Ulpotha Sanctuary, Ulpotha, Sri Lanka

Like TS Eliot’s concept of a ‘still point in the turning world’, Ulpotha is one of those places which seem to exist outside time. The three hour drive from Colombo drops down a gear in three stages, from main road to small road to even smaller road. By the time you hit Ulpotha, you’re in neutral and freewheeling. Life just seems to happen here and, as one visitor remarked, ‘you hardly need to think, ‘cos just as you think you might like something -to eat, to drink, whatever it is - it’s miraculously already there.’

Situated beside a stunning fresh-water bathing tank, below a ridge of distinctively shaped hills, Ulpotha literally translates as ‘water source’ and has a history dating back over 5,000 years. About ten years ago, the current owners, Viren Perara and Giles Scott, were part of a group that took over the site of an abandoned village and laid the foundations for a unique experiment in eco-tourism. What has evolved is part hotel, part yoga retreat, part sanctuary, part community, part village, part extended family - it’s hard to pin down but, whatever it is, it’s different.

From the start, the core principle for Ulpotha was to create a thriving self-reliant community which ‘lived the tradition’ through it’s cultural and agricultural practices. The vision for this came from the late Mudyanse Tennekoon, the mentor-guru type figure for the community and regarded as a ‘prophet of traditional farming’ by Teddy Goldsmith. Tennekoon supervised the restoration work at Ulpotha, from the renovation of the bunds and water tanks to the implementation of bio-diverse and sustainable farming systems. He will be much missed by all who have visited Ulpotha over the years. And so will Bandara, the quite phenomenal cook, who also passed away this year, but stunned all that have visited Ulpotha with his extraordinary repertoire of new and different tastes.

Luckily, Bandara passed on his secrets and life at Ulpotha still revolves around the ambalama, the central pavilion where meals are served and days can drift by from the vantage point of several day beds. Yoga sessions drift into meals, which drift into massages, which drift into swims in the tank - in fact, from one indulgence to the next, but somehow tempered by the raw, natural experience of living without electricity, without news, without mobile phones. Those determined to stay in touch with the outside world however, can walk to the ‘mobile phone rock’ and hope for a signal.

Like Galapita, Ulpotha has now added a full-time ayurvedic dimension to the list of treats on offer. In contrast to the fusion inspired by precious stones at Galapita, the ayurvedic practice at Ulpotha is heavily rooted in tradition. Dr Srilal Mudunkothge comes from a lineage of highly respected ayurvedic physicians and is seriously qualified. A full consultation, diagnosis and treatment really needs a minimum of a week and costs £200. Just so you are prepared for some of the treatments you may be prescribed, it is worth skimming through the ‘What You Can Expect’ section in the treatment programme literature. Some of the ‘elimination therapies’ may not be everyone’s cup of tea but, then again, maybe it’s a case of ‘no pain, no gain’.