Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Two parcels of land

60 metres along a gravel road, 40 metres deep. 2,400 square metres.

Today

Flat, open, quiet

Former farmland. Power at the road. Mountains behind.

First

Paths, beds and a pond

A drive from the gate, a path round the garden, vegetable beds, water.

Then

A home for the practice

Cottages, a meditation sala by the lotus pond, a kitchen hall that opens to the garden.

And

Room for guests

A two-storey homestay and a yoga pavilion for twenty, facing the mountains.

Grow

Shade, fruit and flowers

Palms along the front, rain trees at the back, frangipani in the garden.

Evening

The first class

Mats on the deck. The lamps come on. Someone sits in the sala.

Baan Suan Punsuk

The garden home that shares happiness

Yoga and homestay with Tarin, Kanchanaburi.

Scroll to build the retreat
An artist's impression of the retreat from above the lane, with the kitchen hall, homestay and yoga pavilion around a garden and mountains behind

Baan Suan Punsuk

A garden home that shares happiness

Baan Suan Punsuk is the retreat Ben and I are building in Kanchanaburi, two hours west of Bangkok, in the province of the River Kwai and the Erawan falls. The name is Thai: baan is home, suan is garden, and punsuk means to share happiness.

The land is two adjoining parcels on a quiet gravel road, 60 metres along the road and 40 metres deep. It was farmland, so it is flat and open, with power at the road and mountains behind. Nothing is built yet. This page is the plan, drawn to scale, and it will change as we learn.

The heart of it is simple: a pavilion where twenty people can practise yoga facing the mountains, a small sala for meditation beside a lotus pond, a kitchen hall that opens to the garden, and rooms for guests who want to stay a few days.

The Film

Watch the Land Become the Retreat

Eighty-four seconds, from the survey line to the first class. The music is a singing bowl.

Baan Suan Punsuk, Kanchanaburi. A model to scale, not a photograph; the buildings will change as the design does.
2,400 m²
Two parcels

A 20 by 40 and a 40 by 40, side by side

60 m
Along the road

40 metres deep

20
Mats in the pavilion

Facing the mountains

2 hrs
From Bangkok

Kanchanaburi province

The Plan

What We Are Building

Yoga pavilion

An open timber deck under a Thai roof, room for twenty mats, looking north to the mountains.

Meditation sala

A small open sala in the trees beside a lotus pond, for sitting practice and quiet.

Homestay

A two-storey guest house near the gate, so a retreat can be two or three days, not an afternoon.

Kitchen hall

One long table under one roof. Cooking from the garden beds, eating together.

Gardens

Vegetable rows, a pond, palms along the front and shade trees at the back.

Cottages and home

Two small cottages along the western side, and our own home at the back of the block.

How It Happens

Step by Step

  1. 01

    The land

    Bought, surveyed and fenced. Power and water to the boundary.

  2. 02

    The plan

    A site plan to scale, then drawings for the pavilion and the kitchen hall first.

  3. 03

    The build

    Pavilion, sala and gardens, then the homestay and cottages as the retreat finds its feet.

  4. 04

    The first retreat

    A small group, a few days, yoga at dawn and dinner under the lamps.

Artist's Impressions

How It Might Feel

Artist's impression of dawn in the yoga pavilion, mats on the deck and the mountains beyondArtist's impression of the meditation sala beside the lotus pondArtist's impression of the kitchen hall at dusk, one long table under lampsAn earlier artist's impression of the site from above with the buildings labelled

Want to hear when the first retreat is announced?

Register Your Interest