CHALK HILL, CALIFORNIA
Vineyard Retreat
For this project, we worked with designers McCormick & Wright to renovate an existing ranch-style home and pool, set on a one-acre site off of Chalk Hill Road in Healdsburg. A long driveway through the surrounding vineyards provides a scenic approach, setting the stage for new indoor/outdoor experiences set amid the borrowed views of the vineyards and greater landscape.
We began by eliminating the original loop driveway that dominated the entry, replacing it with a new internal courtyard, enclosed with walls of native Syar stone. Robust planting forms a much-used space for outdoor entertaining, which can expand and contract to comfortably accommodate groups of varying sizes. In the courtyard, and throughout the garden, flagstone paving breaks up as it spreads into the planting, forming a natural transition between hardscape and landscape. Salvia, catmint, lamb’s ears, euphorbia and oregano form a palette of lavender and varying shades of green.
On the opposite facade, which faces west, we replaced an existing deck with an on-grade flagstone terrace and relocated a series of olive trees from their original home along the driveway to surround the new terrace. The ancient nature of the olives lends a sense of contrast against the softness of the layered grasses. This allows for vineyard views and provides both shade and a privacy screen for the outdoor dining area set just off the kitchen.
The journey through the garden is filled with little eddies and pockets that can be used for gatherings of varying sizes. Beyond the entry courtyard, through a gate in the stone wall, broad steps provide an easy transition down the slight slope, forming natural seating areas around the pool terrace. A custom designed lounge tucked between the two broad sets of stairs is an inviting place to relax just below the intimate pool house. Outside the master and guest bedrooms, deep layers of grasses and perennials provide soothing views. Within the house, expanded openings invite the garden inside.
Landscape + Builder: Robinwood Construction Architect: Richard Burton Interior Designer: Robert Wright, McCormick & Wright Photography: Leigh Wachter and Jim Brady