While there’s a lot of glitz and glam associated with calling a big city home, there’s much to be said for getting away and kicking back in an upscale, ranch-style setting in a remote locale. There’s something quintessentially American about a home on the range. Many have poured millions into making their dream ranch getaway a reality, building art museums, chapels, airstrips and even full-blown resorts on-site. Most are tucked away in enclaves in Colorado—in some cases, the ranch is the enclave—but there are a handful of offerings to be found in California, Texas and other Western states as well, if you know where to look. Regardless of where you’ll be putting down your roots to recharge, there’s plenty of opportunity for fishing, hiking and horseback riding. So if you want to pull a Green Acres and escape city life for something a bit more pastoral, these are the 11 ranches we’d recommend.
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11. Three Hawks Ranch, Santa Barbara, California — $13.9 Million
Image Credit: The Agency Few ranches (or mansions for that matter) can claim coastal views like those at Three Hawks Ranch in Santa Barbara. The 106-acre property is located on the picturesque Gaviota Coast and overlooks the ocean from a lofty vantage point. The home and the land surrounding it have been in the area’s portfolio for a century, with the original stone house built back in the 1920s and 100-year-old trees dotting the property. Outbuildings include two large barns separate from the main home, as well as two luxury yurts for guests or for when you’ve got the “glamping” bug. A fruit tree orchard yields everything from plums to nectarines, and a pool is just a stone path away from the home. There’s plenty of room for you to make your own mark on the age-old property though, as an area known as the Upper Field is a wide open canvas ripe for the building, whether that be more barns or more residential real estate.
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10. Triple Creek Ranch, Silverthorne, Colorado — $23 Million
Image Credit: LIV Sotheby's International Realty An equestrian ranch if there ever was one, Triple Creek’s 255 acres come equipped with a professional indoor riding arena, a 10-horse stable and a barn. Its residences are log cabins, the largest of which is 7,500 square feet. Horseback riding is obviously available to future residents, but there are three stocked ponds for fishing and mapped hiking trails throughout the property as well. And if you’re still on the fence, Triple Creek does have one esteemed former resident who can vouch for it: an Arabian horse named Thunder, the Denver Bronco’s team mascot, who has happily summered at Triple Creek for the past 15 years.
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9. Walden House, Vail Valley, Colorado — $29 Million
Image Credit: Virtually Here Studios Walden House wears its Thoreauvian inspiration on its sleeve. The 10,515-square-foot home is perched on the shore of a lake reminiscent of the New England pond that served as muse for the American author. It was designed by renowned architect Annabelle Selldorf, with floor-to-ceiling glass that blends the indoors and the outdoors. A tower sits at one end of the residence, which houses three bedrooms, one on each level, with the master on top. Outside, the pond affords fishing in the summer months and ice skating and hockey in the winter. More for taking in nature’s serenity than driving four-wheelers around it (more entries in that vein, later), consider Walden House the spot to go if you’re keen on living a bit more deliberately.
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8. West Buttermilk Road, Aspen, Colorado — $30 Million
Image Credit: Douglas Elliman If your ideal ranch experience is equal parts horseback riding, showshoeing and skiing, consider cozying up in West Buttermilk Road’s main 7,855-square-foot residence. Located minutes from prime downhill resorts in Aspen and Snowmass, West Buttermilk Road’s 100 acres have plenty of hiking and snowshoe trails of their own to keep enthusiasts plenty busy in the winter months. That being said, if you’re on the hunt for an even bigger ranch with primo skiing opps, look no further the next entry on our list.
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7. Four Peaks Ranch, Snowmass, Colorado — $45 Million
Image Credit: Michael Brands - Mountain Home Photo/Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s International Realty For something even more spectacular and ski-adjacent, Four Peaks Ranch is the ticket. Taking its name from the surrounding four mountains—Capitol Peak, Mount Daly, Mount Sopris and Snowmass Mountain—the property sits on 876 acres of prime Colorado real estate, with private trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding. The estate has its own stocked pond for fishing, wildlife for private hunting, a chipping and putting green and a labyrinth. The 18,000-square-foot home counts an incredible spa suite as its top amenity, complete with a chromotherapy tub, a vitamin D-infused sauna and a steam room as well as an indoor and outdoor saltwater pool with a grotto and waterfall. Hit the slopes at any of the mountain resorts nearby, or stay home where there’s ample room for a bit of cross country skiing—your call.
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6. MorDo Ranch in Scottsdale, Arizona and Horsethief Basin Ranch in Lewistown, Montana — $50 Million
Image Credit: Christie's International Real Estate Who doesn’t love a good twofer? These days you can get two luxury ranches for the price of one, and they don’t even have to be in the same state. Snowbirds especially will like this one. Christie’s has packaged together MorDo Ranch in Arizona (pictured here) and Horsethief Basin Ranch in Montana for this offering—the former a 100-acre horse ranch and the latter a 7,000-acre cattle ranch. MorDo has a more contemporary vibe, featuring an 8,700-square-foot mansion that’s architectually inspired by an Argentinian estancia. Separate from the residence is a museum space for hanging art, a tennis court, a shooting range and various equestrian facilities.
