Sundance Ranch

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• Escape to Sundance - Utah

BUTCH CASSIDY AND HIS GANG knew how to party. After each bank robbery they’d head for their favourite saloon in Wyoming and down large quantities of Bourbon at the special bar that Butch had had shipped over from Ireland.

And now more, than a century later, that same bar, made of rosewood and riddled with bullet holes, has been taken apart, renovated and rebuilt at Robert Redford’s Sundance ranch in Utah. It’s now known as the Owl Bar and most nights you’ll find visiting jazz or country singers there.

Just as Butch Cassidy, Sundance and the rest of the gang hid from the law at the Hole in the Wall, a valley protected by steep canyons, so too Redford hides from Hollywood and stardom on this 6,000 acre property surrounded by 25,000 acres of forest just an hour’s drive from Salt Lake City.

In the winter it’s a ski resort and in the summer a place to ride, bike or stroll though glades of shimmering aspen trees. Or picnic below the peaks alongside the roaring Stewart Falls. A chairlift operates all year round and from the summit guests can enjoy panoramic views including of Redford’s private home. in the next valley.

I stayed in a rustic log cabin complete with Indian rugs and a roaring log fire, had hot stones laid on me in the softly lit spa and gradually tuned into the very Green ethos of this resort.

More than a guest ranch

Electricity is wind generated, resort vehicles are hybrid and you can watch old glass recycled and fired into decorative artwork for sale in the resort shop. It’s bizarre to think your new wine glass may have started life as a beer bottle.

In the Art Shack you can learn pottery, make jewellery and learn to paint. Redford was once an art student and his partner Sibylle is a well known artist.

Sundance has two excellent restaurants and a deli which stocks a range of foods marketed under the name of his old buddy Paul Newman, with all the profits going to charity. But Sundance is much more than a guest ranch. The visitors and restaurants are there to provide the finance for a series of film, writing and art workshops which take place every summer. And it’s this Sundance Institute, as it is called, which is Redford’s major vision.

He gets together aspiring young film directors, writers and artists and then brings in top people from their respective fields to provide tutorials and creative workshops.

Star spotting

‘I knew that Sundance wasn’t to be merely a hotel.’ he said. ‘ I never wanted to run a resort and still don’t. It was never meant to be a place for financial gain as much as for the presentation of ideas but there needed to be some kind of development otherwise I couldn’t pay for it.’

Each year in January the now famous Sundance Film Festival screens dozens of films by independent film makers both at Sundance and in nearby Park City. Some might turn into blockbuster movies and I’m excited that my tourist dollars have gone some way towards helping identify and develop the talents of a future Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese.

There’s always a chance you’ll bump into Redford. Perhaps you’ll see him out in the woods riding on his favourite Palomino or answering questions following one of the regular film screenings. You may even spot him dining with friends and family in the Tree Room restaurant. Whatever, you’ll certainly feel his influence.

A night at the ranch will set you back roughly $500 which is the same amount that you would have been paid 100 years ago for the capture of Butch Cassidy or the Sundance Kid. Dead or Alive!

He gets together aspiring young film directors, writers and artists and then brings in top people from their respective fields to provide tutorials and creative workshops.

Star spotting

‘I knew that Sundance wasn’t to be merely a hotel.’ he said. ‘ I never wanted to run a resort and still don’t. It was never meant to be a place for financial gain as much as for the presentation of ideas but there needed to be some kind of development otherwise I couldn’t pay for it.’

Each year in January the now famous Sundance Film Festival screens dozens of films by independent film makers both at Sundance and in nearby Park City. Some might turn into blockbuster movies and I’m excited that my tourist dollars have gone some way towards helping identify and develop the talents of a future Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese.

There’s always a chance you’ll bump into Redford. Perhaps you’ll see him out in the woods riding on his favourite Palomino or answering questions following one of the regular film screenings. You may even spot him dining with friends and family in the Tree Room restaurant. Whatever, you’ll certainly feel his influence.

A night at the ranch will set you back roughly $500 which is the same amount that you would have been paid 100 years ago for the capture of Butch Cassidy or the Sundance Kid. Dead or Alive!