1,500 Acres of Meadows and Mountain Views for $42 Million

Sometimes a landscape is so beautiful that a picture cannot convey its grandeur. Anyone who has seen the Grand Canyon can testify to this truth. A newly-listed property less than 40 minutes from Telluride, Colorado, allows residents to live in such a landscape, one that cannot be captured in two dimensions. 

Hidden Rocks Ranch in Placerville, Colorado, offers 1,579 acres of meadows, meditative vistas and a mountainous horizon for the tidy sum of $42 million. “These ranches rarely turn over, certainly not within the first decade, and oftentimes not within the first generations,” Bill Fandel of Compass, who represents the sale, tells Observer. “In that regard, it’s very unique.”

The property was purchased by its current owners in 2016. The owners, who are not being disclosed, set about building the structures on the newly-purchased land with Allen Kirsch and Associates out of Dallas, Texas, Fandel says. The 6,000-square-foot main house was completed in 2019, replete with 17 bedrooms, nine bathrooms and a handful of powder rooms.

The spacious home also contains a media room, a chef’s kitchen, and a ground-floor recreation room with retractable floor-to-ceiling windows, creating a breathy space for indoor-outdoor entertaining. The main living room has a similar feel, with retractable doors that bring the natural landscape inside, providing unobstructed views of the estate’s lush meadows and the mountains beyond. 

Those rooms, however, are far from the only outdoor spaces. The house has multiple outdoor gathering spaces, including a fire pit with an incredible view of the surrounding fields and mountains. 

Outside the main building, the property touts seven guest cabins, some with the ability to house up to eight guests. Those guesthouses feature fireplaces and a main gathering structure where anyone staying in the cabins can gather for meals and activities.

“[The cabins] have a nice balance of that rugged, rustic exterior with a clean—I don’t want to call it contemporary—but certainly a clean, enduring style,” Fandel says. “Each of the cabins is like a mini house. They have beverage centers and beautiful sitting areas in addition to the master suite.”

The estate’s grounds also feature allure amenities like spring-fed ponds, 12-to-15 miles of trails, a timber frame six-stall barn, a caretaker’s house and an equipment barn. 

The structures and main building are powered by what the listing calls a “state of the art” solar “power plant.” Though, the impressive mansion is not entirely “green;” the listing also notes that the sweeping estate sits near two regional airports that can accommodate “heavy jets.”

Fandel tells Observer that the undisclosed owners are selling because they are moving abroad. “In a world of rarified offerings,” Fandel says, “it’s particularly rare. The whole assemblage of residential improvements set against this decided western setting. It’s very cool.”