When the creative heads are asked to come up with a name for a new project development, on of the most commonly used words they might go for is ‘Eden’. A short word that describes a place which is long on beauty, with dreamy Nirvana features, in most cases the project doesn’t come close to this description, but Eden Valley does.
What exactly is Eden Valley? Good question.
- It’s a manicured park – yes.
- It’s a kids playground – yes.
- It’s a restaurant – yes.
- It’s a wine club – yes.
- It’s a special events venue – yes.
- It’s a boating lake – yes.
- It’s a shooting range – seriously!
- It’s a chocolate factory – c’mon, you are making this up!!
No, I’m not, it is all of these things. Let’s just summarise by saying it’s a Phuket paradise.
Now into its second year, the owners’ original idea was to create an affordable venue for weddings, special occasion gatherings and corporate events. Frustrated by, albeit beautiful, but expensive-for-some hotel options, there was clearly a need for something different. There are no hotel bedrooms here, but within 10 kms there are thousands.
The original plan then went off the rails! They kept adding bits, all the way through to a chocolate factory. If you look hard enough you’ll probably find Willy Wonka hanging-out in the park. I have to say, I am very happy about this derailment, because what we end up with at Eden Valley is a totally unique wonderland.
The location of Eden Valley is very central. Close to the islands’ main traffic circle at Heroine’s Monument, on the main east coast link road. This part of Phuket is undeveloped, and the 2.6 hectare green field site used for the Eden Valley project was carefully designed to minimise flora destruction, so they ended up with what they started with…basically still a green field site.
Where to start! The main entrance is as good a place as any! You arrive at a colonial looking ‘cotton club’ style building, which is in fact the air conditioned restaurant and wine club lounge.
The concept of the wine club, or EV Club as they call it, is to provide local residents with a membership experience where they can enjoy wine tasting evenings and quality food. Don’t worry if you don’t live in Phuket though, because anyone can come along for a wine and dine experience, and if you have young kids there are plenty of areas where they can let off steam away from diners.
As a special events venue Eden Valley offers a variety of locations within the park, from the Manor House to the high-vaulted Cottage. For large banquets there is the patio area where they will erect vast marquees. When running on full capacity Eden Valley can accommodate 2,000 guests. There is car parking for 400 cars, with overflow space if needed.
I don’t know 2,000 people so I won’t be booking Eden Valley for anything on this scale. However, we do have my daughter’s 21st coming up, and Eden Valley works equally well for more modest gatherings; we are looking at 50.
If you are on holiday now, and have in the back of your mind the idea of choosing Phuket for your own wedding, then you have got to check this place out.
Oh, the Chocolate Factory, I almost forgot! This is real and the resident team of chocolatiers create bespoke cakes and chocolate figures for the events taking place at Eden Valley , as well chocolate jars that everyone can buy. They are very creative and have already given me some ideas for my daughter’s bash. Their signature creations are what they call ‘Surprise Chocolate Cakes’ where they fill giant cakes with all sorts of goodies, which are then smashed open by the individual being celebrated. My daughter is a keen fencer, so I can see her now, sabre sword in hand, slicing the top off her surprise cake.
That’s all we have space for in this article. There is more, you just need to get yourself over to Eden Valley to discover it; you won’t regret it.
