Anaway Place — Hotel in Town of Eagle

We stayed at the Hillside Cabin during the wintertime. The Hillside Cabin is a cute place on first impression, but our experiences during the stay leave us unimpressed. Overall, the experience and stay at the cabin and the property was okay. We’ve had better experiences with other similar properties, while paying much less and having more features and amenities. It is a decent place, but in comparison to other cabins we’ve stayed at, we don’t understand the popularity and hype. Prior to our weekend here, I was planning to return to stay at the other cabins, specifically the Meadow House and the Woodland House, but our first experience at Candlewood Cabins have us uneager to return. However, both the Meadow and Woodland houses appear to be more luxurious, so perhaps they will be different. Perhaps we should have booked one of those properties first. Unsure if we will, but maybe. We shall see. ||||Some specifics below:||||- Advertisement Photos vs Reality: I remember reading a review which stated the photographer does a really good job at making the place look nice, but reality begs to differ. I would have to agree. ||||- The Driveway: There is a slightly sloped dirt road/driveway leading up to the cabin. When checking in, the owner advised to really push the gas to make it all the way up the slope. We arrived in two cars. The second car, a sedan, could not make it up the road. They had a bucket of salt outside the cabin, so we salted the road but the car still could not make it up. Luckily, we had taken a 4WD SUV also, so we towed the car up the hill. It'd be nice if the owners dirt and/or salted the road prior, especially knowing it can be challenging driving up the road during the wintertime. However, the walkway to the cabin was shoveled, thankfully. ||||- The Cabin: The cabin smells of wood smoke, which I found comforting. The loft ceiling is exposed wood, which I love, but there were quite a few cobwebs. While there are signs to "watch your head", we are rather short ladies, all under 5'5, yet bumped our heads quite a bit. Not a big deal, but just FYI. The entire cabin is tastefully decorated. We did discover sap leaking from some areas of the cabin. The cabin is very nicely sized for 4-5 people. Spacious but small enough to get that intimate, close feeling.||||- Sleeping accommodations: The loft has a double bed and two twins. The bed was made nicely. There is also a futon in the living area. Plenty of blankets, pillows, and towels for use and comfort. There are no dressers or open closets to unpack and store your items. There are closets, but those are filled with blankets, pillows, and cleaning supplies. ||||- The Bathroom. There was not enough hot water to fill the soak tub. The hot water turned cold after the tub was halfway filled. The bathroom is very cold. But they have a timer switch and a heater fan which gives the bathroom a little bit of warmth. There is a hair blower and a bottle of shampoo and soap for use. We did not use these. The floor is quite slippery as well. Slippers will provide you grip.||||- Heat. The heat throughout the other areas of the cabin was well spread. It kept us very comfortable and warm during the day. At night, we woke up sweating. We turned the heat off the second night and slept more comfortably. ||||- The Kitchen: There are plenty of pots, pans, plates, utensils, and cups for use. However, items were not cleaned thoroughly. While stirring a pot of boiling pasta, there suddenly was an intense spoiled-sour smell. We discovered a rotten white substance inside the metal handle of the spatula. Some cups were dusty. A few pans had areas of crusted food. There is a microwave and a decent-sized fridge. There are other appliances, such as a coffee maker and blender. There is a flat top stove, which heats up quickly and evenly. The oven works just fine. One leg of the table is uneven. They leveled it by placing a wooden coaster underneath. Unlike other properties we’ve rented, dish soap and a sponge was provided.||||- Cleaning Fee: Despite the $50 cleaning fee, you are expected to wash all used dishes and utensils and put them away where you found them before checking out. The sign states this will make cleaning easier and quicker for their cleaning crew. While we make an effort to keep every property we rent clean, I feel this kind of defeats the hefty $50 cleaning fee, in my opinion. Other properties I’ve rented only charged half the $50 cleaning fee.||||- Electronics/Entertainment/Service/Wifi: While there were quite a few reviews stating wifi/service issues, we did not experience any. We are with Cricket, AT&T, and Verizon. We were able to place texts/calls and receive them with no issues. My husband also brought a laptop for work and had no issues connecting wifi to that as well. There are cards to play and a small flat screen tv in the loft. We were entertained by UNO but also brought our own board games. We did not use the tv. This is truly a place to get away from electronics and just enjoy each other’s company.||||- Privacy: This was no issue. However, a few feet away from the cabin is the Glass House. I imagine if you want a lot of privacy in the summer time (when this property is available), this might be an issue. There were others were came close by as they were hiking the trails and exploring the grounds. We weren’t bother by this and personally don’t mind having other properties in close proximity, but if you’re looking for absolute privacy, you may want to look at a...