At Horsethief Basin, meanwhile, things look a bit more like the Old West, with an 8,000-square-foot log home, a barn and numerous corrals for cattle. While they’re offered as a package, the ranches can be purchased separately, with MorDo valued at $35 million and Horsethief priced at $22.5 million. It’s up to you, then, to decide whether or not this duo really is better together.
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6. Seven Lakes Ranch, Meeker, Colorado — $50 Million
Image Credit: Max Kim Bee Ever the real estate mogul, former pro golfer Greg Norman’s latest luxury offload is Seven Lakes Ranch, an 11,600-acre property that’s a bona fide sportsman’s paradise. Norman originally purchased the digs from investor Henry Kravis and molded it to his liking with pioneer-chic interiors courtesy of his wife, interior designer Kristen Norman. Beyond the 14,000-square-foot home—which houses eight bedrooms and nine baths—are trails for horseback riding, a sporting clays course and lakes and ponds for fishing. If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, though, you can always just do what Norman did so often during his time there: “I’d get on my John Deere 670D motor grader and grade my 80 plus miles of road for 10 days to two weeks, on my own, in the wilderness,” Norman tells Robb Report. “Or I can take off on my horse, Duke.” The catch? There’s not a lick of golfing green to be found. Perhaps you can grade your own and seed it.
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4. Casteel Creek Retreat, Edwards, Colorado — $78 Million
Image Credit: LIV Sotheby's International Realty If you’ve ever bought a 439-acre ranch and thought to yourself, “this could really use an on-site ice cream parlor,” well, then Casteel Creek Retreat is the one for you. The 32,000-square-foot home is more castle than wild West resort—it even has a metal, moat-like bridge leading up to it. The eight-bed, 16-bath’s interiors are contemporary, with marble and stone finishes throughout and a grand entryway with a Chihuly chandelier hanging above. Between the many guest houses, some of which have a much more The Wild Bunch vibe in terms of décor—there are even jail cells and revolver-adorned light fixtures—the estate can accommodate up to 40 guests. They certainly won’t be bored, either: The property has more than 12 miles of hiking trails, a trout pond, a soccer field and an indoor arena for tennis, baseball and basketball. It even comes with 12 snowmobiles for exploring in the winter months. The kicker? A replica of Colorado’s Silver Dollar Saloon—the original, which is located about an hour out from the ranch, dates back to the rough-and-tumble cowboy days of the 1880s.
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3. El Rancho Tajiguas, Santa Barbara, California — $110 Million
Image Credit: Matthew Momberger A Robb Report Home of the Week, El Rancho Tajiguas consists of not one, but two ocean-facing, 10,000-square-foot homes, each on opposite sides of the 3,500-acre property. There’s room for livestock here, of course, but there’s also a few other, more Californian twists to the ranch formula, chiefly a persimmon orchard and an avocado grove. The property and its two residences, Villa Della Costa and Villa Del Mare, were previously the property of Mansour Ojjeh, who, as CEO of TAG, oversees McLaren’s Formula One offerings. Ojjeh purchased the property 40 years ago—in the process, he also picked up a 7,000-square-foot adobe hacienda from actor John Travolta, which, though also situated on the sprawling estate, is sadly not up for grabs.
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2. Mesa Vista Ranch, Pampa, Texas — $220 Million
Image Credit: Hall and Hall Everything’s bigger in Texas, apparently. Case in point: Mesa Vista Ranch, a property comprised of nearly 65,000 acres, with a 33,000-square-foot main residence perched atop it all. But that’s just one of many properites that financier and former owner T. Boone Pickens sprinkled across the estate, which is tucked away in the Texas Panhandle, 85 miles from the closest town, Amarillo. Other outposts include a two-story pub; a freestanding structure dubbed the “Gun Room” because it houses, uh, guns; an 11,000-square-foot dog kennel with 40 dog pens plus its own veterinary lab; an airport and hangar and a chapel. We could go on, but Pickens himself sums it up best: “You do everything to make the land perfect, hoping the next owner has the same passion.” Your move, then.
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1. Gateway Canyon Ranches & Resort, Gateway, Colorado — $279 MIllion
Image Credit: LIV Sotheby's International Realty This ain’t no one-horse town, that’s for sure. Here, you don’t just get a ranch—you get a bona fide village, complete with a residence, resort, car museum and airplane hangar. Once the stomping grounds of Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks, Gateway Canyon Ranches & Resort now ranks among the most impressive offerings on the market, with 8,700 acres of land in the heart of Colorado’s Cottonwood Red Rock Canyon. The home itself—an eight-bed, eight-bath residence with a Pueblo-style exterior—has a two-level circular stone library, four water fountains, an art studio, theater and spa. All of the furnishings are included with purchase, should the future buyer so choose, plus the home’s observatory, an amenity that’s put to especially good use given the ranch’s remote location 45 miles away from the nearest metropolis. The on-site Gateway Auto Museum also comes with a juicy buyer’s bonus: 50 vintage cars from Hendrick’s personal collection, including a 1967 Shelby GT500. Both the auto museum and the resort, Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa, are open to the public. And if that’s not enough for you, Hendricks has also secured the approvals necessary to build 371 single-family homes and condos on the site, should the future owner feel inclined to invest.
