Located in the hinterlands of Byron Bay, the Australian seaside hangout and surfing hub, Sun Ranch channels the area’s hang loose vibe. But it does so in surprising, inventive ways: the resort is set on a 55-acre former cattle farm and takes inspiration from 1970s California ranches houses—sunken living room, crushed velvet upholstery, fringed lampshades, and all.
It’s the brainchild of fashion designer Jamie Blakey and travel journalist Julia Ashwood, who got friends in creative fields to invest and worked with sustainability minded design-build firm Balanced Earth to create a splashy, sybaritic retreat. “Like a rock and roll afterparty from the seventies,” is how Ashwood described their vision to Vogue Australia.
Blakey and Ashwood reveled in the details—note the vintage craftsman furnishings and JB Blunk monographs—and Sun Ranch has quickly landed on top travel lists all over. Tag line stitched on the back of the robes: “Hotel of Good Times.” It’s been a profitable venture, too: the place recently sold for more than $15 million (Blakey, Ashwood, and investors paid $3.9 million in 2021 and poured two years of work into it). The new owners are undisclosed but reportedly plan to continue operating the resort as is.
Even if a visit isn’t in the cards, the design is worth seeing: you might consider applying some of these retro ideas in your own good-time quarters.
Photography by Anson Smart, courtesy of Sun Ranch.
An easy segue to seventies style and color? See Hawkins New York’s Hardware Essentials.
More immersive retreats:
- Les Bain Guardians: White Horses and “Conscious Hedonism” in France’s Camargue
- Hotel Wren in Twentynine Palms
- Quinta do Pinheiro: A Portuguese Farm with Guest Cottages and Nearby Beaches
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