Rancho Refugio - A Place of Refuge

This exceptional property is in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, along a gated private road with great views of Monterey Bay and the Pacific Ocean. It is secluded and serene, yet it is only 5 minutes from Highway 1, 15 minutes from Santa Cruz, and 90 minutes from San Francisco.  The property covers 11 acres of flat, open land and has 2 legal parcels. It features a romantic, contemporary Craftsman home (2400 sq.ft.) connected via a courtyard with a guest house (1800 sq.ft.), surrounded by extensive gardens, patios, and decks for outdoor entertaining. A modern kitchen opens to a spacious dining room and a living room with sweeping views over a coastal meadow frequented by wildlife. The main bedroom has a walk-in closet and a bathroom with ocean views. The guest house has 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a library, kitchenette, and a large living space. The property has a caretaker's studio (400 sq.ft.), a garage and workshop (1000 sq.ft.), and other outbuildings. It has a modern infrastructure with high-speed internet and backups for communications, power, water, and fire safety. The property is 500 feet above sea level and 2 miles from the ocean—close enough to hear the surf at night, but far enough inland to be sheltered from the wind.

Rancho Refugio has been developed into a sanctuary for nature by Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom, a renowned husband-and-wife creative team who have produced many stories for National Geographic along with acclaimed books about wildlife and wild places around the world. Over a period of three decades, they have enhanced the property’s meadows, woodlands, and redwoods to make them more hospitable to wildlife and wild flora. More than 150 species of plants now thrive there, along with bobcats, coyotes, deer, foxes, and many rare species of birds and amphibians. Lanting and Eckstrom have documented this resurgence of nature with stories and images, some of which were woven into Bay of Life, their project that celebrates Monterey Bay as the hottest hotspot of biodiversity in all of North America.