Durrwood Creekside Lodge

When we arrived we were so thankful we made it, as we had a little tire trouble coming up. At first glance it looks a little more "rustic" than anticipated. Secondly, I thought it was a room in a house (bed& breakfast), but it's actually more like individual motel rooms with your own private keyed entry at the bottom of the house outside. So, that ended up being a bonus.David, the friendly & knowledgeable guy who answered the phone when I called perplexed about lodging in the area just the day before, greeted us.We introduced ourselves and he directed us where to park and then walked us down the stairs outside and gave us our choice of rooms. He recommended the COUGAR room, so we took his recommendation. It's a basic cabin type room. But certainly adequate. The bed, although old, was comfortable. The bathroom had standard amenities, including tooth brushes. (We did have to request a second set of towels as there was only one set. The woman who brought us the towels apologized and was super sweet!). There was no Wi-Fi at the time because of a lightening strike. And there's no cable but there are tv's with DVD players and an ENORMOUS COLLECTION of free DVD's to borrow in the main house (or bring your own). They have fishing poles too if you want to fish. There's a hiking trail that goes to the back of the property to some waterfalls. We did not take that hike, but we did venture down to the creek. There is a big communal refrigerator upstairs on the deck if you needed to put anything in there. They have a smoker and bbq for you to cook on. And they recommend the restaurant down the street if you aren't the cooking type for lunch or dinner. We brought our cooler and some steaks and veggies so we thought we were good. But then, duh.. We didn't think about utensils and plates and such. Fortunately, David gave us a few paper plates and utensils. SAVED! (So note to self: if cooking, bring stuff! Haha) So we headed down the stairs to the large gazebo overlooking the creek. The water was especially high and was not something we could go sit in, like other pictures we saw, which would have been nice because of the 90°+ day.. But that's ok. We grabbed a couple of beers and sat on the swing and listened to the water. Now, I've actually lived on a creek before, and it's funny how one forgets the downsides of creek living, especially come dusk... But I quickly was reminded... BUGS! Yup, nagging flies, spiders, moths and mosquitoes! But in copious amounts! I don't know if it was the time of year, the large amounts of rain they had or just normal everyday happenings, but yikes! BRING BUG SPRAY! We headed in to our room with a handful of choice DVD selections from upstairs, showered and plopped into bed. Note: there is no AC! That could have made it a little more pleasant, but the ceiling fan seemed to help. Again, I think we just happened to come up during a random heatwave. We got a knock on the door and the woman from earlier let us know the power company was cutting power at 7:30 am for routine maintenance so breakfast would be available earlier. No problem. We had planned to get an early start. So that worked. We woke up early and sat by the creek, then headed up to breakfast.The huge highlight of this place is David's amazing home cooked breakfast! Bacon, eggs, toast, hash browns, coffee, tea, juice. You can tell this man loves to cook and make people smile. He was so accommodating and friendly! Actually, all of the staff were really what makes this place what it is!Yes, there's some updates and things that could make this a 5 star B&B. But the service is hands down is 5 stars! I try not to be too critical for mom&pop businesses, but I always want to add some suggestions to help improve what I thought could be beneficial, so I added those below. These guys work hard and there's a lot to upkeep on their 10 acre property. And we came up just before schools let out and it seemed like there were a couple of people who just came up to help get the place together for the summer. (They did have a brutal winter!) A couple extra hands would help this place out a lot I think.Overall, this is a nice place to stay. Certainly one of the closest to the GIANT SEQUOIA'S coming from Kernville area. And hands down the nicest bunch of people!Things I enjoyed:1. The creek is so enjoyable! What a great feature!2. The staff is A++. Friendly and accommodating! 3. Great DVD collection!4. Amazing breakfast5. Close to the GIANT SEQUOIA'S!Things I'd improve on: 1. Daily hose/brush down of gazebo and bbq area2. Dust the cobwebs, especially in gazebo.3. Might be good to get a few bugs zappers! (I know it's the forest, but when the sun goes down and them bugs seek out the lights and swarm, especially by bedroom doors!)4. Shades in room do not cover 100% for privacy. They should lay flat or perhaps side curtains to keep the light from peeking through the sides.5.Designated smoking area

This place is exactly what your looking for in this area. Its mellow, laid back, shaded and cool while being spacious enough to have distance from other campers but also allows you to engage with them and whoop it up even if you want to. They are Flag supporting folk here that let people be people no matter where your from or what you look like. Me and my Campmates had one of the funnest times ever camping here with Dee, Eddie and Dave - who put up with our excitement and simple zeal for the mountains. The creek nearby allowed for a fresh dip to wash away some cob webs - and even a golden trout in the pool right below the deck. Incredible. Plus the breakfast meals provided by the crew was Camptastic ! We will be back FOR SURE.

