Very cute cabin- clean and a good location- the animals were so much fun to watch. Would definitely recommend and go back to again. read more

My son goes to college at SIU and this is where we stay EVERY time we go to Carbondale, 5 times now! We love the seclusion of the place and enjoy seeing all the farm and wild animals. The cabins are very comfortable and up to date with satellite tv service, comfortable beds, relaxing sitting area with overstuffed furniture and a fireplace. However, the best thing my wife likes is the hot tub! There's nothing like a hot soak to loosen you up after spending a day running all over the place with our son. One of the best perks you get is you can request fresh eggs to be delivered to your cabin porch which you can make for breakfast in the fully equipped kitchen. HIGHLY recommend this place! read more

You will not find a cabin rental as perfect as Cabin on the Hill. My husband and I have stayed there many times and it's our absolute favorite getaway. The owners are so nice and very accommodating. You can walk on their trail and visit their hobby farm. It's especially beautiful in the spring when the bluebells are in bloom along the trail and breathtaking in the fall when all the trees are changing colors. The cabins are secluded and private, yet you are not far from town where you can pick up all the necessities for your trip. We are actually planning out our next trip for this fall and cannot wait! If you are visiting Southern Illinois or just looking to stay in a luxury cabin with all the bells and whistles, you must check out Cabin on the Hill. It will not disappoint! read more

Please see our email correspondences with the owner in separate reviews, we were above the word limits in Yelp. My husband and I (and our German shepherd, Amber) first went to Cabin on the Hill in March 2010 and everything was great. This is why we went back for the second time during March 2012. Please note that we are publishing this review to share our experience, and not the experience of others. God knows we had a great time during our first time there. During the second time, that's when the accusations started (after we had left the cabin, mind you, via nasty emails and not even a phone call). I think that the below email correspondences pretty much sum everything up. Sure, the cabin was great and so was the farm. But, if you have the pleasure to go on a vacation but then don't want to come back home and deal with toxic emails from the owner (in addition to catching up things you have to do because you were out of the office), I would recommend you consider somewhere else. As a summary, we paid about $445 bucks for 3 nights of stay + taxes and fees. Of this amount, the dog is $15 per night. Apparently, the owner feels that even with charging the extra dog fee, it's too much for her to clean up after the dog (especially dogs that shed). I feel that our emails to the owner were generally polite and considerate, but the tone of the owners' emails is up to your interpretation. I really could have done without the grief coming back from a vacation. The owner started out stating we misused her hottub (which she did not give us proof of) and then went on a tantrum about other things. I'm not a professional cleaner but we did our best to clean everything, even swept all the hair we could spot. The last I checked, they charge $120 per night (140 during the weekend), plus $15 per night for the dog, and that makes it $135 or $155 per night. Don't they take into consideration that they need to do some reasonable clean up after their guests or do they basically just want to do as little work possible while still charging you a standard rate? Running a business requires a profit and expense calculation, which means the cost of running a business needs to be considered. If you don't like to clean, hire a cleaning service. I'm sure (especially in Southern Illinois where there is a very low cost of living) a cleaning company would be happy to get $45-$60 for a couple hours of cleaning. We pay our cleaning lady $80 for 6-7 hours of cleaning and she comes once a month (and that's in the Chicago burbs - high cost of living). The owner's comments state she only spends one hour total to usually clean the cabins after somebody leaves. I've been to hotels where my room is cleaned daily for 30min and a hotel room probably has 20% as many things to clean when compared to a cabin. If they think they can spend 1 hour cleaning a hot tub, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, porch, etc., it makes me question how clean they left it for us in the first place. We didn't do an inspection upon arrival, but now we know that we should have. Oh well, Cabin on the Hill.... We loved the cabin, but the owners could be a little nicer with how they communicate their frustrations. Again, in her email she talks about 9 years of dogs destroying her cabins, and I guess that's now our fault because our poor dog left some hair in her cabin. By the way, the owners have a white dog that runs around the yard loosely that could have pooped on the property. We are not saying that their dog did such but it could have been a possibility. Did our dog destroy anything, do anything wrong, or cause any disturbance? No. Did the owners? Yes! read more

The cabin was beautiful... So much so I could have spent our entire trip there. They have farm animals, and crazy amounts of chickens, birds, peacocks,turkeys. We also saw like 20 deer the first night we were there. The jacuzzi was the best part... The kitchen and couches were great too. I have two complaints.... The bed was terrible... Absolutely too small, too hard, and rough, the second and biggest is the complete binder of DO NOTS that the owner put together... Seriously like 20 pages of stuff you can't or have to do to not get fined. Didn't I already get fined over three hundred dollars for everything? And you have to clean up after yourselves... So no vacation from cleaning. You even have to take the garbage out lol. So, it's got it's perks and the crappy bed and binder... I think the view and jacuzzi outweigh it all :) read more

I have now updated to a 3 star, they have since changed their policy on animals to NO PETS ALLOWED. Was very sorry to read this as we loved going to the little red barn and being able to bring our dog. read more

