Va. horse farm, once Robert Duvall’s, on the market for $3.7 million

HOUSE OF THE WEEK | The five-bedroom, six-bathroom main house is over 200 years old.

By Sophia Solano
February 9, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EST



In the backyard, a pool on an elevated patio. (Upward Studio)

Diane Ingoe was going through a divorce. So was Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall. She knew him through an equestrian academy in Virginia hunt country when, in 1988, he invited her to live on his Loudoun County horse farm. ... “He said, ‘Why don’t you just rent my house here?’” Ingoe said. “He was spending most of his time in New York and California then. … That’s how it all started.”

Ingoe has lived in the property’s carriage house for more than 35 years, through several owners, many renovations, and a handful of world-famous visitors. The property, Butcher’s Run, near Philomont, is about a seven-mile drive from the town of Purcellville and has a Purcellville mailing address. The main house, other buildings and 33 acres are on the market now for $3.7 million.

Duvall bought the property in 1985 but didn’t spend much time there until later, after he met his third wife, tango dancer Sharon Brophy, Ingoe said. Then came the frequent visits by well-known musicians: Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson.

“A lot of [Duvall’s] friends, a lot of guys that worked with him on a movie or something, would be here,” Ingoe said. “One day, we were just sitting around in the kitchen and all of a sudden Johnny [Cash] walked in through the door. Bobby didn’t even know he was coming.”

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By Sophia Solano
Sophia Solano is an editorial aide and freelance writer for fine arts and pop culture at The Washington Post. Before joining The Post, she worked with NBC4 Washington and Voice of America Student Union. Twitter https://twitter.com/sophiansolano