Panchoran Retreat

Outside Magazine – Winter 2006

Nyuh Kuning, Bali

If you can’t feel that good nature love here, then you may be hopeless. Because this is the eco-resort’s eco-resort – 25 acres of bamboo and coconut palm groves, waterfalls, swimming holes, organic gardens, top shelf food and guilt-free, world-class style. Linda Garland, famed British interior designer who has Branson, Bowie and Sir Mick in her rolodex, consolidated the sprawling property over 10 years and has turned it into quite possibly the world’s best example of bamboo and recycled wood construction. Situated at the confluence of three rivers, 40 natural springs feed private pools, Jacuzzis, water glasses, and gardens, so it’s no wonder that Garland is able to literally grow her own villas. The property’s unique and stimulating vibe attracts Jungian psych profs from Switzerland, global environmental leaders, and Hollywood stars. Luscious spa services are available night and day, and by the way she throws the island’s best New Year’s party – a free for all where musicians and dancers, tourists and locals, let loose for 48 hours of open hearted madness.

Room & Board

Unwind your mind in one of five open-air guest villas built from recycled Ironwood telephone poles purchased from the government, and bamboo and native grasses grown on the property. But don’t let the granola ingredients fool you. Villas are plush, furnished with one of a kind Javanese antiques and primitive art hand picked from across the Indonesian archipelago. All have spa quality bathrooms, outdoor showers, and riverside views. We’re talking earthy high design (her residence was on the cover of Architectural Digest), where it feels perfectly natural for a butterfly to flutter above your bed, or a humming bird to zip through the great room. On par with Bali’s best restaurants, the kitchen serves raw delicacies, old school Indonesian curries and fusion entrees made from fresh fish and home grown organic veggies.

Out The Back Door

Explore traditional Balinese villages and tour terraced rice paddies with local anthropologists. Hike nearby volcanoes with a Balinese Everest vet and local flora and fauna savant. Tube playful rapids solo or coupled, or float to nearby caves for a massage by candlelight. And don’t miss Garland’s Environmental Bamboo Foundation, a non-profit located on the property that preaches the gospel of sustainable bamboo construction. Tour the design studio, weave your way through thick, towering stands of bamboo, and visit the treatment facility where harvested stalks are processed for construction.

Villas range from $350 to $1,200 per night, meals included; (011) 62-361-974-028;www.lindagarland.com