Brief Garden: A Tropical Colonial Garden

When you want an antidote from sunbathing on the beaches of the west coast, the answer is just a few kilometres inland: Brief Garden, a magnificent curated lushness of tropical greenery and colonial mementoes.

Brief – it was so named as it was purchased with the profit from a legal brief – is a privately owned garden created in the raggedness of tired plains as directed by its owner, Bevis Bawa (1909-1992). It is a successful and lyrical demonstration that with vision and passion, as well as hard spade work, nature and be moulded to man’s dreams.

Bawa was given 200 acres of rubber plantation by his mother when he was 20. He took poorly to plantation life, preferring the camaraderie of army life where he distinguished himself by becoming ADC to a succession of British governors of Ceylon.

Gradually, Bawa sold off most of the plantation, ploughing the funds into the creation of his dream garden: a dream inspired by gardens he had seen in Europe, fused with the grand trees, plants and bewitching foliage of the tropics. Now there are five acres of over 120 varieties of trees, but no flowers. However, there are beguiling ornaments, like elves and ancient urns, peering through the undergrowth.

Visitors are encouraged to enjoy the gardens by themselves, although gardeners, and even the owner himself, Dooland de Silva who inherited the property from Bevis Bawa, are happy to help. After enjoying the cool tranquillity and unexpected beauty of the gardens, visitors can tour the house, preserved as it was when Bawa was alive. It’s an amazing example of a simple, tropical colonial lifestyle and even has a priceless mural by the famous Australian artist, Donald Friend and a painting by the Sri Lanka artist David Paynter (1900-1975).

A tuk-tuk from any hotel on the west coast beach stretch from Beruwela to Bentota will take you there. Or visit from Colombo by the Southern Highway to turn off at the Welipenna Junction and drive towards Aluthgama. At the approach to Dharga Town, look for a Bo tree and a shrine and turn right there to follow the lanes to where a piece of modern statuary (definitely not a Bawa creation) marks the entrance. Admission costs Rs1,000.