Planning: Splendid isolation

I'm something of a hermit.  My dream house would be in the middle of a forest.  Or field.  Or any environment where I can't see civilization from any window.  But I'm definitely not self- sufficient.  I have to be located close enough to the city where I could work and find clients and get food.

It's not an unusual desire; wanting to be alone while enjoying the resources and security of society.  But is it possible to achieve?  I think so.  First, we need to know how much distance is necessary to create a buffer around the house. That's what I realized on the way home from work.

Seattle is a beautiful city. One of my favorite features are the lush forests. Even when you're on the freeway it feels like you're driving through logging country. But it's an illusion. Behind the thick forest is a suburban neighborhood. To illustrate, this is how it looks from the freeway:

This is how it looks from above:

[via Google Maps]

Roughly estimating from the aerial photo, that 'forest' is about 144' deep.  (Holy smokes.  That's a lot deeper than I thought.)

Well, no matter.  Let's keep going.  If 144' of dense planting is needed to create the illusion of living in a forest, I would want a plot of land that would allow me to have a 144' buffer all around.  For a 4900 square foot plot (house + yard), this would mean a diagram like this:

So overall, this would require about 128,164 square feet.  That's about three acres.  Yikes.  Somehow, I thought isolation would be easier to achieve.  Maybe the steep slope of the freeway buffer makes it appear to be more shallow?  To test this hypothesis, I'll look for landscapes that are on a flatter grade.

To be continued...