Fed up with their high-stress lives, Jane Walker and Barry Robbins left Vancouver in the 1990s and took a long drive south. The road led them to Panama, where they have created a paradise of their own, centered on their gardens, farm and inn. EPISODE: Recreating Eden
(5): Ep 2 (#5-2 Living the Dream) RATING: G CC'd: Y
The episode "Living the Dream" was commissioned by VISIONTV for inclusion in their "Recreating Eden" series
and was produced by Merit Motion Pictures in Winnipeg, Canada. The following link leads to the background story for the episode about us.
The episode was first broadcast on VISIONTV at 7:30pm PST January 14th, 2008.
Click here to read the full episode description.
These charming bungalows on a 6-acre shade coffee farm offer peace, privacy, plentiful birdlife and one of Boquete's best views. East unit has a kitchenette, sitting room with dining table, and large bedrooms. Big windows and ample balconies with lounge chairs frame Volcan Baru and the valley below. Use the footpaths and benches in the tropical gardens, coffee plants, and forest patches to spot the 130 avian species here. You can have a delicious dinner served by candlelight in your bungalow some nights, though you need to order in the morning. Friendly Canadian owners Barry and Jane sell crafts and coffee and will help you plan your time in Boquete. Reserve well ahead of time.
Chiriqui's preeminent family-run inn exudes a home-away-from-home appeal. Surrounded by lush forests at 4,200 feet, this coffee and citrus estate proves that a fine jewel is made complete by its setting. The inn offers stupendous volcano views from the cozy, delightfully furnished bungalows, each with bedroom, bathroom and TV lounge and terrace, comfy beds features down-filled duvets and pillows run lovingly by an erudite Canadian couple who pay meticulous attention to guests well-being and comfort. Candlelit gourmet dinners are offered alfresco on your balcony and the owners will prepare box lunches. Free Internet is a bonus and the charming and conscientious owners are a trove of useful tour information. Trails offer fabulous birding.
"Barry Robbins and Jane Walker wake up every morning in a paradise 1,300 metres above sea level.
In the hills of Panama, surrounded by coffee plants, orange trees and dense rainforest, the former
British Columbians have spent the past decade tending to the needs of their plantation -
and to those of visitors to this picturesque setting .
Click here to read the full article.
"IT'S a Friday afternoon in Boquete, Panama, and the main street resembles Anytown, U.S.A.
There is a mom-and-pop coffee shop with round tables, premade sandwiches and a dessert case.
Nearby is a tiny video store, with posters advertising “Misión Imposible Tres” and “La Guerra de Los Mundos.”
And down the block is a small deli that serves cheeseburgers with rice and beans...
Another upscale hotel, La Montaña y el Valle Coffee Estate Inn (Jaramillo Arriba Road, 507-720-2211;
www.coffeeestateinn.com), opened by Canadian expatriates, has three secluded bungalows
set among jade green coffee trees and exotic flower gardens for $130.
Amenities like high-thread-count sheets and aromatherapy massages have cemented Boquete's reputation
as a counterpart to Bocas del Toro, Panama's epicenter for Caribbean-style carousal.
Whereas the coast is ideal for the partying singles set, there's nary a nightclub pushing beats into
Boquete's fresh night air. After sunset, when most of the tourists have retreated to their luxurious
hotels and hillside B & Bs, the town square is as quiet as a church.
Click here to read the full article.
The Coffee Estate Inn ***finds
If you're an independent traveler but are loathe to work out the
details involved in independent travel, this place is your best
bet. The Coffee Estate Inn is owned by a friendly Canadian couple,
Jane and Barry, who built their inn to satisfy themselves as
travelers - a simple concept but one that rarely occurs to so many
budding hotel owners. Cozy yet spacious accommodations with all the
trimmings, gorgeous views of Volcan Baru and truly personalized
service are the hallmarks of the Coffee Estate Inn...........three
comtemporary and cheery cabins contain a bedroom for two to three
guests, a living area, a fully stocked kitchen and a outdoor
terrace. The cabins are enveloped in native forest, fruit trees, and
flowers that attract a myriad of birds.............when you make a
reservation here, they'll send you a 30-page information packet with
tips and advice about Boquete and traveling in Panama...........they
provide maps, directions and contacts for the best guides in the area
and anything else you need for a day of adventure...........indulge
yourself in the inn's restaurant with a candlelit gourmet
dinner.......the owners grow and roast their own coffee....tours of
the property to learn more about coffee production and native flora.
