Ubud Hanging Gardens to open on July 1

Ubud Hanging Gardens to open on July 1

DENPASAR: Niche hotel owner and operator Pansea Orient-Express Hotels announced the imminent opening of its latest resort property, the Ubud Hanging Gardens in Bali. The property will open on July 1 this year.

Surrounded by ancient trees and gravity-defying terraced gardens, this extraordinary haven nestles on a hillside overlooking the Ayung River gorge, and truly deserves its unusual name.

Perched adjacent to steep rice terraces looking out to a temple (Pura Penataran Dalem Segara) on the opposite hill, the breathtaking property's 38 villas are all constructed in contemporary Balinese style with thatched alang-alang roofs.

The villas are set high on wooden pillars with king-sized four-poster beds, indoor baths, outdoor showers and dramatic individual plunge pools.

The garden, conceived by the landscape architect William Warren (author of Balinese Garden, Thames & Hudson), together with John Pettigrew (another devotee of botanical gardens who created the garden at the Begawan Giri), is truly unique.

Nature becomes a spectacle here, with exotic trees and essences of the tropics -- cocoa, coffee, fruit trees, durian, rambutan, lychees, a variety of tropical bamboos, flame trees, bird of paradise flowers and orchids.

The Anglo-French architect Gordon Shaw respected the group's desire to protect the environment and utilized only local materials: alang-alang as roofing, local Batu Jaember wood, Java stone in the pools, batiks, cottons and Palimanan mural stone. --JP