

“Our home is a very private and sacred space for us,” shares Cynthia Hardy, co-founder along with her husband, John, of Bali’s innovative and environmental educational institution, the Green School. She walks through the narrow pathways of the vegetable garden and pushes a large wooden door, surrounded by the roots and overgrown trees, which leads into their private property. “This is the kitchen joglo,” she says, referring to the traditional Javanese home that has been repurposed as an open plan living area. “It is the space where we always hang out and entertain. It’s really the heart of it all.”
The structure is made from an old house that was dismantled, transported from the island of Java and rebuilt here in Ubud. The focal point of the building is the intricately carved ceiling, from which hangs two antique French gaslight chandeliers that John found in a gallery in New York. “I saw them and thought, I had to have them. Eventually, they found a home.” Decorated sparsely, but warmly, in different types of wooden furniture, the space is functional and cosy, with the true star being the lush greenery that surrounds the property.
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Adjacent to the joglo is the main complex of their home where their private quarters are, built from over four hundred recycled iron wood electrical posts. “It was a good choice then, but not a good choice today because it’s a limited resource,” explains John. “It’s very difficult to source recycled timber nowadays. The only thing we can promise everybody in the world is bamboo, because if you plant it today, and continue to plant it every three years, after the first five years you can have a harvest every year for the rest of your life.”
Located in the middle of their sprawling Ubud property—which faces a stunning valley of rice terraces and hugs the cliff rock down to a flowing river is Bambu Indah, which began as their personal residence and has grown into a vibrant eco-resort community. “Bambu Indah is truly our home,” shares Cynthia. “We have stayed in, and conceptualised intimately, each one of the houses and rooms we’ve built here; it’s where we live.”