Filed under: Estates

Last October I wrote about Tom Ford’s move to pay $84,000 to purchase the mineral rights beneath his Galisteo ranch in order to protect his land from possible oil exploration in the region. It looks like a pretty smart investment when you consider what’s happening to candy billionaire Forrest Mars Jr. Businessweek reports that Mars, who is worth around $14 billion from his family’s ownership of candy company Mars Inc, has been fighting to keep a gas company off his big Montana ranch. Pinnacle Gas Resources has a mineral lease to the land and a say judge has ruled that the company has the right to enter Mars’ Diamond Cross Ranch to drill an exploratory well. The company is looking for coal-bed methane, natural gas that is often stored in thick coal seams in the region.The ranch is spread over more than 82,000 acres and Pinnacle’s lease covers 10,300 acres of the property. Mars is worried that if the company does find methane they could use millions of gallons of water from underground aquifers to access it. This in turn would injured the ranch’s capability to maintain the massive herds of livestock on the property. Beth Kaeding, chairwoman of the Northern Plains Resource Council, summed the situation up perfectly in an article in the Jackson Hole Star Tribune, saying: “”If you don’t own the mineral rights, it doesn’t matter how massive your ranch is, how politically powerful you’re, how much money you’ve. Mineral rights trump surface rights.”

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Filed under: Estates

The suburban town on Winchester, Massachusetts is home to a variety of older grand homes. This home, with an English country manor look, was built in the 1930s. It has six bedrooms and sits on two acres that include formal gardens. You’re going to need your Murphy’s Oil soap for this one because there’s beautiful woodwork everywhere. Large leaded glass windows keep it from being too gloomy. While the merits of a room covered in toile continue to elude me, the bedrooms do exude a posh coziness. And if ever there was a home that made good and ample use of Oriental rugs, this is it. it is listed at $4.6 million.

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Continue reading Winchester Mansion, Estate of the Day

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Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that diamond billionaire Lev Leviev was switching his main residence to London. It looks like he’s found a place to call home sweet home and it just happens to be the most expensive new property ever sold in Britain. Leviev’s new home in Hampstead, North-West London cost him

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Filed under: Estates

The coast of Oregon is often overlooked when it comes to seaside homes. Sure, it’s chilly and you’ll face your fair share of winter storms, but the land here’s beautiful and the air is clean. Today’s home was built in the early 1990s and has eight bedrooms and over 10,000 square feet on a 45-acre plot of land that includes a horse barn and a separate apartment area. It definitely seems to be a home built to the owner’s taste and specifications but it does make good use of the ocean views and it has a casual charm. But the finishes seem a bit too generic for me. I’ve never quite understood why someone would create in a multimillion dollar home and then skimp on the interior. This place could use more furniture, and some upgrades in order to help it reach its full potential. But that office perched on top of a tower for the best possible ocean views, is a stunner. It is listed at $5.9 million.

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Continue reading Gold Beach, Oregon, Estate of the Day

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