Direct email correspondences from the owner to us. Judge for yourself. There were a couple of others but due to length restriction we can only post these selected. From owner: Hi J: I had to drain and clean the hot tub after you left today. I had just done that two days before you arrived and it was clean and crystal clear upon your check in. Today is was so murky I couldn't even see the drain. When I did drain it....it looked like you wore your shoes in the it. There were skid marks and weird stains all over the bottom that I had a heck of a time scrubbing off. At any rate I did charge you the $40 hot tub cleaning fee. Had you followed the rules the hot tub would not be in the condition you left it. Jill Fager Cabin on the Hill From the owner: J & B: I am not making accusations I am merely making an observation regarding the hot tub. I have no idea what happened to it....all I know is that it was clean when you arrived and it was not when you left. I clean the cabin myself....I do not have a maid. I know exactly what condition the cabin was in upon your arrival. Also....you did not follow the rules when it came to your dog. My daughter saw it running around lose and so did my husband. The RULES specifically say that dogs MUST be on a leash at ALL TIMES. As a matter of fact, your dog and the massive amount of hair it left behind was the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. I have decided, effective immediately to no longer allow pets at Cabin on the Hill. It took me over two and half hours to clean your cabin. (usually only take an hour) There was dog hair over every square inch of the cabin. Upstairs on the bed on the floor on the steps, all over inside and on the decks. After nine years of cleaning up after other peoples pets, putting up with damage to my property, dog poop in the yard and dogs running lose.... I have just had it. No more!!! By the way....the stove was a greasy mess. You forgot to clean that during your two hours of cleaning. If I have offended you or made you mad .....just know that you have done the same to me. Jill Cabin on the Hill From us (in addition to a couple of other ones asking her to give us a call) Jill, To assure people understand how truly "fair" you are, I will be sure to post your emails in my various reviews I will leave on Yelp, Yahoo, etc.....You could have called us to discuss this issue, rather than sending inflammatory emails that accuse us of wrong doing. We've stayed at your place before, with the same exact dog, at the same exact cabin, but last time everything was fine. I don't think we said one thing to offend you. We stated facts. You are the one that claimed we wore our shoes in your hottub and somehow treated your cabin with disrespect. We never did such a thing. When your husband saw the dog, it was confined to the porch (we didn't think this was "outside the cabin" since she's still on the cabin and surround by the porch fence). We have the dog on an extremely long lead, so while it may have looked from a distance that she was loose, she was tied during her potty time in the yard. I cleaned her poop as requested. If I missed a pile, I apologize. I see your cabin is typically full and our comments on various sites won't damage your reputation, but at least people will really see what they may encounter after leaving your property. Perhaps, you should review the cabin with people before they are leaving, so you can personally point out the issues you state. Or, even take pictures of the "mess" in the tub that is being blamed on us. I still have trouble believing this and how we could have caused this. It seems to me that your real problem was with the dog hair, but now are seeking justification for the $40 additional charge. We used the tub 3 times: First time, right when we arrive. I stripped down and got in the tub. Dirty? No. Second time, Before entering the tub, I pointed out to my wife that there was dirty residue floating at the top. Third time, we were both clean and showered. Also, with the extra charge for a dog, I would just assume that would cover the extra time needed to clean after a dog (i.e. hair). Was $45 for the dog not enough to cover the (let's say) 2 extra hours of cleaning. Is $22/hour not enough for you to sweep hair and clean the steps? That equates to about $46000 a year, which seems pretty good for a cleaning lady's job. Your emails are inappropriate coming from a business owner, but it's your business and you can choose to run it any way you choose. What shocks me is that I thought as a farm owner, you all loved animals and understand how they can be hairy. This isn't the dog's fault or the people's fault. God made our dog this way and we love her like a family member, even with all her "faults". Good luck with your future and God Bless. B and J. read more

I love staying at Cabin on the Hill. Everything is so nice and clean when I arrive, and the cabins have everything needed. The peaceful setting is perfect for watching the wildlife and enjoying the farm animals. I would definitely recommend Cabin on the Hill to all my friends and family. read more

Our visit to Cabin on the Hill was absolutely wonderful! The cabin was beautiful ! What a great place to relax and enjoy the outdoors! We will definitely be back! read more

We stayed at the Cabin on the Hill in Carbondale IL and celebrated my wife's birthday! The cabin is located along the Shawnee Hill wine trail which was nice. We visited a few wineries on the way :) We stayed in cabin #1 which was surrounded by lots of far animals, chickens, turkeys, birds and peacocks running around. There were also a couple hiking trails which we took to explore. The cabin #1 has a very relaxing swing and a couple chairs to relax in front porch. The cabin is beautifully decorated, has a relaxing cabin feels, nice fireplace, and well appointed kitchen with all kitchen items. On the side is the master bedroom and a bathroom with shower and washer dryer. Upstair there is a loft with a full size bed which we didn't use. On the back is a three season room with a very nice hot tub and a small sitting area. The hot tub area was very private with covered screen on left side for privacy and decorated lights for night use. The master bedroom has a full size wooden bed which was beautiful however the bed was a bit too hard and not comfortable. It seems to slope in toward the middle. The owner may want to look into the bed on the main floor. Overall we had a wonderful stay at this cabin! read more

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Only go to this place if you are white and have a maid to clean up. Otherwise don't even think about this place like a relaxation getaway. Plus the owner is very rude and unprofessional. read more

We found this place in a net search, knowing Southern Illinois is not known for tourism spots. What a find! Comfortable rustic cabins on a beautiful 80-acre site, a bit of a drive but close enough to town to provide all our needs. A/C came in very handy during hot spell, and hot tub was there if we wanted to cool off. This is not for you if you mind roosters and peacocks sounding off or sitting on your deck or guinea fowl running around your backyard, but it's perfect if a little country atmosphere outside and a comfortable living space inside appeals. We wanted for nothing in the way of pots or pans, or anything we needed to cook with (except food, of course, though some ground coffee packets and a few other staples were provided), or entertainment, with lots of games, books, DVDs and VCR provided. (lots of kid-friendly stuff, too, though we had none with us.) Fresh eggs (as in just out of the hens) were provided, too, and the owners, who built the whole shebang, we're friendly, helpful and, best of ll, unobrusive if you didn't need to interact. Great value, too. Highly, highly recommended! read more