Reading a west-coast sunset

March 2026 · 4 min read

Ask any long-time resident of the west coast what they value most in a house and the answer is rarely the kitchen or the square footage. It is the light. A villa oriented to the western horizon turns every evening into an event, and that orientation is fixed; it cannot be renovated in.

The best parcels frame the sun without surrendering privacy, screening neighbours with mature planting while leaving the sea view open. When we assess a property, the path of the late-afternoon light is among the first things we read.