If you do a lot of traveling, you soon meet innkeepers who have hospitality wired into their genetic code. Meet Jane Walker and Barry Robbins, Canadian expatriates who have turned their 2.5 hectares of forested land into the most comfortable place to stay on this side of the mountain, if not the highlands, period. The inn consists of three large, modern, immaculate bungalows set on a hillside just northeast of Boquete... terrific view of Baru and the valley ... Guests can dine in their cottage by candlelight on fancy meals you wouldn't expect to find outside Panama city... The property is a working coffee farm that produces more than 2,000 kilos of coffee a year. The coffee grows in the shade of a pretty, well tended little forest that attracts more than 100 species of birds and lots of other highland critters... Stays include a free, optional tour of the owner's coffee operation from soil to cup. The (Free) coffee you drink here has never been out of the roaster more than two days They produce 45,000 oranges a year, so help yourself to as many as you like Barry and Jane run a tight, gleaming ship. The inn has more in common with a modern first-world country getaway than some bohemian third world tree house. This is a great place to pamper yourself. The picture on page 367 was shot from the inn property.
PANAMA Fly 2,362 miles/6 ½ hours
Looking for the cure-all for a season of endless
soirees, shopping and slush? Jet from Boston to
Panama. Venture inland to Boquete’s Coffee
Estate Inn, a compound nestled among mountain
forest and coffee. While there, hike the quetzal
Trail for close encounters with monkeys and
quetzals, or stroll through the Finca Dracula
orchid gardens, a two-hour drive away.
Click here to read the full article.
La Montaña y el Valle Coffee Estate Inn. Here Canadian hosts Jane Walker and Barry Robbins have done everything right, including providing guides for the Quetzal Trail, with quetzal sightings guaranteed. Three cottages share seven garden acres and exquisite views of the volcano. Meals are gourmet caliber, candlelit, and served in your bungalow, and the coffee comes from right outside your window. Reserve well in advance.
Secluded on a lush mountain hillside, three luxury bungalows, each with a private balcony overlooking the Boquete valley and looming Volcan Baru in the distance. These spacious delightfully appointed quarters have gracious living/dining areas with wide windows for the view, bedrooms with comfortable orthopedic beds and kitchens fully equipped with everything you need, including a supply of freshly roasted estate-grown coffee. There is a vast library of reference books and novels. Trails populated with myriad bird and butterfly species run through the forested hillside property, which is rife with fragrant coffee, banana and orange tress. Attentive Canadian hosts, Jane Walker and Barry Robbins, both gourmet cooks, offer an optional menu of delicious specialties served by candlelight on your private balcony.
A Fodor's featured hotel. These three charming bungalows in the centre of a small coffee estate offer peace and privacy. Units have a spacious sitting room with dining table, fully stocked kitchenette and large bedrooms with dehumidifiers to keep mold and mildew away. Big windows and ample balconies with lounge chairs, frame vistas of the forested valley below and massive Volcan Baru. Bird watchers can follow footpaths through tropical gardens, coffee plants and forest patches. The friendly Canadian owners can serve delicious dinners (vegetarian options) by candlelight in your bungalow.
"...Back in Boquete I relaxed on my private deck at La Montaña y el Valle - The Coffee Estate Inn, a collection of tidy bungalows run by a Canadian couple with an encyclopedic knowledge of their adopted country. With a pair of binoculars I scoped out my next adventure: 11,410-foot Volcan Baru, Panama's highest peak. My guide Chago picked me up at two the next morning, though I'd barely digested the previous night's dinner of pork tenderloin with sweet Thai chile sauce ."
