From family home to luxurious holiday Bali villa
Villa Bloom Bali didn’t start as a rental Bali villa right from the start. It started with the story of us, Tom, Inge, and our children Isis and Thijs. We like to share it with you here. The start of Villa Tom.
We left the Netherlands in 2011 to spend one year abroad with our three year old daughter, and our one year old son. Our first destination was Bali… Little did we know that this magical island would become our new home base for our dream of a nomadic existence. We never expected to get into Luxurious Villas with a private pool or outdoor pool. Luxury Villas with an Ocean View is something of a dream.
Back in the Netherlands, we had a picture – perfect life. But inside ourselves we heard a voice that was looking for new adventures and new horizons. We wanted to travel with the children and spend more time together as a family.
We have always been travelers. During our first date, the main thing we spoke about were our travel experiences. The many countries we have visited and the places we dreamt of going. After only a few months of being together, we went on a one – month holiday to Mexico and Guatemala. That trip marked the beginning of many of our travel adventures, including Indonesia (Java and Bali) in 2003.
And so it happened that we (while Inge was pregnant with Thijs at the time) had a two-minute conversation in the car that would change our lives. It went a little something like this…
Inge: “How about we go and travel with the family when this baby is one year old?”
Tom: “That’s a nice version of our old plan to travel around the world for a year.”
Inge: “What if our employers say no?”
Tom: “We will do it anyway, but maybe we can get unpaid leave.”
Inge: “Okay, if this baby is healthy at one year old, we will do it.”
There really is a thousand reasons we could use as an excuse to not follow our dreams… But we didn’t let those excuses stop us.
In 2011 we boarded a plane to Bali for a year of family time with our three year old daughter Isis and one year old son Thijs, who couldn’t walk or talk. We rented a full service private villa with an outdoor shower, outdoor swimming pool, private parking and private entrance for six months in the North of Bali and also lived in Ubud for six months. Our lifestyle had completely changed from our life back in the Netherlands. Everyday we were going to the beach, spending quality time together as a family, doing yoga, and enjoying the nature and local life surrounding us.
After experiencing this for a few months we had a strong desire to make this our new lifestyle and live on Bali. We dreamt of building our own house in Bali. And then….we jumped. We found the plot of land, and were immediately attracted by the wide sea views in the front and the mountain backdrop at the side and the back, the birds and butterflies, and we started visualizing how our family Bali villa and living space could look like here.
We followed through and built our house, Bali Villa Bloom, in accordance with the things that are important to us; being close to the water for paddle boarding and walking on the beach, yoga under the morning sun, organic food, family friendly, and a nice indoor/outdoor flow to feel a part of nature. Light and modern, with a big BBQ place in the tropical gardens to have a great time with friends. To be together as a family, with no commute to work. To experience freedom and flexibility. We choose the name Villa Bloom already before the building process as we saw ourselves ‘bloom’ there.
After the building and landscaping process we lived in the Bali villa for 3 years. It was a great family time and time for personal development, deepening the yoga practice, in a superb setting. We were surrounded by wonderful and helpful staff at the Bali villa. Penny, the Bali villa manager and cook, was with us already from day one. We asked, make us some lunch, and she blew as away with the her creation. She happened to have more than 15 years of experience as a cook already when she started. Inge and Penny deep dived into health food, it was a great journey together.
The other staff members came to the team naturally, as they resonated with the harmony and values of Bali Villa Bloom. Putu, Penny’s husband, became handyman around the house right from the start. Later he became also the private swimming pool man and gardener, as he wanted to work and be more time at the Bali villa. Iluh and Ketut, the other 2 ladies in the team, became the Bali villa attendants and part time gardeners. And then there is Edy who joined the team, the security guard at night.
As family and many friends visited us in Bali, countless memories were made and the concept of hospitality started to get ingrained in the wonderful Villa Bloom staff. Those visitors loved the stay at the Bali villa as highlight of their holidays and the homey atmosphere.
After 3 years we moved to the Southern part of Bali, mainly for the children’s education. It was hard to leave, mainly for Isis and Thijs, as the majority of their memories were made at the villa. We decided to make the Bali villa available for rent to pass the Villa Bloom experience and energy on to other people, that are interested to stay in a private and secluded mini resort, enjoying BBQ’s and health food, yoga, spiritual and cultural activities, nature surroundings in a luxury place in this enchanting part of Bali. Isis and Thijs left many toys at the villa, as to ensure that children from all over the world could have a great time the villa.
It is a true pleasure to mention that the team at the villa has fun together and fun with the guests. Children normally don’t want to leave, or they want to take Penny and the other ladies home. As far as private luxury villas go, you have your own private pool, Pool views, hot water, open-air views and beautiful ocean views. As a summary, it is a clean villa on a stunning location with friendly staff. It is perfect for a vacation. Our house guests often would say that it is on a beautiful location. We also do daily housekeeping and ensure the safety of our house guests. Imagine spending your time on an entire villa on an amazing location. Call it your dream villa if you will.
This is the story of Villa Bloom Bali and how it got heart and soul.
