France in the high desert

Jul. 2—In real estate, escape usually comes down to one of two things: escape to or escape from. Sometimes they're even one and the same, as in the case of 11 Polmood Farm, a rolling expanse of 5.6 acres in Tesuque that feels like a European villa . . . a French villa, to be exact. Polmood is both an escape from—an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life (not so much Santa Fe but bigger urban megalopolises, such as New York, Dallas, Los Angeles)—and an escape to. Or rather into. In Polmood's case, escaping into what's there: peacefulness, quiet, greenery, sky.

"It has a European flair," says Cary Spier, who's listing the property alongside fellow Santa Fe Properties realtor Deborah Bodelson. "And the prolific grounds here are so special. It's like a public park, only it's private. It's secluded but also so close to the city."

Tesuque alone is plenty idyllic, and almost any home or piece of land in this village tends to induce a feeling of prelapsarian calm. The 2023 population count puts it at a can't-be-right 894, and even adding in the residents of the Pueblo of Tesuque — a mere 425 — still seems embarrassingly low. Settled as a farming community as far back as 850 CE, it's only nine miles from the Plaza and is technically part of Santa Fe's metro area. The 17,000 acres of abundant piñon and juniper, with its centuries-old and very sophisticated acequia network, was given the Tewa name Te Tesugeh Oweengeh, or "village of the narrow place of the cottonwood trees." The area has caught outsiders' interest since the Spanish first discovered its six villages in 1541.

Among those who've been drawn to Tesuque: Ali MacGraw, Cormac McCarthy, Oprah Winfrey, Val Kilmer and Ted Danson. And, specific to 11 Polmood Farm — the origin of the name is murky, but "Polmood" is an estate in Scotland — one of its first residents was Theodore Van Soelen, a Minnesota-born painter and member of the Santa Fe Art Colony who was also an elected member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences. He and his wife, Virginia Carr, settled there with their three children in 1926.

Sometime after the Van Soelens left, singer-songwriter Roger Miller moved in with his second wife, Mary Arnold. This was probably in the late '70s or early '80s (a generally hazy, hippie-ish time in Northern New Mexico). Back then, Miller's neighbors included the Duchess of Windsor, and Jessica Lange and her partner, Sam Shepard. Shepard fictionalized an encounter with Miller in his 2009 play, Ages of the Moon. There's also an apocryphal but believable tale of the "King of the Road" singer-songwriter partaking in an epic weekend-long dope-smoking binge with future marijuana poster boy Willie Nelson — right there in 11 Polmood.

All this, of course, was before the current owner, who prefers to remain anonymous, took over — and before the owner before this one completely renovated the property in 1994-95. A diehard Francophile (from Texas), the previous owner imported all the stone floors and fixtures from France. "She did everything she could to make the place authentically French," says Bodelson. "She kept all the charm, but did all the structural renovations needed to make it completely livable. Everything has a beautiful European flavor."

That indoor flavor wouldn't be as delectable as it is without the surrounding beauty of the land itself. Depending on the time of year, it can almost look so overgrown, so green, so bursting with plant life that you might mistake it for an abandoned French farmhouse that's been overtaken and reclaimed by nature. And the acequia that runs through the entire property is what makes 11 Polmood truly unique.

In an area where water is so precious, having an active acequia (and a private well) isn't just a pragmatic bonus, it's a literal element that gives the entire property an almost transcendental feel. As the bumper stickers often remind people here in New Mexico, Agua es vida ("Water is life"). And at 11 Polmood Farm, courtesy of its wraparound acequia, life is bursting everywhere one looks: from the greenhouse and the orchards to the tiered rose gardens between the main house and the guest house, and from the grapevines to the cottonwoods and aspens. There are also vine-covered walkways, bridges, pastures, portals, patios and outdoor paths and sitting areas.

As Spier aptly describes 11 Polmood, "It's a country home with soul and heart."

France in the high desert