Suryavana
We bought Suryavana, “the Iluminated Forest”, in September 2016. It is an auspicious find, as the Valencia Sangha had been looking for somewhere for a long time. We wanted a retreat place near to town, but at the same time sufficiently hidden away in the hills to provide the best conditions for meditation and reflection. Suryavana is the place! We were looking for accommodation up to 30 people comfortably and up to 60 for a festival.
Masia Novales, as it is known locally, is a renovated country house set up as a hotel or “casa rural”. The renovation is to such a high standard that we just had to move in! Each bedroom has a fully appointed bathroom attached. There is an ample dining room and lounge with a fire place. There is an industrial sized kitchen fully equiped. There is a swimming pool for the warmer months.
A top floor of a secondary building makes the shrine-room. The property is completely off grid so we supply energy via solar panels and get water from local springs. The area is abundant in vegetable growers, olives and almonds, so much of our food can be sourced locally.
Amazingly too a local train runs up from Valencia several times a day and a long distance cycle track leads straight by the Retreat Centre so it is easy to get to by public transport. It takes around 50 minutes by car from the city.
The retreat centre serves the local Sangha in Valencia and but we also share our wonderful space for groups outside of our Sangha, like yoga groups, therapy training, Womens Circles and so on so long as there is a resonance with our values.
However the Centre is open to the international community. We run the Ordination process here inviting folks from all over the Spanish speaking world. We also run events in English and bilingual retreats.