ve already communicated to the owner, WE WORK HARD FOR OUR MONEY, $345 a night is not easy to come by...... and time away with my husband is also something that does not come very often.... If I knew how to down load the photos...

Stayed in the hideaway villa. This would probably suit naturalists more than the regular person looking for a getaway. To me, a place should have at least one bathroom with the ability to secure complete privacy, but there was no curtain or blinds or anything that can be put up against the room sized windows in the only bathroom available. The water was yellow so it wasn't inviting once filled out so we didn't end up using the spa. It's also probably more suited for winter as we arrived on a really hot day, but we couldn't open the windows to air the bathroom for some fresh air due to the hundreds of insects swarming right outside. We were constantly battling insects, and in fact 2 palm sized spiders (was only there for a weekend) but luckily they provided insect sprays to assist, and you quickly realise that the netting around the bed is a need instead of a decorative. Placing of things are a little inconsistent, for example the microwave was placed for tall people (I'm 5' 2" and I could not see the food once placed inside even if I tiptoed) yet the shower head was made for shorter people as I was not able to pull it above my shoulders so we had to kneel down to shower. But then there's a shower head with decent height on the outside of the house. Other minor things were that the fan was noisy and we were promised a morning snack but didn't get it (though we also didn't bother asking once arrived since it wasn't that big a deal). The good things are that it was very clean, has a HDMI cable so we could use their TV to Netflix over 4G through my laptop (I was using Optus, but Vodafone had no service) and we had a lovely sun time on the deck on the morning of departure with the 12pm late check-out. You'll also likely see wild rabbits and kangaroos (be careful when driving in at night) so overall ok, and quite unique, but it wasn't what the pictures suggested and I wouldn't come back as there was more work than play required to stay here, especially unexpected...