02The story

01

Timber Cove was built in the 1960s on a bluff high above the Pacific, on the wildest stretch of the Sonoma Coast, and the renovation that brought it back had the sense to leave the architecture alone. Sturdy timbers, stone, midcentury lines and a great deal of glass: it is a building of its decade and much the better for it.

Out on the headland stands Beniamino Bufano’s obelisk, The Expanding Universe, commissioned in 1962 and still facing the ocean as a monument to peace. Rooms are chosen for their outlook rather than for the name of the category. Coast Kitchen cooks the Sonoma coast with the wine list to match, while the indoor and outdoor gathering rooms take care of the hours between, with fire pits for the evenings when the fog comes in.

02

A bluff on Highway 1

The Sonoma Coast is the part of California that refuses to be tamed, and the road along it is half the reason to come. Timber Cove stands above the surf 15 miles north of downtown Jenner, with Fort Ross State Historic Park and Salt Point State Park within an easy drive. Redwoods rise behind, the ocean falls away in front, and the weather rewrites the character of the place several times a day.

03

Midcentury bones, warm rooms

The original architecture is the attraction: heavy timbers, stone, low ceilings that open into tall ones and glass placed where the view earns it. Rooms have been given warm colours and modern comfort without being smoothed out, and the ocean suites add living space that turns two nights happily into four. Outlooks divide between ocean, cove and forest. The ocean ones are worth the difference, particularly when the surf is loud enough to hear from the bed.

04

Coast Kitchen and the fire pits

Coast Kitchen looks straight out to the Pacific and cooks accordingly, seasonal and local, with Sonoma given the run of the wine list. The Great Room is the resort’s sitting room, open from morning until late, and the Outdoor Living Room takes over once the fires are lit. Bufano’s obelisk keeps its place on the grass throughout. This is a resort for people who drove a long way on purpose and are in no rush to leave.

03Highlights

What sets it apart.

The signature moment

Evening on the headland. The fog is coming in off the Pacific, the fire pits are lit and Bufano’s obelisk stands dark against a paler sky. Inside, Coast Kitchen is serving and a bottle of Sonoma red has just been opened. The surf carries on regardless.

01Pacific bluff on Highway 1
02Original 1960s coastal architecture
03Bufano’s obelisk on the headland
04Coast Kitchen and Sonoma wines
05Fire pits and the Great Room

04Design Hotels Collective

Here, as a preferred guest.

01
Breakfast for two, every morning
Breakfast for two each morning, at the hotel’s own table: the first privilege of the day and the one most worth taking slowly.Breakfast beside the Ionian or beneath the Matterhorn, at whatever hour the house lays its table.
02
A hotel credit to spend
A credit held in your name at the hotel, to spend as the stay suggests: a table, a treatment, an evening at the bar.A credit for the hotel’s own restaurant, bar or spa, whichever the house does best.
03
A room above your booking
An upgrade to the category above, so the room you return to each evening outranks the one on the confirmation.An upgrade chosen for light and outlook as much as for size.
04
An earlier arrival
Check-in before the house’s usual hour: the overnight flight lands, the car draws up and the first day begins in your room.The room ready ahead of the hour for the traveller who arrives with the morning.
05
A later departure
Check-out after the house’s usual hour, so the last morning is spent as the first was: at the table, by the pool or simply in the room.The last morning kept for a swim from the room or coffee in the mountain light.
06
Known before you arrive
VIP recognition as a guest of the house: your preferences and the occasion known to the hotel before the door is opened for you.The hotel’s own team knows who is arriving, and why, before the car turns in.
07
Offers for preferred guests
The offers a programme keeps for its own preferred guests, extended to a Dip Needle booking and shown beside the rate for your dates.Collective offers falling on your dates, shown beside the rate before you decide.