Bocce ball court — Sebastopol, CA

A Bocce Court Cut Into The Hillside

The bocce court is the piece this family uses most, and it's the reason the whole middle of the property works. We graded a level terrace out of a working slope and held it with a board-formed concrete wall, so the playing surface stays dead flat while the ground around it keeps falling toward the valley.

• Cut-and-fill grading to create a level terrace on a slope
• Board-formed concrete retaining wall with drainage behind the face
• Compacted base and crushed-stone surface that sheds winter rain
• Concrete curb to hold the surface and keep balls in play
• Grass borders chosen so nothing sheds onto the court

The planting around it does as much work as the court itself — tall grasses above the wall, low and tidy species at the curb line, and drip irrigation routed behind the wall so water never reaches the playing surface.

Flagstone patios & walkways

Flagstone That Ties The Property Together

Stone connects everything here. We hand-selected large-format flagstone and dry-laid it on compacted base with gravel joints, so rain moves straight through instead of running across the surface — a practical choice on a Sebastopol slope, and one that keeps the paths usable all winter.

• Hand-selected, large-format natural flagstone
• Dry-laid on compacted base with permeable gravel joints
• Stones set flush and level to stay safe underfoot
• Paths graded to shed water into planted areas, not the house
• Stepping stones spaced to a natural walking stride

Low mounding grasses were planted right to the edges to soften the stone, chosen for species that keep their shape between visits so the paving never disappears under them.

Pool terrace & view corridor

A Landscape Designed To Support The View

The pool terrace is the lowest level of the property and the one with the view, which sets a hard height limit on everything planted around it. Every choice down here was made against the horizon line first and the plant list second.

• Poolside species kept low so the water reads flat against the valley
• Splash-tolerant planting where chlorinated water reaches
• Fine-textured grasses that move in the afternoon wind
• Sightlines from the house held open to the horizon

The result is a terrace that feels open rather than enclosed — you sit down and the valley is still there.

Lower field

An Orchard On The Lower Field

Sebastopol is apple country, and the lower field was built for it — a fenced orchard block on a gravel base, young fruit trees laid out with room for mature canopy, and a rock-lined swale carrying winter runoff away from the trees and off the property without cutting a channel through it.

• Gravel base and fenced block to keep deer out
• Trees spaced for mature canopy, trunks wrapped while young
• Rock-lined swale to move winter runoff without erosion
• Irrigation run to every tree through establishment