Front Range Cottage

I stayed here in hot August, but the place stayed cool! Everyone is different, but the lack of AC was not a problem at all for me. When I received the check-in instructions, it said to not wear any shoes at all, which I was worried about because most places are not that clean and it being August and hot, I was wearing sandals without socks and I had forgotten my slippers. Low and behold, the floor was spotless! No crumbs on my feet at all! I’m so impressed on how spotless the place is! Very clean! That being said, there are no cleaning supplies besides some paper towels and some antibacterial soap (but no dish soap). There are dishes that must be washed by hand, so we had to make a special run to the store just to buy dish soap which was not what I wanted to do during my vacation. Besides the lack of cleaning supplies, there were other staples missing such as tissue boxes, basic spices besides salt, basic cooking oil, and shampoo/conditioner. There is some hand soap provided but that’s it. There’s also no laundry detergent, and I messaged to ask about the washer and dryer but got no response. I couldn’t find a washer and dryer anywhere even though it’s listed in the amenities, so I went home with dirty laundry unfortunately which I didn’t expect to have to do. The only way to get into the house is by climbing a bunch of stairs, so if you have any health issues please beware. Parking is difficult because there is fencing missing and there is a steep drop, especially when dark.

This place was awesome! Very cozy, quiet, cool at night, and a quick drive away from town and several hikes. JW was very helpful and responsive. I would highly reccomend staying here.

This was a nice quaint place to stay and get away from it all. Not much happening in Central City or Black Hawk proper (except the casinos), and that's what we were looking for—just to enjoy the peacefulness for a while. The cottage itself was nice. The beds were comfortable, we had everything we needed to cook with, the Wi-Fi worked great, we were able to connect our laptop to the TV (bring your own HDMI cable), washer & dryer on site, so all of that was perfect. My wife and I planned this particular vacation to get away from everyday responsibilities and to escape the 100+ degree summer heat in Texas. We like to play the table games some, so we spent some fun time at the casinos. Other than that, about the only thing to do in Central City is to walk the downtown area and visit the shops (though many of them are shut down). We did visit the gold mine and took a tour there, and that was fun. Scenic railway was enjoyable, about 30 minutes away. Closest grocery store is ~25 min away. Okay, so, unfortunately, I gotta mention some negatives as we saw them. The most important one first. 1. We like it very cool when we go to bed. While we were there, the highs were around 80 + or-, but it got decently cool at night. Since there is no air conditioning in the cottage (which we knew beforehand), we planned on raising the windows in our bedrooms to have good, cool sleep at night. Only problem was, in one bedroom the window was stuck closed, and in the other bedroom, there was plexiglass on the outside of the window, so raising the window was useless. We had to try to get back to the cottage every evening early and prop open the front and back doors, and open the dining area window so the house could cool down sufficiently. This was very disappointing. Luckily I am somewhat of a night owl, so I stayed in the living room and left the doors open until midnight or later before going to bed, and it was mostly okay. 2. Make sure and bring your own coffee and sugar, cream, etc., because there is not even a starter supply of that. 3. Water pressure low in tub. Shower ~okay, but to take a bath, allow 30 minutes to fill the tub. 4. Be prepared for the drive to the cottage. Once you leave the main street of Central City, you have to make about five turns on very narrow streets. In some cases, if you meet a car coming your way, somebody has to back up and let the other pass. Aside from those negatives, we enjoyed our stay at this location.