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.
Denne historien er fra January 13, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra January 13, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds