About Us

The Lyon family is proud to continue a rich ranching history. For approximately 6 decades the ranch was operated as a dairy by Swiss Italians who, like many others in the area, immigrated here in the late 1800’s to find new opportunities on land that reminded them of their homeland. They hand-milked their cows in the ranch barns and separated the cream from milk in the small building adjoining the barns. The product was taken by wagon to creameries in Cayucos and Harmony where it was made into butter and cheese and loaded on to ships at the wharf in Cayucos. When regulations made small dairies obsolete on the central coast, a shift was made from milk cows to raising beef cattle on the ranch.

The Lyons have had success with raising high quality and healthy Hass avocados, Valencia oranges and beef cattle. In 1999 Cottontail Creek Ranch added another branch to their operation, a luxury ranch vacation rental. The ranch house has been a successful addition toward achieving viable sustainable agriculture. Your hosts Susan, Kristopher and Michael Lyon invite you to join them for a getaway that will demand an encore!

Roger (Chopper) Lyon April 23, 1949 - October 15, 2010
Let us say farewell to a great person. Chop was a good father, son, uncle, grandfather, husband, and friend to all of us and he will be dearly missed. He will always be remembered and will forever remain in our hearts. Chop leaves a huge legacy in land conservation from the Hearst Ranch Conservation of 80,000 acres to the Estero Bluffs 4 miles of the north Cayucos coastline. We thank you forever.

Read below for details.

Ranch Philosophy

Roger Lyon founded the Cayucos Land Conservancy which, with an active volunteer board and membership, continues efforts to create a green belt surrounding Cayucos. CLC holds a conservation easement on the Estero Bluffs State Park (4 miles of coastline north of Cayucos) and most recently purchased a conservation easement on the 900 acre San Geronimo Ranch with its 2 miles of ocean view overlooking Estero Bluffs directly across Highway One. You can learn more and be a part of the dream to complete the green belt ... by joining cayucoslandconservancy.org.

We believe one person makes a difference.

Learn more about land conservation: SLO Tourism Land Conservation Fund.