That big lot up in the canyonland bluffs in Chestnut Ridge - you know the one. I have had my eye on it since Horse Ranch released, and taken several runs at it, and never been happy with my result. Then I recalled an old idea I'd had for updating Granite Falls which never happened because I hardly use destination worlds. But I'd been reminded of an urge to play in big stone-and-beam style like you see at National Park lodges of a certain age, and wasn't there a term for that? I searched, and yes, Sindocat, there is! National Park Service Rustic is the name usually given to the style and movement, or more informally "Parkitecture".
For the other end of my idea I riffled through "ranch" related concepts in my head until I hit on "ranch school" - which were a fad in education in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries - wilderness boarding schools intended to reshape borderline delinquents and mollycoddled milquetoasts into Hearty Outdoorsmen in a brisk, tough love, work hard play hard regimen. There it was - I had my hook.
Most of it is a big, open, two storey great room with a towering stone chimney and a gallery around the second floor:
Back behind that chimney is a snug galley kitchen and dining hall. Or study hall!
Side rooms on the ground floor are a library/study and a small gym, shower, and half bath. Side rooms on the second floor are a master suite above the study and a dormitory above the gym, with a full bath for each.
The gable roof allowed for a garret loft of five rooms: rec room, two full bedrooms, full bath, and study. I move my teen boys up here so their independent studies in comparative anatomy don't cause Embarrassed moodlets and privacy violations. (content warning: Underwear, Teen ⚠)
From a strict "ranch" PoV my ranch school build is a bit of a bust. Built for an 8 Sim household, I opted for a pool, poolhouse and covered hot tub where the paddock and stables would go. I'll probably redo this bit when I want to play horses.
There is after all a swimmable river nearby.
Still tinkering here and there, and probably saving a gallery upload for a more tested and streamlined version. But my Sims love it!
