ARGYLE, Texas — If you've ever sat in your cubicle and dreamt a life of ranching, riding and roping, then we found you a deal.
Six houses, even more barns, and an in-ground pool, to boot.
And you won't even have to leave North Texas.
Oh, and you'll need about $20 million.
That's the going price for the Fossil Gate Farms ranch in Argyle, listed by broker Layne Walker of Chas S. Middleton and Son.
The Middleton and Son brokerage is no stranger to high-end ranches in Texas; they're also selling the late Boone Pickens' Mesa Vista Ranch (listed at $170 million) in the Panhandle, and they brokered the sale of the "Yellowstone"-famous Four Sixes Ranch (initially listed at $341 million) in Guthrie.
But both of those ranching properties are far from North Texas.
Fossil Gate Farms is right in the heart of it, located off Interstate 35W and Sam Davis Road, between growing developments from the Alliance area of Far North Fort Worth up to Denton.
Fossil Gate, which sits on 160 acres, was owned by Linda Gordon, a longtime quarter-horse breeder who passed away in December. Gordon and her husband, Gary, who died in 2018, raised dozens of champion halter horses at Fossil Gate.
And Fossil Gate's facilities back up that pedigree.
The property includes a show barn with a covered arena; a stud barn; two mare barns; two barns that have stalls for mares and colts; and an equipment and shavings barn.
If you're in the market for that many barns, you'll know what each one is for.
The arena and stud barns both come equipped with rubber flooring down the center, 18 and 16 stalls, respectively, and a heating and air system.
And that's just the ranch side of things.
The property also includes six houses, ranging in size from 600 square feet to 5,500 square feet.
The ranch owner's home is the largest on the property and includes a back balcony overlooking an in-ground pool. The ranch manager's home is 3,600 square feet with a two-car garage and a large back deck.
According to the property listing, the ranch could also "have the opportunity to be a large development tract." Subdivisions have been developed in and around Argyle, surrounding the ranch, and west side of the property, which runs along I-35W, will possibly be "zoned commercial along the planned access road," the listing said.
But Fossil Gate isn't an outlier in Denton County, which has been a mix of new development and ranch properties as one of the top locations for horse breeding in Texas. Denton County has more than 300 horse farms, the most in Texas, according to Texas Highways.
The sandy loam soil and mild climate make the area ideal for year-round horse training, the magazine reported.
