Seven Arches: 2 Fenced Acres, Joshua Tree

THE HOUSE — Seven Arches sits on two fully fenced acres in Flamingo Heights, about ten minutes north of the town of Joshua Tree and a world away from it. Four bedrooms, two baths, sleeps ten. Enough room that ten people don't feel like ten people. Bring the dog and let him off the leash — there is nowhere else out here where you can do that.



THE ARCHES — Seven of them, running the length of the west side of the house. They're the reason for the name and they're what you'll actually remember — a covered arcade that stays shaded when the desert doesn't, and that catches the last hour of sun and throws it all the way across the main room. Most people end up eating out there every night without deciding to.



THE WATER — A hot tub, on and ready year-round. A cowboy tub that's cold on purpose, which sounds like a mistake in January and isn't. A tiled Talavera fountain in the courtyard that runs all day and is the sound you'll remember. There is no swimming pool. If you were picturing laps, we'd rather you know today than in July.



THE ART — Every room has original work on the walls, most of it made for this house. There are cards explaining what you're looking at, and if you fall for something, the cards tell you how to buy it.



THE LAND — Two acres with the perimeter fenced and nothing carved up inside it — a corral, open sand, and room to roam. Jackrabbits at any hour, roadrunners most mornings, coyotes at dusk. The dark here is real dark — you will see the Milky Way from the driveway without trying.



WHAT IT'S NEAR — Joshua Tree National Park's west entrance is about half an hour. Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown is twenty minutes. The Integratron is ten. Groceries are fifteen minutes down the hill in Yucca Valley — stock up on the way in, because nothing near the house is open after dark.



WHAT IT ISN'T — It isn't walkable to anything. It isn't a hotel. The road in is dirt for the last stretch, passable in any car if you take it slowly. The septic system means nothing goes down the toilet but toilet paper. If those things sound like problems, this isn't your house. If they sound like the point, it is.



ONE DISCLOSURE — There are exterior security cameras covering the driveway and the property entrance. They face outward and record continuously. There are no cameras inside the house and none covering the hot tub, the courtyard, or any area where you'd expect privacy.