Hidden in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest, Fawn Bluff is now a luxe buy-out-only homestead. Entrée Canada. See more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on Google Forget the Dutton ranch. Years before starring as the matriarch of “The Madison,” Michelle Pfeiffer ruled over a very different landscape— and now, you can rent it for yourself.
The Hollywood superstar and her equally awards-laden husband, David E. Kelley, built a hideaway for themselves surrounded by Canada’s Great Bear Rainforest, before making the rugged lodge their home-from-home for a decade.
Three years ago, the property known as Fawn Bluff was snapped up by a French entrepreneur who has spent millions transforming it from a tony private home into the ultimate adventure lodge.
Even better, the money made here won’t power his private plane. Instead, it funnels cash to the Indigenous community who’ve long called this part of British Columbia home, including via an addiction center intended to address the substance abuse problems so common in rural areas.
Fawn Bluff has operated in stealth mode for a while, finessing its offering off-radar until it was truly primed for launch; owner David Tuchbant declared it ready this summer. The ultimate luxe buyout is a six-bedroom lodge sitting in 340 acres of pristine land, about an hour’s seaplane ride from Vancouver that’s the ultimate immersion in Canada’s most rugged wilds.
“Everywhere you look there’s water, and fast growing life,” said the Frenchman, a father of five who made his fortune running his family’s car rental business. “I feel dry everywhere else in the world.”
Tuchbant is an avid diver, who first came here to scope out orcas. And because you can scuba in both the ocean and the river nearby, Fawn Bluff offers guided dives with oceanographer Maxwell Hohn, every moment of which he’ll record (for an extra fee).
“The plan for the fall, when the salmon run, is to go diving in the river then and enjoy the salmon run from the inside,” Tuchbant teased. “You are the grizzly.”
He’s just upgraded the lakeside facilities, too, adding a sauna, hot tub and a moving platform for swimmers to dive off of into the cooling waters.
“We’ve always spent long days with the family drifting on the lake,” he said of his own experiences there. “It’s a magical place.”
You can also visit Quadra Island, a quirky spot filled with small farms that supply much of the meat and vegetables used in the kitchens at Fawn Bluff. This is a regenerative operation entirely intended to bolster the fortunes of the Homalco First Nation which has long called this land home.
“There is no direct financial support — everything we do, we do it together,” he said. “We’ve already started to host the Homalco, and visit them. We share more than stories, meals and techniques.”
A local elder, Chief Darren Blaney just asked the lodge’s chef for help cooking seal, which the Homalco people here have special permission to hunt. The chef also works with the First Nations to forage on land and from the water, and guests can tag along; trips like that often end with shrimp or salmon fishing in those vast waters nearby.
“It’s a slow and patient game,” he said, of the chance to idle on the waters here at sunset, “We have a special rule at Fawn Bluff: We only fish for what we eat, and we all eat the same.”
Tuchbant isn’t rushing to remake the entire property and flip it for a profit, either. In fact, he considers this a generational commitment, one that his kids will likely steer long after he’s dead. Over the next couple of years, for example, he’ll rebuild and upgrade the staff camp here, as well as finesse the hydroelectric power operations onsite. He does hope, though, to expand the luxe regenerative tourism model to other parts of the country by tacking on similar luxe lodges to scientific projects in remote areas, helping to fund the work via high-end tourism.
Have Pfeiffer and Kelley been back to see what he’s done to their onetime home? “We did send each other little notes [when I bought the property],” Tuchbant said shyly. “I’m positive they’ll come back and have a look soon.”
Fawn Bluff’s inaugural season runs from June 1 through Oct. 15, 2026. Nightly rates for up to 12 adults and four children from roughly $18,000 plus tax with a minimum of a four-night stay.
