When we take time out to celebrate a beautiful life, we are rewarded with memories to cherish.

It’s that time of the year again when the sun shines its brightest and when out-of-town trips are essential. To welcome the season of sun, I venture to a familiar place, one of my favorites, a relaxing oasis found in Alfonso, Cavite. I’ve been to this lovely paradise a hundred times — that’s without exaggeration — and I never get tired of it. Every visit is a new adventure, a new memory and a new story to share. This is the magic of Sonya’s Garden Bed & Breakfast.

Together with my sister Michelle, her husband Benny, and my best friend Bum Tenorio, we started our summer with a quick weekend trip to this beautiful haven. We attended the wedding of our dear friends Jerni Mae Camposano and Matthew Gomez in Caleruega, which is not far from Sonya’s Garden.

Sonya’s Bed and Breakfast cottages are built amid lush gardens, some into the crevices in the hillsides. The cottages are named after her favorite herbs and flowers, which grow side by side in her greenhouse.

Bum and I stayed in a cottage called Borage, named after a flower of European origin, while Michelle and Benny were settled in the Dill cottage. These cozy and dreamy lodgings — all 22 of them — are filled with cool white comforters with colorful floral embellishments, antique lamps, wooden chests, fragrant pillowcases with sprigs of lavender and ylang-ylang amid a view of lush and healthy forest. The quaint indoor bathrooms allowed us the experience of river bathing with colored chandeliers in the ceiling and smooth river stones massaging my feet instead of plain normal tiles.

 I’ve always enjoyed the scenery at Sonya’s. This season early into the summer, the palosanto trees are in full bloom with their red-orange flowers lighting up the scenery with vibrancy.  We had a hearty meal where Sonya Garcia, the “royal innkeeper” of Sonya’s Garden, served us langka with coconut milk and eggplant and coconut sherbet with ube jam for dessert. She also had us try tarragon tea, which really felt soothing.

(The other time we visited Sonya’s Garden, which was just a week before this trip, I was with my Tita Elo Santiago, a former Supreme Court Justice. She and I enjoyed a meal of crispy-fried catfish with mango-dill salsa. I relished looking at Tita Elo as she also enjoyed eating the sesame whole wheat bread she slathered with freshly made dips and toppings like basil pesto, white cheese, anchovies, bruschetta tomato toppings, mushroom pate, black olives tapenade and fresh green peppercorn in olive oil. One must keep going back to Sonya’s to try its panaderia products like adobini, bacon rolls, cheese hopia, ensaymadas and chocolate chip cookies.) 

“Our life is not our own. It’s a wondrous gift, freely given by the Ultimate Giver. Life should be lived with joyfulness, mirth and laughter,” Sonya says.

Another favorite destination is Sonya’s Spa with its 10 treatment cubicles decorated with nostalgic capiz shell windows and sunlit shower rooms alongside. Sonya developed a unique series of treatments using natural ingredients with the same scenic aplomb as in her English gardens. Herbal body scrubs with cream baths cocoon you in comfort and fragrance. Have a dagdagay foot massage using wooden pine sticks applied to the reflex points of the feet. Or try a sensational old-fashioned hair spa treatment using gugo and lemongrass or a rose-scented foot scrub with manicure and pedicure with nail art. Other spa treatments include the fabulous hot stones with Filipino massage, the ventosa, the all-natural facial using honey, tomatoes, cucumbers and aromatherapy steam bath. The spa’s newest offering is a fragrant rice hot compress. While the gracious masseuse performed this authentic Filipino ritual, I prayed and remembered all the times I have come to Sonya’s. Each time, it was a celebration of life, of love, of friends, of joys and tears.

This is a place that assuages all fears.

This time, Sonya had us try the Four Hands massage, which she said was really great for circulation. The Four Hands massage is where two therapists massage you in one synchronized move. The experience is like getting two full body massages at the same time. The massage is able to release pressure and tensions in the body and I would recommend it when you visit Sonya’s Garden Bed & Breakfast. I was able to sleep well during the night because of the massage. And as dawn came, I was ready to face our next adventure.

We woke up to a glorious morning and headed for the al fresco breakfast patio. The landscape created an eclectic rainbow of flowering vines around us. For breakfast we had freshly squeezed dalandan juice, creamy hot chocolate served in a fine bone china pot, freshly baked bread, kesong puti with pineapple and mango jam and eggs cooked the way you want it — poached, scrambled, etc. We also had adobo fried rice, fried bangus bellies, pusit en su tinta cooked with lots of olive oil.

 After breakfast, Sonya came in to greet her guests spreading her radiant energy. She invited us to celebrate this beautiful day. “It is time for you to visit my new addition at my secret haven, an invitation extended to her bed and breakfast guests,” she said.

 We jumped at the chance and went to get our swimsuits. Accompanied by Letty and Val, Sonya’s amiable staff, we went into the car and in 15 minutes, we were there. We heard the running water and went down 47 steps and gasped in delight at what we saw — two natural refreshing pools of mountain water where you can swim to your heart’s delight. Natural waterfalls allow one to swim amid giant boulders with dragonflies darting in between, glistening in the sunlight against  the sunlight. Outdoor showers with Machuka tiles show how Sonya’s thoughtful touch is everywhere. Colorful Machuka tiles dotted the natural pool steps as well as the outdoor showers and gazebo above the natural pool. While we were there, we enjoyed some snacks: double chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookies, ensaymada, buko juice, and adobinis — delicious adobo in a freshly baked soft bread from her panaderia. (A visit to Sonya’s Garden is not complete without taking home your stash of yummy breads from the panaderia and the fresh produce from Sonya’s stall that sells mixed salad greens, papayas, bananas, avocados, star apples, etc.)

After our swim, we headed back to Sonya’s Bed & Breakfast restaurant to have lunch. Our scrumptious lunch was composed of delightfully seasoned and perfectly cooked steak with a thick red wine sauce, roasted sea bass with tender French beans in lemon butter sauce on the side, seafood pasta, fresh tarragon tea with  refreshing fresh dalandan juice. For dessert, there were banana walnut muffins and sweet potato in honey syrup plus banana turon in caramelized coconut sugar. We relished every single morsel of this enjoyable meal while watching the butterflies dancing amidst the passion fruit blooms and thinking how perfect Sonya’s place is for weddings, anniversaries or family reunions.

Sonya’s Garden is truly close to my heart, this enchanting place where the “art of doing nothing” actually means engaging in something new that will renew our body, soul and mind. As Sonya says, “Doing what makes you happy is the art of loving yourself. Here, one learns that to nurture the self is not tantamount to selfishness but rather self-care. Every so often, pamper yourself, take care of what matters inside of you, refresh and nourish your fatigued and weary self.”

 Summer beckons at Sonya’s Garden Bed & Breakfast. A must visit. See you there! After all, Sonya believes that the business of life is creating beautiful memories.