Balenbouche Estate - Yoga Retreat at a former sugar mill

After being very sad when I had to leave La Tille Waterfall, Balenbouche Estate immediately captivated me. You can imagine the estate (here one can really speak of an estate) as a mixture of an old plantation and an Indiana Jones movie setting. The owner is Uta from Germany with her two daughters. The property was bought by the father-in-law around 1960 and when St. Lucia became independent, it would have actually passed to the government. The father-in-law had already resigned himself to it, but Uta fought for it. Some ashore had to be given away, but they could keep a part - and that land is still huge.

The area used to be a farm with a sugar cane mill - today fruit is still grown but is mainly used as a hotel and yoga retreat.

I've been trying to get a massage since Guadeloupe and finally it worked out. In the former farmhouse I got a great massage for my backpack-plagued limbs 😉 Balenbouche Estate is a beautiful retreat in the middle of nature.

The estate offers small and larger wooden houses with a lot of attention to detail. My special highlight was an old mill wheel and the ruin walls of the old buildings reminding of the days when the Estate was still producing sugar. All that reminded me a lot of an Indiana Jones movie setting :). Passing trees, plants and palm trees you will finally reach the sea, where I sat on the rock and watched the waves clash against the rocks.

My beautiful house

Coast af Balenbouche Estate

Balenbouche Estate, St Lucia

Dining Area, Balenbouche Estate

The gears of the old sugar mill

This tree has put its roots across the ruins

The roots of the tree simply fascinated me

Some of the roots were half a metre high and you had to climb over them.

Former sugar production bowls

Riesige Behälter von der fürheren Zuckerproduktion

On this beautiful terrace I got my vegetable stew

Ruins of the old sugar mill

And again the old sugar mill

The whole area was an oasis of palm trees and blooming trees

My cottages were all around decorated with these carvings. Little birds could fly in and out.

My drone's not resting here in front of the house. She simply tries to dry away the water damage - unfortunately without success.

The old farmhouse where yoga sessions and massages take place

Finally I get my massage at the old farmhouse. It's a lovely environment!

Uta was a great host. Of course I again had nothing to eat, and the next shop was quite far away. So she made me a vegetable stew with cheese - CHEESE!!!!! You can't imagine how much I miss a good piece of cheese. For dessert I also got mango. Uta had a basket full of mangoes in the house and said I could have as many as I wanted - so my breakfast for the next day was secured.

Basically I spend the whole day wandering around the terrain with my camera simply because it was so impressive. Actually I wanted to stay two nights at Uta's, but there was a big yoga group staying there (who then do yoga in the old Farmhouse) and so there was no place left. But I've fully savored the time I had there.

If any of you ever comes to St. Lucia, a stay at Balenbouche Estate is a must.