After a busy Thanksgiving weekend of cleaning, preparing meals, entertaining house guests, and babysitting, my husband and I were looking forward to some R&R at Candlewood Cabins. The location was perfect—a secluded cabin in the woods. During our two-night stay we saw only the owners (briefly). There was neither cell phone service nor cable TV although there was a television for playing DVDs. Wi-Fi was available.||||We stayed in the Log Cabin which had, in addition to a regular ducted central heating system, a wood burning stove. The gas heating system was noisy at times and at first we thought someone was knocking on the door. Feeling a bit chilly, I put on several layers to stay warm. On the second night my husband saw a thermostat on the wall by a bookshelf but neglected to mention it to me. On the morning we checked out I discovered that I could have raised the temperature. A note about the location and use of the thermostat would have been helpful. Sitting in the large soaking tub for two was most satisfying at the end of the day. The water was super hot the first night, but we didn’t have enough hot water the second night. The bed was comfortable and quiet but the head of the bed was by a slanted ceiling so we had to be careful to avoid head-to-ceiling contact.||||The kitchen had a regular oven, microwave oven, and large refrigerator, but we didn’t come here to spend much time in the kitchen. One day we travelled to Richland Center and had lunch at Kelly’s Coffee House. It would have been nice to have had information in the room about nearby restaurants and grocery stores (we found a grocery store in Muscoda that was adequate for our needs). Some visitor publications in the cabin were several years old. One crisp morning we hiked up the Ridge Trail for a view of the surrounding countryside. We passed a small frozen pond, saw deer tracks and birds, and found table and chairs in the middle of a field--a great place for a picnic lunch or glass of wine at sunset at a warmer part of the year.||||Before checking out we were asked to wash dirty dishes and return them to their original location. This surprised us since we had paid a $40 cleaning fee and this chore somewhat diminished the magic of a get-away from our own domestic duties. ||||If you wish to get away and not interact with anyone, try one of the cabins at Candlewood. Cabins are booked months in advance so we were lucky to find two consecutive nights only two months in advance (apparently someone had cancelled). Looking online frequently might turn up a quick opportunity...

We stayed at Woodland House for 3 nights in the middle of March. We loved every minute of it. We woke up one night right before dawn just as the moon was starting to set. Amazing views. It's like being in your own treehouse. We walked up the mountain across the way and took a small hike, it was beautiful. Not sure how the views will be from the house once the trees start blooming, but during early spring, you can see far out. We were able to see the lights from the Meadow House down below. There is no cell reception for att. Be sure to download an offline google map of the area so you can route your way around the city for restaurants or stores using gps. Even google-fi didn’t work and it uses Sprint, T-mobile and u.s. cellular. I did hear from others that Verizon works o.k.||||The wifi is very spotty, partly due to the wifi being on top of the water heater right next to the furnace. I temporarily moved it to on top of the water softener and the signal was greatly improved with no more dropouts. The Woodland House does not have a freezer. This is important if you decide to get some frozen pizzas or ice cream during your stay. The house has a 2 drawer fridge. We did buy a bag of ice and placed it on the bottom drawer, that held up great for the 3 nights we were there. The driveway is very narrow. You might be able to make a 12 point turn to exit after the snow melts. About 30 yards down from the house where you make the sharp turn right to head up to the cabin is the only spot you can make your 3 point turn. I preferred to make my turn there and reverse up to the cabin. There is no t.v. there, so we brought our own to watch a few movies. You can see the Meadow house out in the distance on your drive up to the Woodland. We had squirrls visit us daily on the deck and bunnies below. The fireplace was a great, it puts out a lot of heat once it gets going. They do sell you a tote full of wood for $5 and they include starter bars. Below the fireplace there are 2 knobs. The upper knob opens to empty the ash into the bottom tray and the lower knob controls the airflow for the fire. Push IN to close the flute for lower airflow and less flame, pull OUT for more airflow for higher flame. I have provided a video of the house.||||youtube video...