Big Creek Meadow Ranch

I’m glad I only spent one night at the Big Creek Meadow Ranch. As other reviewers have stated, you have to check in and pick up your keys at the All Seasons Groveland Inn in the town of Groveland (about a 10 – 15 drive). We were told by the owner that we needed to pick up the keys by 6pm. I think we could have arranged to check in later; however, the owner really seemed to discourage this option. We were coming from Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite so we had to make sure to leave by 4pm to get there by 6pm. So we did as we were told and picked up the keys from a very nice young woman who explained to us how to get to the ranch. We were given the option of taking a brown bag breakfast or coming back to the inn in town for a sit down breakfast. The woman gave us a map showing where to park, where to enter our room, and what areas were off limits to guests. After having an dinner in town, we drove out to the ranch because there’s nothing much going on in Groveland. Even with the help of the map, we drove right by because the ranch building is kind of small and unassuming. Once we parked, we found our room. Inside the room were a number of signs reminding us to lock our doors. There was also a bizarre sign warning us to not interact with the people in the cabin next store. There was a bathroom attached to our room and the bathroom had a second door that opened to the rest of the ranch building. Neither door had locks!!! With all of the warning signs to lock our doors, my traveling companion and I were a little concerned — anyone who had access to the ranch building could have walked into our room at anytime. Takeaway: while the room was clean and comfortable enough, this place was creepy and inconvenient and the wifi didn’t work. Spend your $ 160 someplace else. Stay elsewhere in Groveland or plan way ahead and nab a spot in Yosemite if you can.

I do not normally leave poor reviews, but in this case I feel like I have to.
The short story:
My fiancé and I wanted to have our wedding here. Joy and Harold were great, very helpful and excited to host our wedding. Sadly, they no longer work for Big Creek Meadow Ranch.
Ann– the owner– is awful. She «forgot» about meetings (which we drove three hours to attend), didn’t seem to care about our event, talked to us like we ere children, blamed everything on Joy and Harold, lied a bunch (was going to charge us $ 25.00 a head for «catering» plus $ 30.00 per hour per person– which she wanted 5 people for a buffet– and later admitted she was going to buy everything pre-​cooked from the local market to keep her cost down). She could never remember the price she quoted us, she DOUBLE BOOKED OUR ROOMS, and then kept our deposit even though we gave her over 60 days notice and she was the first to breach the contract.
You want the long version? Email me. I’ll tell you all about it.
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I am furious. I have never experienced such unprofessional behavior from someone I was paying a fair amount of money to. Wedding planning is stressful enough– DO NOT LET THIS WOMAN RUIN YOUR EVENT. We decided it was worth the costs to cancel with the ranch, buy new invitations, and deal with the stress of changing our venue just 3 months from our date so that we never had to talk to Ann again. I asked for my full deposit back, which I was of course denied. So we gave this woman $ 470.00 to treat us like crap.
Hence this review. I feel robbed by Ann Shafter. I would not trust her at all– either here or at her sister hotel.

Great place to stay if you want peace and quiet! Beautiful ranch, nice view, very friendly staff, kid friendly, what else can you ask for if you go in a family vacation? I highly recommended and will definetely come back :)

My husband and I spent one night here during a recent visit to Yosemite. Our room was welcoming, and the location of the ranch is wonderful. Our host was attentive to our needs during breakfast. After breakfast, he went to «turn out» the sheep. It was fun being there in the spring because there were many lambs to watch playing in the field, which was right outside our room.
We will definitely return.