Villa Bendega

Villa Bendega

Created by a family who have been coming here for more than ten years, Bendega Villa embraces all they love about being in Bali. The villa’s design combines traditional Balinese architecture with clean modern lines, numerous indoor and outdoor spaces that allow groups to gather but also allow the privacy to get away from everyone and everything. Set in almost an acre of wonderful tropical gardens overlooking the rice fields, the villa is a short walk from the beach and a short drive to the chic restaurants and bars of Seminyak; close to the excitement of Bali but far enough away to ensure a traditional Balinese experience.

Designed in partnership with internationally renowned architect Glenn Parker, Bendega Villa respects the style, proportion and symmetry of traditional Balinese architecture within a modern tropical design. Built as a series of five pavilions totalling almost 1,000 m2 and constructed with uncompromising attention to detail, the villa is finished with the highest quality materials including Indonesian hardwood floors, Balinese ceramics, Indian sandstone and Italian travertine, chosen for their natural beauty and durability.

Bendega Villa offers plenty of private spaces to get away from it all and unwind. The four large bedrooms, each with en-suite bathrooms and private balconies, are positioned to capture stunning views. A reading balé, a gym and massage room with outdoor bath, a library with 50-inch plasma TV, a games room complete with pool table, and a sun deck hidden below the pool provide ample opportunities for relaxation. For getting groups together, the villa has a stunning open sitting area that overlooks the rice fields, a separate air-conditioned dining room with a table that seats up to 20, a pool pavilion with outdoor dining for 10 and an 11m x 11m infinity-edge pool, both situated to catch the fabulous Bali sunsets.

The villa’s contemporary design is enhanced, outside and in, with thoughtfully chosen Balinese and Javanese sculptures, cabinets and artefacts – many of them antique – as well as bright floral fabrics and custom-printed traditional ikat textiles that bring the stylish dark-wood furniture to vivid life. State-of-the-art facilities include a Sonos digital music system that can be programmed to match musical moods in several different ’zones’, a modern kitchen, satellite television and DVD players and air conditioning in all the indoor areas.

The extensive gardens surrounding Bendega Villa are laid out as a series of courtyards separated by the pavilions, three large koi-filled ponds and two large lawns. The gardens are dotted with frangipani, oil palms, jasmine, yuccas, African tulip trees and an abundance of tropical fruit.

Finally, a dedicated, discreet team of staff, including an excellent chef, are on hand to look after visitors with wide smiles and willing service, leaving you free to indulge in the special charm and beauty of Bali.

Villa Orientation
Bendega Villa has been carefully designed to maximize its 3,900m2 of land amidst the rice terraces of Canggu. The villa’s six buildings form a rough ’H’ shape, with the main living and sleeping accommodation spread across the two-story horizontal bar of the ’H’, and one of the three master bedrooms, the pool pavilion, the gym and the staff quarters forming the four ’prongs’. This pleasing symmetry is carried through to many elements within the villa, including the 11m2 swimming pool which lies between the pool pavilion and a master bedroom pavilion.

Bedrooms
Every bedroom at Bendega Villa has lovely open views across the greener-than-green rice fields of Canggu. The villa can accommodate eight people in three king-bedded rooms and one twin bedroom (which can convert into a fourth king-bedded room). There is capacity to add two more fold-away beds for children if required. All bedrooms are generously sized, tastefully furnished, and have en-suite bathrooms and outdoor balconies.

Sitting Room
Two sets of tall sliding doors at the entrance to the main building open to reveal a spectacular open-air, double-height sitting room which faces the garden and pool, and overlooks the rice fields beyond. This space, which seats 12, is simply but very stylishly furnished with two oversized black teak sofas and armchairs set around matching coffee tables. The black upholstery is brought to life with vibrant contrasting green and orange patterned scatter cushions.

Along the back wall of the sitting room, an ancient canoe has been topped with glass and transformed into a 6m-long table; a stunning centerpiece for a buffet dinner. Above the canoe, 10 antique carved wooden panels are framed against the golden sandstone walls. A galleried timber walkway runs above the sitting area and then ducks back to the upstairs of the bedrooms, providing another opportunity to enjoy the views.

