Samal Leisure Farms: Gracious living in a countryside setting

Just one-and-a-half hours away from the Balintawak toll gate of the North Expressway is Samal Leisure Farms, a gated community where one can enjoy gracious living in a countryside setting.

Samal Leisure Farms fulfills the dream of a successful professional or a homemaker who wants to enjoy a rustic setting with the comforts and amenities of modern life.

The farm sits on a sprawling eight-hectare rolling terrain, tucked just a few steps away from kilometer post 110.5 along the Roman Expressway in barangay Gugo, Samal, Bataan. The first leisure and hobby farm to be  developed in Samal, it is conceived to be not just a place for weekend getaways but an exhilarating and rejuvenating retirement place.

When fully developed, it will have a multi-purpose hall, swimming pool, cottages and huts, picnic areas, sports facilities and jogging lanes.

Samal Leisure Farms’ quaint entrance gate opens up to a vista of wide roads paved with concrete blocks similar to those of old Europe. The roadside is lined with colorful bougainvilleas and other blooming flowers as well as shade and fruit trees.

Inside the farm, one gets a panoramic view of the mountain and the sea.  

This is a place where you can take a leisurely stroll to enjoy the scenery and smell the flowers, with the birds chirping and the crickets crooning. At night, fireflies glow in the dark and night blooms emit a sweet smell to the gentle wind.

For a more relaxing weekend with the whole family, there’s lots of space for the kids to frolic while you pamper yourself with a soothing massage right in your own farm home.

You’re a food lover? There’s the local cuisine to enjoy. Succulent fresh catch from the sea is available daily in nearby Orani and Balanga. If you want, your meal can be prepared in your own kitchen by local residents who can do the marketing and cooking for you.

After a sumptuous meal, what can be more fun than throwing your fishing hooks or boating with your kids in the lagoon?

In the cool afternoon breeze, you can spread your mat and have some afternoon snacks in the camping and picnic areas. Or simply lie down and  stare at the clear blue skies to ease your mind and lighten up your spirit.

Many of the farm lots are dotted with mature and fully-grown mango trees and bamboos. Tucked in a corner is a century-old balete tree, an attraction in itself. Still, there’s plenty of room for fruit-bearing trees, a vegetable/herbal garden or a multi-colored flower garden.

A creek runs across part of the property, thus small fishponds can be developed in some areas.

And if you’re keen on being a farmer and earning from it, SLF will have a farm management team to help you enjoy farming as well as increase your farm’s productivity.

With its limited number of farm lots, Samal Farms is intended to be a small community where residents can enjoy greater privacy or intimacy with their neighbors.

One cannot just build a structure in the Farm. For instance, to maintain its natural natural beauty, the look and feel of the abodes should be Asian modern. Colors should be in earth tones of brown, beige, terracotta and green. Even the fences must conform to a standard of uniformity. Sidewalks shall have streetscapes that will help create a distinctive image and establish visual continuity.

Getting there is a breeze. Just 95 kilometers away from Manila, Samal Leisure Farms can be reached via a smooth drive through the North Luzon Expressway. It is likewise accessible by sea, through an hour-long cruise via hydrofoil emanating from the back of the Cultural Center in Manila to Orion. The Farm is a 30-minute pleasurable drive from Orion.

And here’s the big bonus: lot prices are 150 to 500 percent less than similar development projects in Northern or Southern Luzon. SLF is also quite close to other exciting and interesting places like the duty free shops of Subic, the beaches in Bagac, the golf course in Limay and the historic Mt. Samat.

With just a small investment, you can now enjoy your very own hobby and leisure farm quite close to Metro Manila.