Be ready for rustic! I mean...it's 20 miles into Sequoia so plan accordingly. The guys running the place are extremely accommodating and friendly. The breakfast is great. The lodge and the rooms are clean. The creek bubbles endlessly and provides the perfect soundtrack for a bit of R&R. McNally's is 5 miles down the road for dinner, just go, you won't be disappointed. They also have a good bar to hang out at. But remember... be ready for rustic... the accommodations are basic, think hunting cabin with heat . Great DVD collection. No cell reception. There is WiFi. Dog Friendly. Go check out the Trail of 100 Giants. It's 13 miles up the road. I'll be going back.

Made a reservation for June, back in March. Confirmation email received yet I arrived to find the Durr brothers (not their real names) chastising me for not having a reservation. Seems the owner who takes the info doesn't live on site and leaves his "caretakers" to manage the operation.Needless to say, the property is up in the sticks, miles from anything and no cell service. When I arrived no management was to be found, no one in the office, main cabin. Used their land line to call the number, left a message. An alternate number is given still no answer. Luckily another guest and I sat and talked for a while when Dave showed up. Only to chastise me for not having a reservation. When I gave the information from the confirmation email, he said they were booked, no room was available! WTF!...and if that wasn't bad enough, he offered to bump a guest that hadn't checked in yet???? WOW! Do to someone else, what you did to me? Karma is a fickle woman, I still had daylight, I drove to Porterville. I'm at a HIX as we speak!.

My wife and I spent three nights at the lodge celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary. Dee, the owner, was very friendly and welcoming. She gave us a brief tour of the lodge and grounds, then took us to our room. Our room,the moose room, was very comfortable and clean. The moose decor and warm colors of the room was nicely done and charmingly rustic. At night the only sounds to be heard were the creek and crickets. Wonderfully relaxing and tranquil atmosphere. We spent our time exploring the area and hiking. Dee was always helpful suggesting areas to explore and visit. The breakfast buffet was very delicious, a pleasant variety of home cooked food. My wife especially liked the gravy and biscuits, just like grandma's she said. While the phrase maybe over used, I would have to say the lodge was like a home away from home. Hotel rooms tend to be generic and plain, and surprisingly expensive. The lodge was reasonably priced, each room uniquely themed and the grounds beautiful.Dee remembered it was our anniversary and after we returned to our room after a very long day of hiking, we found a card and chilled bottle of wine waiting for us.We are already planning a return visit.

We had a lovely time at Durwood Lodge staying only a night but, would have loved to have stayed the week. Eddie greeted and sorted our room straight away. Dave came into our Lodge unexpectedly but, apologized for letting himself in. Haha. Lovely man and told us he hoped we liked biscuits and gravy for brekkie the next mornin'. The Sequoia cabin was very spacious but, there were a few concerns with it: Don't expect Four seasons bathroom amenities nor toiletries. There are random bugs that just appear in the tub or beds. It is the outdoors/countryside and there are Africa-esque number of bugs everywhere. They're annoyin' but a part of the surroundings. The bed mattress needs to be changed as it was lumpy and the missus woke up with a sore back. She does not have back issues. She also found a few long hairs on the sheets so, not sure the sheets were changed recently or not... There's no tv stations/cable for the room, but there is a quality DVD selection if you feel like hiding from the bugs. Regardless, we thoroughly enjoyed the property as it's peaceful and stunning throughout. They have plenty of amenities and the staff who hang out there are extremely friendly. They have numerous stories of encounters and are quite congenial. We witnessed a female doe the next morning who is quite familiar with the staff. Dogs are welcomed here and ours had a ball sniffing the grounds and spotting the doe. The breakfast that was cooked by Dave was gorgeous!! We loved the experience of trying homemade biscuits and gravy that we now wish could enjoy more often. Thanks Dave!! Lovely food! I think one more suggestion would be to offer some dinner food because we had to drive to McNally's otherwise we would have starved to death. Even a grilled cheese would have been warmly welcomed but, no bother it was grand. Don't bother with the cult "resort" up the road because their general store didn't have anything appetizing and they only make pastrami sambos. It resembled a scene out of the Walking Dead after the zombies took over as we scavenged the aisles. All in all, It's a really cool spot and would stay again if we were up that way. Thanks lads!!

