Visiting Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage is always a calming experience – with its Zen cacti gardens, a great lawn, outdoor cafe, and small gallery space showcasing Modernist designers and artists. The former Annenberg estate, Sunnylands (just a short drive from Palm Springs), has welcomed presidents and royalty since the 1960s, thanks to billionaire publishing magnate Walter Annenberg, who created TV Guide, Seventeen Magazine, and one of the first TV stations out of Philadelphia. Most notable is the introductory 35-minute film showcasing the numerous presidents and celebs who brought the estate to life.

Walk the wildflower field or Great Lawn gardens and marvel at the history of this former meeting place where major ideas have been exchanged, often over golf or dinner, and international relations and laws sorted out and discussed. Admire more than 70 species of arid-adapted plants amongst twin reflecting pools filled with river stones and contemplate life on the Obama bench or while winding through a labyrinth. The museum and gardens are open Wednesday through Sunday and admission is free.

But to dive deeper into the past, book a home tour of the Annenberg’s historic winter home, a 25,000 square-foot midcentury modern masterpiece designed by architect A. Quincy Jones and interior designers William Haines and Ted Graber.

Whizz by the nine-hole golf course, many man-made lakes, and outdoor sculptures on a shuttle with 6 other guests through the 200-acre estate. You’ll get a chance to walk through the home’s grand atrium (where parties often happened); the Room of Memories, which houses photographs and correspondence from England’s royal family; and the guest bedrooms where famous visitors, including President Ronald and Nancy Reagan, stayed while visiting the Annenbergs. This midcentury modern estate feels like a true American royal residence.

Make sure to book your tour a month in advance as tickets go on sale on the 15th of each month at 9 AM and sell out quickly. Tours operate Wednesday – Sunday. The cost is $55.00 per person plus a service fee. Photos are not allowed on the inside of the home.

Besides the home tour, birding and historic walking tours are offered for a fee. Many other activities are offered complimentary, such as yoga on the Great Lawn each Friday at 10 AM, Tai Chi on Saturdays, and free kids activities on Sundays.

Take Note of These Five Things on the Sunnylands Home Tour:

An Art Collection to Dream About

Grand holiday parties were thrown in the living room entrance foyer, surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows and a massive art collection consisting of all the masters one might hope to see in a museum. Today, some of the framed famous art still exists at Sunnylands. Maybe you can spot a Monet, Rodin, Van Gogh, Giacometti, or Picasso? Most of the extensive collection has been donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Admire fine and decorative arts that Walter and Leonore Annenberg carefully placed in their home. The Sunnylands website reports that “Decorative objects include works by Tiffany & Co., Lalique, Meissen Porcelain, Boucheron, Boehm Porcelain, and Steuben glass. Assembling an important Chinese ceramic, stone, and metalwork collection was among their favorite collecting activities. These works span the Tang dynasty to the Republic of China era and include cloisonné figures and furniture, sancai-glazed funerary figures, jade and jadeite figures, and export porcelain. Other tabletop objects include selections of Georg Jensen tableware and royal pedigree English silver-gilt.”

Admire shelves of etched glassware. Outside, pose with the gold sculpture that looks like mid-century bronze splayed wings. Admire the new metal flat geometric moving sculpture in the pool that may make tunes when the wind hits it just right.

Attention to Design and Architecture

Notice the cantilever (large overhang) entrance reminiscent of Palm Springs’s former gas station (now Visitor Center) as you arrive, next to the circular driveway flanked by a 20-foot tall replica of a Mexican column at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, designed by artists José and Tomás Chávez Morado.

Design lovers will be in awe of the worldly treasures inside. Take note of the embroidered couch, a backgammon table, and mosaic-tiled floors at the entrance that appear to showcase horoscope signs.

Mint green, yellow, and blush pink were beloved hues in this household as many rooms reminded me of a candy dish. The guest house offers bedrooms each with a different color theme and matching colored jelly beans – most likely a treat offered during the Reagan era. The wallpaper prints (today reminiscent of many Palm Springs homes) match the bedspread colors and the swooping lengthy drapes. All rooms feel like you could step outside as large floor-to-ceiling windows let in that sunny desert light creating a feeling of being one with the outdoors.

Take note of the symmetry all around such as the placement of furniture – a beloved design practice of the era. The full-length windows allowed the Annenbergs to enjoy the many birds that settled in the desert environment as special feeders were placed for viewing and even amplified into the house for listening pleasure with microphones.

Don’t miss the rose garden and mature cacti that don the estate’s landscape, rising higher than the rooftops like art themselves. Palm trees and clouds reflect like a painting in the manmade lakes. And speaking of rooftops, gaze up when you are outside to admire the roof with what looks like a pink upside-down basket, presumably designed to echo the color of the nearby mountains at sunrise and sunset.

Appreciate the entertaining that went on in and out of the kitchen

Notice the beloved Celedon green color even evident in the China collection still intact in the service kitchen. Check out some of the old-school menus served to see what may have been popular dishes of the time. In one photo, you can see famous chefs like Bobby Flay serving important men seated at a long table. In one photo a young John Kerry is seated across Barack Obama and Xi Jinping and other diplomats.

Absorb history by looking at the room of old photos

The whole house feels like a living museum, especially the Room of Memories filled with framed photographs on the walls and shelves and tables – even Christmas cards from every year saved (and some framed) from the royal family. Find pictures of Queen Elizabeth and family photos of Princess Di and Charles with their sons signed. Look for photos of Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, and many presidents, celebrities, and dignitaries of the time who visited, made deals, and “partied” here. Look for autographed books and an original portrait very valuable and very old painting of George Washington.

Fascinating Facts to Ponder

The Annenbergs are buried on this property in a Mausoleum – away from the home. If you own a certain amount of land in California, you can be buried on your property.

Obama golfs here every year but doesn’t stay here. Both Trump and Biden were invited to stay here but both declined.

Mr. Annenberg sold his many business endeavors like TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, Teen Magazine, and more in the 1980s for around $3.2 billion (over $8B in today’s dollars).

What was their connection with the royal family? While their first meetings with The Queen were at formal diplomatic events, the Annenbergs fostered a friendship with several Royals during their 5-year stay in London while Walter was the U.S. Ambassador to England, from 1969 to 1974.

Check out the plaque outside the front door presented to Mr. and Mrs. Annenberg in March 1990 from the City of Rancho Mirage, declaring Sunnylands a Historic Site, in recognition of the official dinner given by President George Bush in honor of Prime Minister of Japan Toshiki Kaifu.