... The cottages are situated for absolute privacy. Ours had a
stunning view across the valley to the mountains beyond. A light mist
enveloped us as we admired the scene -- the every-afternoon bajareque
that Jane described as a "warm blizzard full of rainbows." As if on
cue, a perfect rainbow arch touched down on either side of Boquete.
.... But lucky guests of La Montaña y el Valle can eat their
evening meal in their room, having given warning to Jane and Barry,
both gifted cooks.
Click here to read the full article about our Boquete
hotel.
"La Montaña y el Valle - The Coffee Estate Inn is a terrific find, offering three luxury bungalows on a working coffee estate with trails into a lovely patch of forest.", "estate roasted coffee daily and nature tours", "Gourmet dinners prepared by owners Barry Robbins and Jane Walker, two very likable expatriate Canadians."
"Well above the other places to stay in Boquete, literally and otherwise, is La Montaña y el Valle ...", "Guests can dine in their cottage by candlelight on reasonably priced, near-gourmet meals you wouldn't expect outside Panama City." "The Canadian owners, Jane Walker and Barry Robbins, are attentive hosts" "They're a great source of information on the area's attractions." "Use the library in the house which has a few volumes on the natural history of Panama and lots of good, trashy mysteries."
A Fodor's featured hotel. "These 3 charming chalets offer peace, privacy, luxuriant surroundings, and the best view in Boquete. Each chalet has a bedroom and spacious sitting room with a dinner table and fully stocked kitchenette. Abundant windows and a small porch offer vistas of the valley below and of massive Baru Volcano. Footpaths wind their way through tropical gardens and forest patches-prime bird watching territory. The friendly Canadian owners offer vacation planning assistance and delicious dinners served by candelight in your chalet. This place is often full, so reserve well ahead of time."
"For those in search of some peace and quiet, La Montana y el Valle is the ideal location. It features three hillside cabins surrounded by greenery and located on a vast property where orange and coffee trees grow alongside wild vegetatation", "As for meals, the health conscious will delight in such creative dishes as the tasty country style moussaka.." meat lovers can savour the likes of a tender garlic seasoned beef filet.." "..visit the library and pick up one of the more than a thousand English books available to guests."
A highlight on our recent trip to Panama was the mountains of Boquete, where we stayed in a bed-and-breakfast called La Montana y el Valle. We were treated to freshly roasted coffee that was just amazing (it's for sale by the pound)." Click here to read the full article about our Boquete hotel.
Last winter, while on an extended visit to Costa Rica, I ventured over the border into Panama's western provinces and found Shangri-La. On a promontory overlooking the sparkling town and the towering presence of Volcan Baru, the highest point in Panama, I found the cottages of La Montana y el Valle. If you can tear yourself away from this idyllic setting, there is much to do in the area." Click here to read the full article about our Boquete hotel.
"The Best Hotel in Boquete - While you're in Boquete, arrange a room at La Montana y el Valle in one of three small cabins set on a six-acre slope richly landscaped with fruit trees, coffee, orchids, and innumerable other species of green, all of which camouflage a kilometer of hiking trails."
Click here to read the full article about our Boquete hotel and then look for "The Best Hotel in Boquete" at the bottom of the page.We discovered that Boquete, a quiet town of 15,000 inhabitants, with a pleasant temperature of 20 degrees Celsius year round, is ideal for a night of relaxation at The Coffee Estate Inn, a hotel with comfortable chalets offering an impressive view of the valley of Boquete and of the Baru Volcano."
La Montaña y el Valle, nestled in an orange and coffee farm, is owned and run by a Canadian couple, Barry Robbins and Jane Walker, who are personable and attentive hosts. A mouth-watering gourmet menu is served by candlelight in the sitting room of your bungalow. Because of its isolated beauty, La Montaña y el Valle has become a favourite place for honeymooners and couples seeking a romantic weekend." "Barry Robbins of La Montaña y el Valle also offers excellent personalized coffee farm tours."
