Sun Ranch ECO-RANCH: LIFE & LEISURE
A POSSE OF STYLISH FRIENDS HAS CREATED A NATURE-SHROUDED ADULT PLAYGROUND WITH ALL THE LUXURY TOUCHES, WRITES NINA KARNIKOWSKI.
I’m lying on the lawn listening to a series of crystal bowls being played by a striking Brazilian woman. It’s 7.30am at Sun Ranch, a hotly anticipated new eco-lodge set on 22 hectares of former farmland in the Byron Bay hinterland, and I’m experiencing the coastal ranch’s ‘lucky star ritual’, which also includes a cacao ceremony and breath-work class.
It’s designed to raise my vibrations before I head off for a wood-fired sauna and ice bath by the dam, then wander up to the hillside Pool Club for another type of ‘healing’: drinking margaritas in the sun.
It’s a well-balanced morning, and one that’s perfectly in step with Sun Ranch’s off-beat, modern bohemian vibe. “We want our guests to have a great time but also feel really grounded when they leave, and get them out of their comfort zones with things like ice baths and horse rides,” says co-founder Jamie Blakey.
After founding and running the fashion brand One Teaspoon for 20 years, Sunshine Coast-born Blakey sold the label in 2021 and turned her hand to hospitality (she is also launching The Black Ace and Sundowner properties in Yamba this summer).
Blakey and Julia Ashwood, a Byron-born former marketing manager, travel writer and co-owner of the nearby Eltham Hotel, have headed the creative direction of the property. With 11 of their friends from Australia’s design, fashion and hospitality industries, they formed an investment group to purchase the Coopers Shoot property in 2021 and invested millions into bringing something they thought was missing to the Australian luxury hotel scene.
“We saw a gap between high-end luxury stays like Wolgan Valley, and something that had the same spaciousness and ability to connect with nature but that wasn’t so formal,” says Ashwood.
“We wanted a kind of nature-shrouded adult playground, with all the luxury touches.”
Teaming up with sustainable building company Balanced Earth, Ashwood and Blakey overhauled the original farmhouse, built in 1981, into the vibrant five-bedroom Rambler Long House. “There was a real 70s feel to the house, especially the hexagonal lounge room, that we couldn’t resist leaning into,” says Ashwood.
The design and fitout takes its cues from 1970s Californian ranch houses, with some Spanish and Mexican influences. The result is theatrical (there’s a definite Tarantino feel), unconventional and effortlessly cool. The sculptural fireplace, raffia spiral chandelier and tiger-print wraparound lounge bring drama to The Lair lounge, as do the blood orange walls and magenta velvet sofa in the adjoining Whiskey Lounge, which flows onto an alfresco dining space.
Luxury finishes including marble and brass have been combined with recycled oak timbers and hand-painted signs by artist Nathan Pickering to give the place a more laid back, rustic feel.
“We’re both avid travellers and wanted touches of the places and styles we loved, but not too much,” says Blakey. “If anything started to feel too ranchy, or too heritage, we’d pull it back.”
Up in our off-grid self-contained ‘barn’ - one of six newly built on the ridge that hugs the property - the approach is more subdued. The wood-panelled walls and ceilings, ginger-licked bedrooms with khaki linen sheets, and brick kitchen bench work seamlessly with the surrounding landscape.
In line with Sun Ranch’s light-footed approach and in an effort to rewild the property’s pastureland, more than 10,000 native trees have been planted. And in true Byron style, the land was ‘dowsed’, a type of divination to locate energy centres, where they then created the ranch’s communal spaces.
Whether it’s the dowsing or the margaritas, I do feel undeniably great watching a blazing sunset from the Stoney Ridge firepit, and later, eating a locally-sourced fire-cooked feast by chef Pip Sumbak in The Field House outdoor dining space.
Feeling great is what Sun Ranch is all about, as per their tagline ‘The hotel of good times’. It’s a place for sun-splashed fun with friends, for drinking one too many glasses of natural wine in the lounge while David Bowie spins on the vintage record player, then making up for it all with yoga or an in-room massage in the morning.
The property is also the ‘holiday home’ of horses from Byron Bay riding company Zephyr Horses, there are also horseback rides on offer, kayaking adventures along the creek, Zooz e-bikes to ride, and a lawn for badminton and gin-and-tonic sipping.
I spend more time than I probably should lazing by the magnesium pool and don’t experience half these things. Hopefully I can return for the rest soon. Given how fresh and fun it is, Sun Ranch surely has a bright future ahead.
Need to know
Sun Ranch is a 25-minute drive from Ballina airport, and 20 minutes from Byron’s CBD and beaches.
Rates From $1700 for two nights in a Rambler Pool Room or $2900 for two nights in a Sun Ranch Barn. Full ranch buyouts can be booked for 34 guests, for $35,000 a night all-inclusive, also for a minimum two-night stay. For more information, see sunranch.com.au or call 0428 043 509.
Nina Karnikowski stayed as a guest of Sun Ranch.
