V - Villa Escudero

Taken from the resort's website, Villa Escudero is "A self-contained working coconut plantation, It was founded in the 1880s by Don Placido Escudero and his wife Dona Claudia Marasigan. Originally planted to sugarcane, the crop was converted to coconut by their son Don Arsenio Escudero in the early 1900s. A pioneering agro-industrialist, he built the country's first working hydroelectric plant to supply his dessicated coconut factory and Villa Escudero, where he and his wife Dona Rosario Adap built in 1929."

March of 2008, my mom invited me to come with them on a trip to the villa as part of their annual out of town trip in the office. At first I hesitated, but mom really wanted me to come, so off I went with them. It was a long ride, but getting there, I was mesmerized and in awe of its beauty.


The old church. It's now the villa's museum - containing different artifacts and mementos of the family. Picture taking was strictly prohibited inside the museum, too bad. Anyway, I heard local celebrities Rudy Fernandez and Lorna Tolentino had their wedding here, am just not sure if this was the church because the villa has another chapel.


Because the villa is big, guests can take the carabao carriages from the receiving area to the other part of the villa. While on the trip, staffs will serenade the guests with Filipino folk songs.


One of the famous amenities in the villa is the lunch by the waterfalls restaurant. It's a man made waterfalls, and water from the Labasin Lake flows down here. Guests can eat as much as they can - it's an eat all you can buffet - and the unique part of eating here was that the guests' feet are submerged in water.


The Lawa ng Labasin (Labasin Lake) - where guests can use the bamboo rafts.


During weekends, the Coconut Pavillon hosts a cultural show - featuring different Philippine Folk Dances and tradition. What's so great about the show was that performers are also staffs of the villa.

There are so many things to do at the Villa Escudero, too bad I wasn't into photography yet at that time so some of my shots weren't that good, and that I didn't really take that much pictures. I am not sure if I can still set foot in this place, but if I do, I'd make sure I'd explore much and take much more pictures.

If you wish to know more about the villa, you can check their website HERE. All pictures in this post were taken using my brother's Canon Powershot A460 digital camera, except for the cultural show, which was taken using my Sony Ericsson K800i cell phone. I used my cell phone using my left hand because I was using my brother's camera to video the presentation using my right hand (talk about multitasking). :)

*** Jenn ***