Now building · opening in phases
A nature-first wellness resort on 30 acres of cedar forest in Cedar Creek, twenty minutes from downtown Austin. Twelve stained-glass domes, a limestone waterfall pool, a garden-to-table kitchen, and the coyotes, bobcats and night sky that were here first.
“The health of a species is the habitat made visible.”— Dan Mages, co-founder
It started as a place we lived. Then it became a place people came to.
Friends used to come over for dinner. Then they started staying the weekend: out on the hikes, back for s’mores by the fire, up again for the stars. They left different than they arrived. As we like to say: it’s called an experience.
So The Heavens became a community project: a resort built inside a living habitat, not on top of it. Restore the land, and the land restores you.
Healthy ecosystems create healthy humans.
Every choice follows from that line. Aircrete domes that sit lightly on the ground, reclaimed cedar, food grown a few steps from the kitchen, and trails that leave room for the animals who use them in broad daylight.
The question underneath it all: what would it mean to become at home in a place again, to belong to it the way the oaks and the coyotes do?
Not a dinner. Not a day trip. Three days, roughly like this.
Leave the car, leave the week. The trail to your room starts at the old ranch house.
Every dome is named for a constellation. After dark, step outside and look for yours.
Through live oak and cedar, past the gardens, down to the little bridge over the water.
Wade in from the limestone beach. Sit under the waterfall. Nobody is in a hurry.
Garden-to-table in the old ranch house: organic, non-GMO, cooked without seed oils.
The oldest part of the weekend, and still the best one.
Morning practice in the open air, the forest waking up around you.
That’s the whole idea. Come back when you need it again.
Three ways to stay, each one built by hand and each one a little different from the next.
Twelve aircrete domes in a Spanish Neo-Gothic spirit, each named for a constellation. Handcrafted stained glass from Blue Moon Glassworks, reclaimed cedar, sculptural one-of-one interiors, down to sinks carved from cedar slabs.
12 domes · no two alikeOvernight villas and studios set right on the pool, so the sound of the falls is the last thing you hear.
Poolside · overnightGlamping in the cedar forest, closer to the trails, the night sky and whoever crosses the bridge at dawn.
In the nature preserveA 200,000-gallon, all-natural, beach-entry pool laid in Texas limestone, fed by a 12-foot waterfall. The largest of its kind at any resort in Austin.
The old 3,200 sq ft ranch house becomes Oeste, a garden-to-table restaurant with a juice and spirits bar.
A 450-seat amphitheater, a yoga pagoda, and 30 acres of forest to hold the rest, built by a co-founder who has produced more than a thousand live events.
Behind the house there’s a little footbridge over the water. Put a camera on it for one week and this is who walks across, in the middle of the day.
One week on one bridge: coyotes, skunks, and a bobcat carrying a rabbit. The resort is being built around them, not instead of them.
Seen: crossing the bridge, midday
The regular. Usually trotting, never in a hurry.
Seen: on the bridge, rabbit in mouth
Short tail, tufted ears, very busy.
Seen: on the bridge
Gets right of way. Always.
Seen: all over the property
Lunch, if the bobcat gets there first.
Shade for the gatherings
The forest the domes sit in
Along the trails
Hill Country native
Thirty acres, walked in the order most weekends go.
Cedar Creek, Bastrop County, off Northside Lane and FM 535, on the quiet east side of Austin.
We’re opening in phases while the domes, the pool and the gardens come together. Join the list for opening dates, first-weekend invitations and the occasional bobcat sighting.