The House

The house's ground floor comprises a yoga/exercise/massage space; three bedrooms and three baths; and a 1,000-square-foot open kitchen/den/dining area/TV nook, a room that's ideal for dinner parties and talks and gatherings, a room with an operable window wall that seamlessly merges it with a large outdoor terrace overlooking a pond, water elements, and the forest. The house's second floor is a living room/work corner, all of it wrapped in windows with vistas of the gardens, and an additional bedroom and bath. A spiral stair in the living room concludes at the house's third floor, the master suite.

Along with being Wi-Fi equipped, each room displays Van der Ryn's own paintings and other art collected over 40 years, and the house includes his personal multi-thousand-volume architecture and ecology book collection. The house's water supply is sourced from mineral-rich, chemical-free on-site wells. Electricity is supplied by solar panels. In the winter months, indoor temps are controlled by fast-heating energy-efficient gas heaters and/or two wood stoves that burn a supply of oak harvested on-site. All linens are from Cuddledown; quilts and blankets are from travels in India and Europe. 

While the House and its grounds has complete privacy, on other parts of the land live Eco Refuge owner Sim Van der Ryn at “The Ridge House” and his anthropologist/filmmaker son Micah (and his Samoan family also live on the property at “The Ark” the first structure built on the land out of repurposed chicken coops from Petaluma. The Ark was a classroom/gathering place for Sim’s UCB 1971 architecture class entitled “Build yourself a place in the country” . Guests are encouraged to request more detailed tours or schedule talks with their hosts if they have interest. Additional services available upon request include a master chef, yoga instructor, masseuse, and baby sitting.