Dining Room & Kitchen
To the right of the sitting room, glass sliding doors lead into the formal, wooden-floored, dining room, showcasing a massive, 5m-long solid Marbau dining table which will seat up to 20 people. More sliding glass doors open onto the garden at the front, while a large mirror is set in an antique door frame at the far end of the room. A charming old green glass-fronted cabinet houses glassware and crockery next to a door which leads through to the kitchen.

The kitchen at Bendega Villa reflects the owners’ love of cooking. The fully-fitted, air-conditioned, modern kitchen has such appeal that it’s almost tempting to give the chef a day off! Dark wood cabinets, cream-colored Corian work tops and glass splash-backs create clean lines, while a central island worktop ensures plenty of space.

The chef’s biggest delight is the range of equipment available to him here – including an extra large oven, a Jura Impressa coffee machine, waffle-maker, Cuisinart panini toaster, ice cream maker and dishwasher, to name but a few. The kitchen is also equipped with two large fridges, and a freezer and wine fridge in the pantry.

Library
On the other side of the open-air sitting room is the comfortable library and adjoining games room. A set of floor-to-ceiling shelves contain numerous books on Bali and Indonesia as well as more popular holiday reading. The library has a 50-inch flat-screen television with DVD player and more than 50 international satellite channels. An L-shaped, five-seater sofa and two orange, green and cream floral print chairs offer plenty of comfort in front of the TV.

Games Room
The games room is almost completely surrounded by glass and can be opened up on three sides to the gardens if desired. A high, round table and bar stools plus two easy chairs provide seating for spectators. While the full-sized pool table is the center of attention, there is a wide selection of games, for those less adept with the cue.

Across from the library and games room is a delightful guest washroom. Finished in warm Indian Sandstone, and furnished with a very beautiful antique cabinet featuring colorfully painted Indonesian characters, this washroom opens into a small walled garden planted with frangipani trees and decorated with carved stone panels and pedestals.

Pool & Pool Pavilion
Across the lawn, directly opposite the sitting room, the 11m x 11m stone-tiled infinity-edged swimming pool overlooks the rice fields. As well as being large enough for some serious swimming, the pool is perfectly positioned for sunset cocktails, which can be enjoyed from the wide stone ’shelves’ set into the pool at just the right depth.

To the right of the pool a large open-sided pavilion is home to a huge L-shaped daybed, upholstered in waterproof orange Sunbrella fabric and scattered with bright, sunny cushions; and you can roll straight into the pool from the matching beanbags at the edge of the pool deck.

The round table and chairs at the center of the pool pavilion will seat up to 10 people for casual outdoor dining. This is a great place to congregate at the start of the day for a ’come-as-you-please’ breakfast. Behind a sliding louvered door at one side of the pool pavilion is a water cooler, bar fridge and sink neatly set into cupboards and counter top. Around the corner from here a door leads into a guest changing room with toilet and shower.

Garden Bale
To the far side of the lawn, perched over another koi pond that leads to one of the bedrooms, is a peaceful relaxation bale furnished with a comfortable daybed, floor cushions and two petrified-wood stools.

Gym & Massage Room
To the right of the entry courtyard, a stepping-stone pathway leads across the lawn to the gym and massage room, housed in its own private pavilion. This room is divided by a folding carved wood screen, with a massage bed on one side and an exercise bike and treadmill on the other. While they exercise, gym users have the option to watch TV or listen to music, which can be programmed specifically for this room.

Although surrounded by glass on three sides, the gym and massage room is fitted with blinds which can be pulled down for privacy and the room can be fan-cooled or air conditioned.

Tucked away behind the gym is an outdoor bathroom with toilet, rain shower and, the pièce de résistance, a huge bathtub carved from a single piece of black granite, reached by stepping stones over a tranquil pond. The walled garden surrounding the tub is planted with frangipani and palms and a Flame of the Forest tree – a sublime place to relieve those aching muscles after a good work-out.

Location
Surrounded by terraced rice fields and only five minutes’ walk from the beach and the extraordinarily romantic Hotel Tugu, Bendega Villa (meaning ’fisherman’) borders a small fishing village of the same name in the district of Canggu, southwest Bali. Despite its rural setting the villa is only 20 minutes’ drive from the restaurants and shops of cosmopolitan Seminyak, an hour from Bali’s cultural centre of Ubud, and 30 minutes from the international airport."