One of the real necessities of travel in India is having a place that you can go to and feel is a `home away from home.`
Godwin and Jenny Fernandes` Secret Garden Guest House has been that for me for years. It has been a place of quiet and retreat in the most beautiful and peaceful of settings in Agonda Beach, Goa.
The family has made a place that takes you away from any of the hussle and bussle of home or travel. For me, the Secret Garden family has provided a safe and nurturing environment that keeps me gladly coming back.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Just a quick look around Secret Garden

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the Secret Garden is that from the beach the huts are barely visible.  With overarching coconut trees, surrounded by a wall of green, with beach sand under your feet, you still have a fabulous view of the beach from the hut porches.

Each year Godwin makes changes and improvements to the guest huts and house.  There are 4-5 huts each year, plus a small house (with kitchen, bath, etc) with a large 'penthouse' hut on the top,  and a building with three rooms with baths.  The pictures that I present here are from different years that I have stayed at Secret Garden, so huts shown change in layout and facilities (e.g. in 2009-10 he added bathrooms to the huts) - he listens to his guests to make their stay more to their liking.  The huts have had certain constants though - they are about two meters off the ground, have walls that can 'roll up' (to catch the wonderful sea-breeze), electric fans and windows, and, most important, have balconies facing the beach.  


This is just a two minute video looking around from the ground and then from my hut porch on the beachside of Secret Garden. Watch on YouTube for the full size 720p video.  A panoramic view (about 180 degree view) towards the beach from the living room of the 'Penthouse' hut. There are lots of ways to view the huts and house for guests.  This image is a partial panorama (huts are slightly distorted) view south from the north end of the  property.  The beach is to the 'right'.

2 comments:

  1. Hi, probably our entry may be off topic but anyways, I have been surfing around your blog and it looks very professional. It’s obvious you know your topic and you appear fervent about it. I’m developing a fresh blog plus I’m struggling to make it look good, as well as offer the best quality content. I have learned much at your web site and also I anticipate alot more articles and will be coming back soon. Thanks you.









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  2. Hey Dave,

    to begin with, i would like to thank you for your great job in creating this Blogspot. Me and my girlfriend discovered it 4 weeks ago when we were in Varanasi, searching for a nice place to stay for some days in Goa. The photos and the video just looked so nice, that we decided to go there for two or three nights. Well, we planed 3 nights but we almost stayed there for 3 weeks :-) Just a wonderful, peaceful and relaxing place, managed by nice people exactly like your description above.

    So, once again. Thank you very much for your effort creating this site.we would have never found this place without it and from a present-day point of view it's hard to imagine that we could have found something similiar like this!

    Greets
    F&A

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