[Image: Flickr]

If you had R20 for every time you daydreamed about escaping to somewhere like Silver Ridge Stables, you still wouldn’t have enough for the R18 million price tag – but at least you would still have a dream?

This place sprawls over 277 acres of rugged paradise, right on the edge of North Table Mountain in Butte County. It rubs shoulders with an ecological reserve — same name, obviously — where California’s moody cliffs throw down against a seriously rich slice of history.

At the southeast tip of this fairy tale lies Phantom Falls, a waterfall that only shows up in spring like a part-time influencer. The moment the mountain bursts into bloom with wildflowers, the Instagram crowd shows up in full force, phones out, filters ready. It’s dramatic. It’s fleeting. It’s basically California’s own Coachella for plants.

As it stands, all of it — the trails, three homes, some moody old olive orchards and epic views of the Sacramento Valley — is listed for $988,000. That’s just under R18 million more than what I have, and you?

The current owners turned it into a guest ranch, which sounds like code for “quiet sanctuary for the rich and emotionally fried.”

After 25 years running the place, Danny Cuneo reckons she’s heard this line more times than she can count: