Chalk Hill Road from Healdsburg to Windsor is great to explore when you are looking for a little adventure and some great back road scenery. Today the horses were variously running, sleeping, or rolling in the dust. If your timing is lucky, you are likely to see wild pigs, wild turkeys, and flocks of other birds along with the horses and cows.
Architecturally, Chalk Hill Road incorporates modest farmhouses and big estates, often side by side. I grabbed a few gate photos today to remind me of some of the landscaping and architectural details on the grander entrances. There are lots of luxury home in Healdsburg’s wine country without a grand entrance, but there’s something special about seeing care taken to make a statement where private property meets public access.
This grand entrance has classic elements including cypress trees, curving walls and careful detailing atop the columns and walls. (click any photo to enlarge)
The second photo shows a much simpler, utilitarian gate. The absence of columns or wall makes the property feel more open, but there is still a clear demarcation of property directly at the entrance.
The final gate has a beautiful gauntlet of flowering trees from the solid entrance columns towards the interior of the property. It’s a lush touch on a property where the main house is out of sight of the immediate gate area.
These Chalk Hill Road gates all provide a strong sense of “you need permission to enter”, but they do it with varying degrees of welcome and grandness. Enjoy a Chalk Hill Road drive from Healdsburg to Windsor some day or do some entrance analyzing in your neck of the woods.