This place has heart and soul. It takes you away from the reality of the world and puts you into this magical place called "home". Dee and Eddie make you feel like family. And don't forget to bring your fur family member, this place is super dog friendly!I feel like we made real friends and cannot wait to return soon.

Stumbled upon this place by accident while driving back down from the Sequoias... We were so tired from our camping trip, covered in scrapes and bug bites and just looking a clean quiet place to sleep before making the long trek the rest of the way home.... Ended up with so much more than that. ----- From the moment we were greeted by Dee, Sage and Blue , we knew this place was a whole lot more than just a place to lay our heads. LOVED THIS PLACE!!!!!Dee's hospitality goes above and beyond anything you would ever expect from an innkeeper- She has a way of making you feel like you are family, from the moment you meet her. We were so spoiled, we even thought about extending our trip just to spend another day at the Inn! The breakfast was drool-worthy, the views were captivating, and please god- dont ever change the game room! Its the best-in-the-old-west! We Loved playing pool and games, and the fact that our two dogs were welcome everywhere we went, would have been enough to make us happy- but they were spoiled as well- Dee gave them Tri-Tip treats by the fire pit! I think most of all, what I loved about the Durrwood Creekside Inn, besides the obvious natural beauty, was the feeling you got from the innkeepers, that whatever you wanted- Privacy, Peace and Quiet- or- Great conversations around the fire - You were welcome to it. You are free to roam around without being bothered, but trust me- you wont want to,Because Dee and Sage are just way too cool!I swear, I left feeling like I wanted to turn right back around and visit again next weekend. :) TIP: Please city folks, for the love of god, do not get drunk and wander into the apple orchards at night.. and keep your dogs on a leash or inside at night- the wildlife is quite active here in the evenings!

DOG FRIENDLYI really enjoyed this place. If you want or expect fancy things and to be pampered please don't go here. If you are OK with No Cell phone or internet and a rustic setting this place is for you. It kind of has that feeling of going to visit a friends lake / mountain cabin and your happy that they invited you to spend the weekend there.I really liked Sheila the host she was really nice, accommodating and a good cook. We enjoyed the breakfast every morning it was a great way to start the day. Our room and bathroom was clean it had a little TV and DVD player to watch the old movies they have available to borrow in the lodge. The Gazebo was a nice place to just relax and enjoy the peacefulness. The Game room was fun but to be honest could use some cleaning up and updating.We enjoyed our weekend plan of the Sequoia National forest we visited the trail of 100 tree's which was about a 30 minute drive, the Dome was about 20 - 30 more minutes minutes past that and finally the needles were about 20 more minutes. Some other guests were there to go rafting and fishing and they were also happy with there experience. I would recommend going to this place if you are in the area and wanting to stay at a place a little different then the others.

Wow! This place is a real gem. We stayed here for one night en route to Yosemite and really loved it. When we pulled in, we were a bit unsure whether we were actually going to spend the night because there was a wildfire nearby and we didn't know if the trail we wanted to do would be closed or at risk of being taken over by wildfire. They were awesome about letting us use their wifi (no cell service up here) to research and see what the current wildfire conditions were and did not put any pressure on us to stay. I'm so glad we did! Eddie and Dave are AWESOME. Dave cooks breakfast and he was sweet enough to have it ready early as we wanted to hit the trail asap that morning. His eggs were the best and when I mentioned to him that I liked the rosemary he put in them, he gave me a bag of his homegrown rosemary! Our room (the cougar room) faced the creek and was super comfortable. I wish we could have stayed a week there. We will definitely return!