Personal Journal : The Sense of Sanctuary at Calistoga Ranch

Calistoga Ranch is one of the few seasoned private residence clubs in the California wine country. In keeping with the rich heritage of the area, the club features an on-site vineyard and wine cave where owners and guests can immerse themselves in the wine culture of the area.

Calistoga Ranch architect Scott Lee knew that Calistoga Ranch needed to reflect a well-defined, natural organicity. “Our charge was to create a private retreat, a sanctuary celebrating what Napa Valley is all about - food, wine and nature. We designed and individually placed each of the more than 200 structures on the site not only to avoid cutting down the 100-year-old heritage oak trees but also to integrate them into our design.”

Lee and his team focused on the tradition of outdoor living by creating what he calls the campground legacy. Each guest lodge is its own camp, he says, made up of a cluster of spaces centering on the outdoor living space and fireplace, just as in a campsite. And interior designer Darrell Schmitt used rustic, natural materials to create a connection between the inside and outside, incorporating such elements as handmade tile baths and fabrics like hand-woven chenille and Tibetan wool carpets. There are outdoor and indoor showers, and multiple meditation spaces as well.

Mark Harmon, principal and CEO of Auberge Resorts, the company that owns and operates Calistoga Ranch, says members love the sense of peace the club’s design and surroundings offer. “I have spoken to so many members over the years,” he says. “They say that Calistoga Ranch is their true sanctuary ... When they leave here, they are refreshed and calmed.”

I spent some time recently at Calistoga Ranch, the experience was one of true sanctuary, just as Mark Harmon said. Calistoga Ranch is a little off the beaten and crushed wine paths of Napa. It is a high end resort with guest cottages as well as a Private Residence Club with owner’s residences. The owner’s residences are of an exceptional, modular design, with an enclosed interior living area, kitchen, and two master bedroom modules. What ties these together is the exceptional outdoor living space, with deck, fireplace, grill, outdoor dining areas, all with views of California's live oak bosques, Ponderosa and Cottonwood trees.

The undeniable feeling is that of living in an elite treehouse, with all the spa and dining amenities of living at a large resort, defining the best of both worlds, nature and culture, sanctuary and society, peace and - if you choose - activity.

The Spa at Calistoga Ranch is one that allows an enhanced feel of true sanctuary. It is located in area called The Bathhouse, where you can truly “take the waters” in a multiplicity of ways. The soaking pools overlook one of the ranch’s creeks, or you can take a mud bath in one of the large private outdoor spaces. When I was taking one of the baths, along with my thoughts, a hawk was flying high above me, moving from Live Oak to Live Oak. There was no sound, save of the soughing of the oaks and pines. The scent of cucumber and a slight odor of something vegetable, probably the mud in the bath, were all that I was aware of. When the mud bath and massage session was over, I felt as if my body had been freed from all the stress armor I wear.

The sense of peace, brought on both the complement of external environment and interior design, stays with the guest or the member or the owner. Here, everything else that used to matter, seems so far away.