LUXURIOUS MOUNTAIN YURT IN SANTA BARBARA

I needed to get away by myself and for my birthday I rented this beautiful yurt for the weekend. First, I want to say this. It's more like like upscale camping than downscale hotel. If you LOVE camping but want to sleep in the most comfortable bed ever, lay in your hammock on the deck, slide into a big oversized tub to take a hot bath, have the ability to use a kitchen to cook meals, have heat on cool nights and cold air on hot days then this is the place!

I found it to be clean, stocked with kitchen essentials for me to use and exactly how it was described on the website. Did I hear an occasional car drive down the road? Yes. Did I hear occasional voices talking as people walked down the road? Yes. Did I care? Absolutely not. It is not a hotel room. It's a 700 square foot tent and it's next to a small dirt road that people occasionally travel down. It was not disruptive or annoying because it was so random / occasional. I had a very, very peaceful weekend.

I did nothing but spend time in this yurt and had the best weekend, I was comfortable, felt safe, made amazing meals, read books on the deck, soaked for hours in the tub and pulled the sheets off to find out what kind of heavenly mattress they put into the yurt.

Roxanne helped to arrange a massage therapist to give me an "in yurt massage". Fire crackling, massage table, soft music and an hour later I was taking the best nap of my life. Seriously, the best.

I can't wait to go back to this special place and I recommend it to anyone looking for a fabulous unusual, comfortable, oversized dream camping tent experience. I think the term for it now and days is GLAMPING. Glamorous Camping. Air mattress versus their bed? Glamping. Camping Stove and Ice Chest versus their kitchen? Glamping. Camp Showers that take quarters versus their claw foot tub? Glamping. Listening to 30 other campers around you versus an occasional car or conversation? Glamping. I would take this yurt experience over traditional camping any day!

4/29/13

What can I tell you about my experience at the Bjorklund Ranch yurts? It’s not for everyone. Thank goodness!

I have stayed at both yurts and have now booked my fourth visit. If you are looking for a fancy spa/hotel vacation, look at The Four Seasons or Bacara.

My East Coast childhood was filled with summer vacations in log cabins on a beautiful little lake in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. The Bjorklund Ranch experience is so reminiscent of that. It’s camping, but not really camping, with a full kitchen, bathroom, DirecTV, a woodstove, unbelievable deck and view, a dreamy bed, and upscale linens. Roxanne even provides coffee, extra virgin olive oil, and basic spices!

My son is a recent graduate of UCSB. I wasted three years, staying at all the different hotels Santa Barbara has to offer. Very nice hotels, but, imagine getting up in the morning, making a cup of coffee, opening the French doors leading to the deck and watching two horses with riders, cantering across the adjacent mountain ridge… Imagine spending the day(s) seeing all that Santa Barbara has to offer, then coming “home” to this unique yurt, cooking up some of those beautiful organic veggies from the farmers’ market, and while it is simmering, enjoying a glass of Santa Barbara Sauvignon Blanc on the deck in that “golden hour” of light, overlooking the ocean. The lights start to twinkle in Santa Barbara, dinner is ready, and it’s time to go inside. Maybe start a fire in the woodstove, or just chill and savor…

My best day was shopping at the farmers’ market, coming home, and cooking for my son and a bunch of his UCSB friends. They were amazed by it all.

I hesitate to write this review because I would like to keep this place my best kept secret. Now that my son has graduated, the Bjorklund Ranch is the only reason I keep coming back to Santa Barbara.

To be fair, my wife and I booked through HomeAway, and not VRBO. The VRBO website description is more accurate than the one we read on HomeAway, in that the owner describes that the yurt is located on a working ranch, where wood-working machinery may be heard. That is quite true! As well as the men's voices who work them. Unfortunately, that wasn't mentioned on the HomeAway description, so we were unaware - there is noise, and it being a yurt (and not a wall), sound travels right into the structure. It is also next to a dirt road (which is not seen in the pictures) and while there is not much traffic, again, it can be heard right through the "walls." To be fair, the evenings are quiet. The yurt itself is nicely appointed for a yurt; the deck is nice, BBQ, etc. And the owner was pleasant.