Four years ago,

fitness pioneer Tracy Anderson was at a crossroads in her romantic life. The CEO and creator of her own hugely successful business, Tracy Anderson Method (TAM), was living in New York City with her then five-year-old daughter Penny (her son Sam was in art school) and getting over a broken heart. “I love being in love,” says the vivacious, impossibly young-looking 46-year-old over a Zoom call in early May. “But I was confused about relationships and felt like I was done with the whole thing. I thought, ‘I’m going to raise Penny and when I’m older and more mature, I might find a companion.’”

Thanks to a very persistent friend, who insisted she knew the “nicest guy,” Tracy went on a blind date with Chris Asplundh (pronounced Ah-splund), a handsome tree expert from Bucks County, Pennsylvania whose family owns one of the largest tree service companies in the world. Despite taking her to see Hamilton, the hottest show on Broadway, and being a perfect gentleman, Tracy was unenthusiastic and almost ruined the date. “I wasn’t on my best behavior,” she confesses. “I was pretty cold and standoffish but…he was so sweet!” She asked him out for coffee a few days later and this time the sparks flew. “We’ve been together ever since.”

Over the next few months, Tracy fell in love with both Chris and the quaint Pennsylvania village of New Hope, near where he grew up and had just built his dream house. “New Hope is a very welcoming, artsy place. It was home to one of the oldest gay bars in America [the Raven’s Nest closed in 2019], which I loved, and home to the famous Bucks County Playhouse,” Tracy says, referring to an 80-year-old theater that was the launching pad for many hit Broadway shows. Tracy didn’t, however, fall in love with Chris’s brand-new bachelor pad. “Oh, it’s a beautiful home on the Delaware River, an architectural beauty, but it’s not family-friendly,” laughs Tracy. “It’s all open—I don’t think you can even go to the bathroom privately there! And

there was some artwork on the walls of Kate Moss in her underwear. Needless to say, Kate came down real quick!”

When the couple decided to look for a place they could share and raise Penny, they toured a few historical homes in the New Hope area. “We drove up to this place and I loved the vibe of the land,” says Tracy, who was born and raised in Noblesville, Indiana on what she describes as a four-acre hobby farm, complete with goats, sheep, chickens, and turkeys. She didn’t connect with the way the house looked or how it was decorated but she appreciated its charm and soon was on board to make it their home. After a bidding war to win the place, they bought it in May 2020, during the global pandemic.

Over the next year, Tracy, Chris—now her fiancé—Penny, and Sam (who was a year shy of graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York City) quarantined in Florida on Chris’s Black Boar Ranch. Working with master carpenter Denny McIlhinney to renovate the house, landscape craftsman Jerry Fritz to design the gardens and reshape their 14 acres of land, and interior designer Judy King, they began the remodeling of their 100-year-old house— from a very safe distance—and moved in in November 2020. Tracy takes us on a tour of her new home and the lush landscape surrounding it, which, as she describes, “is nothing short of magical.”

“We wanted this place to be our home. It feels like my roots and we wanted that for Penny.”

Where would you begin a tour with a visiting guest?

I would definitely start with outside first. As soon as you walk through the gate it’s a magical adventure. What Jerry Fritz and Chris did with the land is incredible. There are the hills everywhere and the infinity pool drops off so you can see gorgeous cornfields. Our neighbors are real sheep herders. They take them out and cross the road each day. It’s like living in Europe.

What renovations did you do inside?

We gutted the kitchen. We added a giant stone fireplace in the library. We brought that stone from Europe, it’s literally from ancient times. And we put a screening room in the basement.

How many rooms do you have?

Chris and I don’t like big homes, this has 10 rooms in all. The main area is four rooms: a formal living room, a main living room that comes into the kitchen, and the amazing dining room. There’s the primary bedroom, three upstairs bedrooms, and in the basement is the playroom and the screening room. It’s not too big, but we are building a guesthouse soon.

What are your favorite rooms?

Probably the dining room. The wallpaper was all hand-painted by artist Terry Comella. Chris tends to gravitate to the library with the stone fireplace. And Penny loves her bedroom. It’s pink with Gucci wallpaper. That was a labor of love for Denny. Penny told him, “I like cozy places so I need a house within the house where I can go.”

Who’s your favorite interior designer?

I lived in a Steven Gambrel house in Sag Harbor for awhile. He’s brilliant. I loved being in his space. I worked with decorator Judy King here. Judy said it’s great to work with someone who knows what they like but what I realized quickly is that I don’t like a lot of things. [Laughs.] Chris and I picked out every paint color together. I had so much fun sitting with fabrics and textures and only picking things that I really loved.

Have you made any major art purchases?

We just commissioned the two paintings in the main room. Carolina Paz is an up-and-coming artist who graduated with Sam this year. I love this woman’s work so much. The statements she

makes are all about space. I have special edition Star Wars blueprints in Sam’s bedroom and we have all of Eric’s jerseys hanging in the movie room. [Pro basketball player Eric Anderson was Tracy’s first husband and Sam’s dad. He passed away in 2018.] And of course, I am getting artwork from Sam as well but he’s taking his time on giving me access to it.

You grew up on a hobby farm. Any plans to do the same here?

Oh, yes! We’ve fenced in a bunch of acres. We’ve got bunnies, chickens. We’re getting goats and little ponies. We also have a huge garden. Chris and Penny love to tend the garden. We’ve got five different kinds of basil and herbs, kale, lettuce, cucumbers—and that’s just the green section. There are cutting flowers and hydrangea trees. And we’ve got flowering pear trees.