Rancho Santa Fe hotels collection

The eucalyptus of Rancho Santa Fe were meant to become railway sleepers: the Santa Fe railway company planted them in close ranks, before finding that the wood split as it dried. The forest stayed, and a village grew up in its shade. Lilian Rice drew its centre, white stucco walls, red tiles, low arcades in the manner of the old missions. Around it, estates spread out over hills of citrus and avocado groves running down towards the San Dieguito. Beyond the village there are no pavements and no street lamps: bridle paths run beneath the eucalyptus.