"Panama's an easy country to negotiate for North Americans. In Boquete, Canadian expatriates Barry Robbins and Jane Walker operate La Montaña y el Valle, three cottage inn with sweeping views."
If you need to escape the humidity and the hustle and bustle of Panama City, and you like the cool, fresh mountain air, go check out Boquete, in the province of Chiriqui, and scout out La Montaña y el Valle, a small group of cottages built by Barry Robbins and Jane Walker, a wonderful Canadian couple. This mystical mountain niche is one of the best hinterland spots in Panama, where you will find peace, solitude and spectacular views of the Baru volcano amidst orange groves and coffee plantations."
Canadian couple Jane Walker and Barry Robbins consider themselves rat-race refugees holed up in a haven which conjures the image of Tolkien's Shire", "Their resort, La Montaña y el Valle, at 4200 feet, has three luxury chalets", "The 2.5 hectare grounds feature a network of nature trails offering access to orange groves and coffee plants, native meadows and virgin tropical rainforest. Bird lovers have the chance to spot such species as brilliantly colored tanagers, honey creepers, motmots and emerald toucanettes. Walker and Robbins are gourmet cooks"
"La Montaña y el Valle is a highlands retreat comprising 2.5 hectares with three deluxe bungalows, gourmet cuisine and a spectacular view over the Baru Volcano, 3,475 metres above sea level, the surrounding mountains and Boquete town."
"If you've ever wished you owned your own home in the mountains, away from the steamy tropical coasts and city smog - look not further than La Montaña y el Valle this resort is just the thing to cool the body and warm the spirits" The only word to describe this retreat is lush! Canadians, Barry Robbins and Jane Walker, who had camped all over Central America looking for their special place, fell in love with the property, purchased it and have proceeded to work miracles. It now boasts three beautifully appointed cottages and grounds that take your breath away. Barry and Jane escorted us to "The Jewel". We stepped through the French door into a sitting/dining room done in soothing cream and slate blue with terra cotta tile from Chitre and locally crafted furnishings all tastefully offset with Panamanian artwork and track lighting. Off to our right was the ample bedroom and the bath with fluffy towels and plenty of hot water. Each cottage has a kitchen area fully equipped with everything - down to the Oneida flatware and candles for the table - but why cook for yourselves when you can choose from your hosts Epicurean menus? Jane and Barry worked for years as information system business consultants and so are naturals at finding out what people want, then delivering. That coupled with their love of gourmet cooking, lead to two glorious menus, one for omnivores and one vegetarian. For breakfast, one can choose from an array of oven-warm baked goods, and make coffee and fresh juice in the cottage. Dinner selections include such delicacies as Italian lasagne in a sauce simmered for hours, flaky strudels, filet of beef for two, broccoli mousse and many more main dishes, salads and desserts. In the morning we took our breakfast and stepped onto the terrace to inspect THE VIEW. A sweeping vista of the Rio Caldera valley, the Amistad International Park, the Palo Alto Reserve and Volcan Baru looking in the background, the only way I can do justice to it is to say see it for yourself. Later Jane and Barry took us on a tour of the grounds. We crossed streams, spotted exotic birds and butterflies, stopped at a mirador overlooking virgin rainforest, strolled, past profusions of heliconias, orchids and impatiens, in fact, there was so much blossoming and blooming going on that I finally gave up keeping track and simply enjoyed the one-kilometre walk. After another-to-die-for dinner on our final evening and a deep, dreamless sleep, we stuffed down oh-just-one-last-crumb from Barry's bakery and prepared to take our leave of La Montaña y el Valle. Jane handed us a care package for the trip (These people truly do think of everything). There were hugs all around, and we said our goodbyes. For now. For you see, we're found the getaway in the mountains that we've always dreamed of. So can you.
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Copyright © 2000-2007 La Montaña y El
Valle S.A. All rights reserved. What you see in our photos is what you see at The Coffee Estate Inn. |