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As you may already know, I recently visited Shipshewana, IN and stayed in this amazing hotel called the Blue Gate Garden Inn. Shipshewana is a small town in northern Indiana. This rural town is incredible to visit. To learn more about it, click here!
If you’ve read any of my past posts, you know that in addition to talking about the trip itself, I also like to write a review of where I stayed. This stay was a little different than some of the others. I generally find hotels using my Booking.com app, but this time, the hotel was chosen by the conference that I was attending.
Remember that my opinions are all my own and not paid for by anyone else. You may have had different experiences that I did, and that happens, so this review is based on my own experiences.
ROOM
We received a double Queen room on the second floor. My first impression when I walked into it, was that it was a basic room, just like I’ve had many other places. There was some great artwork on the walls though that I absolutely loved!
There was a large bathroom with walk-in shower. Lots of light and counter space in the bathroom, which is something that I always appreciate! The exhaust fan was extremely quiet, and I’m honestly not sure if actually worked.
Water temperature and pressure were good, I was able to take long showers without it getting cold. I did feel that there was something about the water that the soap didn’t feel like it was actually washing off, which I was told was because it was hard water.
The beds were fantastic. We were both able to fall asleep quickly because of how comfy they were! I generally have trouble sleeping in hotels, what with the miserably flat pillows and hard beds, but such was not the case here! I was able to fall asleep quickly and STAY asleep through the night, which is a huge deal.
FOOD
This hotel offers a free breakfast buffet with each nights stay. I’ve stayed at many hotels over the years and a free breakfast generally consists of scrambled eggs, sausage, muffins and pancake or waffle batter. This was so insanely better! Everything here was made from scratch.
There was an omelette station at the very front, where you walk in. You fill out a form with your name and indicate what fillings you’d like and hand it to the cook. They then call your name when your omelette is ready. I totally forgot to take a picture of my beautiful omelette until I already started eating it. Some other delicious items on the buffet were southern style potatoes, sausage gravy and biscuits, breakfast bake and even bread pudding! There was also a fresh fruit salad that I just HAD to have every morning 😊.
In addition to the breakfast buffet, the hotel also had an old-fashioned ice cream shop as well! Now, it was only open in the evenings, but the ice cream was phenomenal!! The ice cream shop also sold pizzas and a few other snacks, but we didn’t try any of that. Too much food from the conference to be getting MORE food!
There was also a small section near the front desk to purchase snacks or others items that you may have forgotten to bring. In addition, there was a rack near the stairs that contained a multitude of books to be purchased. They were all religious in some way.
SERVICE
The service at Blue Gate Inn was incredible. Everyone was quite friendly and helpful when needed.
Cell phone service was not great at the hotel. Without the Wi-Fi login, I had absolutely no signal, even though they informed me that new towers had recently been put up. With Wi-Fi, it was only slightly better. Sometimes it would connect and other times it wouldn’t. I might get a text every once in awhile, or even a call might come through, but there was absolutely no chance of checking emails or social media!
AMENITIES
There were some beautiful amenities at The Blue Garden Gate Inn. There was a beautiful patio area in the rear, which contained mainly chairs, a fire pit and small pond, looking out onto farmland behind the hotel. Next to the patio area was an indoor pool. I didn’t make it in there to swim or relax but I went in to at least get a picture. There was nothing fancy about it, but still nice.
There was another pretty, small pond in the front of the building, near the entrance. There’s quite a large parking area, as well as
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, I felt that The Blue Gate Garden Inn was a delightful place and I would absolutely stay again. I wish that I had gotten to enjoy some of the other amenities that were offered, such as the pool, but it was a wonderful stay. Have you visited Shipshewana? Where did you stay?