Fort Bragg, CA — Will Jackson, a retired Wall Street investment manager on the East Coast, had never set foot on this rugged and picturesque Mendocino coast before. Even so, when he spied a for-sale ad in the Wall Street Journal in 1985 for an 850-acre cattle ranch here with more than a mile of oceanfront land, he grew intrigued.

So much so that he called a friend who lived in the area and asked him to go investigate. The friend’s verdict? That Jackson ought to high-tail it out this way to snap it up.

He did just that, falling in love at first sight. In 1986, Jackson took over the property, which back then had only a small B&B.

In 2016, he officially opened The Inn at Newport Ranch, an intimate luxury inn that boasts 10 distinct accommodations, plus a gourmet restaurant that’s open only to guests.

Over the years, he’s expanded the property to more than 2,200 sweeping acres. I had a chance to explore this secluded property recently when I was invited to stay as a guest of the inn.

About a 3 1/2-hour drive north of San Francisco, the last mile or so on Highway 1 will take you on winding turns surrounded by breathtaking, old-growth redwoods. The oft-present foggy mist will eventually reveal the California ranch-style inn built next to a majestic cypress tree that’s more than 130 years old.

With only 10 accommodations on a sprawling property, you may find that the staff outnumbering the guests especially on a Monday and Tuesday in late-spring like we did. It makes for an especially tranquil time at a place where you really feel like you’re leaving behind the hectic pace of everyday life.

In fact, one of the guests was there to experience the newly opened sweat lodge on the property — for the second time. No wonder the property’s solitude has drawn guests such as Sir Nicholas Clegg, former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom, and actor Terrence Howard.

The accommodations start at $775 for a room in the main house and go up to more than twice that from there, though, many of the larger suites can sleep up to 4 and come with their own hot tub.

We were in one such suite, The Grove, which comes complete with two queen bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, a large living room with fireplace and views of the ocean, and a private deck with hot tub.

The first thing you notice upon stepping inside are the soaring, natural timber columns. The trunks extend up to the towering ceiling and even down into the level below where a conference room is located. You feel as if you’re living inside a massive tree house.

Behind this suite is the ranch garden, filled with raised beds blooming with lettuces and herbs, where you’re free to wander. Around the property are a couple more raised beds, where strawberries are just starting to ripen. And a little farther afoot, an even larger chef’s garden.

On Monday nights, the restaurant is closed, but you can enjoy a picnic-style dinner delivered to your room ($45 for two). On the evening we were there, it included a big bowl of fanciful greens from the garden with buttermilk vinaigrette; hearty, chewy, house-baked sourdough bread (made with a starter nicknamed “Chelsea”) with cultured butter; potato and sugar snap pea salad seasoned with smoked kelp for an deep umami taste; creamy smoked cod mousse that would be divine on a bagel; a platter of Benton’s country ham, Pennyroyal reserve goat cheese, aged cheddar, olives, and house-made pickles; and two fudgy, dark chocolate tahini brownies.

The next morning, take a seat in the main dining room for breakfast, which is included in your stay. There will be more of that fabulous sourdough bread with butter and Meyer lemon marmalade; a dish of blueberries and tangerines; thick, sweet porky bacon from Fort Bragg’s Roundman’s Smokehouse; scrambled eggs flavored with miso atop toast; and a pastry such as mini strawberry-rhubarb galettes.

The inn offers a series of private UTV tours, including a 2-hour one that includes lunch ($135 per person), which is the one we were booked on. Given the size of the property, it’s the best way to get a feel for the diversity of the landscape, especially if you’re lucky enough to get guide Otis Brown, one of the longest-tenured employees at the inn, as your driver. His wife is in charge of the gardens, and her knowledge of all the flora has rubbed off on Brown, who can identify anything you come across including wild ginger, medicinal angelica that smells like gin, California nutmeg trees, and even candy cap mushrooms.

The area was once home to the Yuki tribes, and remnants of their flint tools can still be found here and there on the property. Then came the lumber barons who made their fortune logging the massive redwoods in the 1850s. But the town of Newport fell by the wayside once lumber operations later moved to Fort Bragg, whose port was easier to navigate,

It remains a mesmerizing place with its vastly contrasting landscapes — from pounding ocean coastline to verdant pastureland where 300 cows (mostly Black Angus) roam to dense redwood forest with streams of salmon.

On the coastal side, whales can be spotted almost year-round, and sea lions lounging on Secret Beach. On the forest side, the inn has inoculated alderwood logs that in six months will sprout shiitakes and oyster mushrooms. That’s in addition to the golden chanterelles, hedgehog, and porcini that grow wildly.

As part of the tour, you’ll even get a chance to plant a baby redwood. So far, guests have planted more than 8,000 already. Why are the saplings needed? Because black bears have taken to eating the bark of redwoods, inflicting irreparable damage. Brown pointed to a few trees that had been recently stripped by bears, and even showed us a bear paw print made recently by a 300- to 400-pound bear. Gulp.

You can see why Jackson, who also sits on the board of Shelburne Farms, a 1,400-acre working farm in Vermont that operates a nonprofit education center for sustainability, couldn’t resist this place.

He may be 96 now and reside mostly in Vermont, but he still visits often, according to Brown, and is grooming the next generation of family to oversee the property.

His imprint is all around, most notably in the 15 hand-crafted, driftwood benches and tables found around the property in seemingly random spots. But Jackson has a thing for picnics, Brown explained, and picked the spot for each one purposefully to relax a spell. A few even have built-in cup holders.

It was a little too chilly in mid-May to enjoy lunch at one of those benches, so we opted to enjoy ours by a roaring fireplace inside the inn instead. We unpacked the big insulated bag to dig into bacon and apple sandwich, roasted veggie sandwich, a grain salad sprinkled with sesame seeds, bags of Sun Chips, and house-baked chocolate chip cookies.

The inn is in the process of hiring a new executive chef, with the recent departure of Patrick Meany. No doubt, it will hire someone top-notch, if the past is any indication. After all, Meany previously cooked at Michelin two-starred Harbor House in Elk, and Michelin three-starred Per Se in New York.

A $140-per-person tasting menu is offered. That evening it opened with Kumamoto oysters on the half shell, their briny, sweet melon flavors complemented by a verjus mignonette.

Spring asparagus spears and baby turnips got kissed by the fire, bringing out their natural sweetness, that was set off by spiced yogurt.

Next came more of that fabulous house sourdough bread with cultured butter. Then, it was on to my favorite dish of the night: local rockfish smoked over alderwood from the property, which gave it a sweet smokiness. Pureed squash with miso, plus crunchy sugar snap peas were the final touches.

That was followed by king salmon with a delightful sweet-sour plum taste from being brushed with an ume glaze. Alongside, came a bowl of Anson Mills gold rice dotted with pickled vegetables and furikake. The rice texture was almost a cross between risotto and porridge, soft, wet, and a little broken down.

Dessert was a fluffy, creamy cheesecake with a blueberry compote, and a shower of toasted hazelnuts for crunch.

The last bites were chocolates dusted with bay laurel salt, which added a nice herbal, slight eucalyptus edge.

The next morning, we awoke to breakfast of potato-studded quiche, bacon, sourdough bread with jam, fresh strawberries and tangerines, and coffeecake-like muffins.

I admit that I was unaware of the inn’s existence until now. Now, I couldn’t be more glad that this peaceful place exists in such an alluring part of Northern California. No doubt, you’ll feel the same if you visit.