California dream

Calistoga residence, California A new garden for a new-build home succeeds in being both contemporary and belonging to the landscape, says Christopher Stocks

- Christopher Stocks

NAPA VALLEY may be world famous for its wines, but for those poor souls unlucky enough never to have been, perhaps the biggest surprise is its natural beauty—a vast tract of largely unspoiled landscape just over an hour by car from San Francisco. The wide valley floor may be almost entirely occupied by vines, but, on either side, low mountains are cloaked in forests of oak and pine, a scene that would not look out of place in the greener parts of Spain or Portugal. The climate, is quintessentially Californian, with dry summers and a rainy season from November to March, although temperatures are mild enough to enjoy being outdoors for most of the year.

The valley narrows near the well-heeled town of Calistoga, where, in 2014, a couple with three grown-up children who had been living in the suburbs south of San Francisco, found an idyllic 17-acre plot on which to build their new home. Reached by a steep, winding drive through woods of native oak and Douglas fir, it combined total privacy with glorious views.

The couple engaged Backen & Gillam Architects to replace the existing property with a large, single-storey house, mainly clad in timber and referencing agricultural barns. The plan comprises a central block, extended at each corner by four rectangular pavilions, enclosing open-sided courtyards on each side. It’s a coolly sophisticated design and needed a coolly sophisticated garden to frame it.