My wife and I had high expectations based on the reviews here and we were mostly not disappointed. Poppy Hill is in a very nice, quiet, rural location about an hour outside of Yosemite. It costs less to stay there than all but the most rustic accommodations in Yosemite Valley proper (a Curry Village tent cabin is less, that's about it).

Mary Ellen is most gracious, both in our email exchange reserving the room and during our visit. She suggested a nice restaurant in Mariposa and even offered to make reservations for us, which we took her up on.

Previous reviews have pointed out well the many delights of this property and anyone who is a regular B&B guest should certainly find Poppy Hill to their liking.

The few faults that kept this from being five-stars for me: The breakfast was nice, but not fabulous, and although we were told breakfast would be at 8:30, it was nearly 9:00 before anything other than coffee and juice was out. If you want to get an early start to Yosemite, I would ask that they move things up a bit. The Willow room is also quite noisy, with just regular activity in the room above sounding like the proverbial herd of elephants. I would avoid that room. The mattress in the Willow room also needs replacing: both my wife and I spend the night clinging to the outside edges lest we plunged into center crevasse and disappeared forever.

After hiking and biking in Yosemite, I did find the hot tub a wonderful place to relax after dinner! It has a nice spot on the back deck with a nice view of the stars through the big oak trees.

I searched yelp.com n trip advisor for reviews on affordable hotels with great reviews. My boyfriend n I wanted to take a vacation together to Yosemite since we both have never been n didn't want to spend more than $150 with tax per night. We came across this B&B. It had wonderful reviews n made me excited just reading them. I visited the poppy hills website n looked at the 4 different bedrooms. Mary Ellen had the Iris room available so we booked that room. Must use credit card to reserve the room, but u can pay cash or use a different card when u check out. Our room was on the 2nd floor that had a connecting door to the upstairs patio that also over looks the garden. So pretty! There are 2 arm chairs in the room, antique furniture throughout the affordable house! The bed is very squeeky. The home has had upgrades. The private bathroom has a 2 person seater shower only, no tub on this room. I didn't get a Chance to use the hot tub outside. There were 2 Mule Deer that came up to the yard to eat while they were making breakfast. It was a great experience. Mary Ellen has help with this B&B. They make plenty of Crossant French Toast enough for 4 people. The bacon seemed like its Bacon that is pre-cooked/frozen kind you buy at the grocery store, not the real freshly cooked kind you would expect. That was one of the cons. We love Bacon, n even when they served it us heated up it was very hard n barely warm.:( wish they used real bacon but I guess its too much work. The website stated we would receive a bottle of wine or champaign which we were looking forward to when we got home. Mary Ellen greeted us when we returned in the evening the first night as there were 2 other guest in the living room. We looked around n there was no sight of a bottle for us. We chit chatted about our day n still no bottle was ever offered to us. Oh well. We went on upstairs n showered. Thank goodness we brought our own wine. They did give us 3 very small cookies that day, but it was barely enough for 2 people. The next day we received 2 regular sized cookies that was still not enough for 2 people.. oh well. There is no cable or phone service in the rooms. The antiques are beautiful along with the garden. Except for the minor items we had a great stay here n it was affordable! The other places closer to the park we very expensive and/or had okay reviews. This B&B was a lovely choice n I would recommend to others. P.S this place is 50-60 mins outside of yosemite park entrance. From the yosemite park entrance its another 30 mins to the middle or where all the shops, info center n few hotels are.

We had a great time in Poppy Hill in the spring of 2011. the place is excellent in every way...rooms, furnishings, location, food, cleanliness, service. Mary Ellen has done a great job with this property. She serves a grand breakfast in the morning to start off your day and you end it with warm brownies, wine and coffee.

Highly recommended. If we ever go to Yosemite again, we'll definitely stay here.

I have slept there this summer with my girlfriend, while we were visiting the Yosemite national park nearby (not too far anyway).
This place was actually one of the highlights of our trip to the USA. Definitely a magic place. It is lost in a beautiful and peaceful countryside filled with fantastic oak trees. The garden is beautiful, filled with flowers and hummingbirds. We arrived some hours earlier than planned without letting them know but there was absolutely no problem for Mary and the other people there, they were so kind. Mary is so gracious and friendly, makes you feel at home, but without affecting your privacy in any way. They gave us cookies for our trip to the park. And there is an old piano in the main room if you love playing. The house itself is beautiful, rooms are clean and nice, what else can I say? Uh yes enjoying the delicious breakfast in the garden. Wow: fruit, bacon, cake, cookies, fruit juice... all delicious, even the coffee (and I am from Italy so I know what I am saying).
Would surely go back and will recommend this place to friends travelling to California.