Two hundred years a monastery,now a guesthouse

Come switch off
The stone façade of the guesthouse seen across its terrace, with canvas sling chairs in the foreground and pine-covered mountains rising behind

SaQi is a restored monastery guesthouse in the mountains of Lebanon. Two hundred years old, it sits among pine and garden, with a spring that still runs and a table long enough for everyone.

Come switch off
A whitewashed room with a low pallet bed and a floral quilt, a wooden ladder against the wall, and dense bundles of dried flowers hanging from the ceiling beams

idea 01Wake up inside the old stone.

A carved stone basin set against the bare stone wall of the Ermite room, beneath a dark round mirror
A whitewashed alcove in the Thyme room, with yellow mimosa in a glass jar, folded towels in a woven basket, and green and clear bottle bases set into the wall
A wooden bunk bed built against the bare stone wall of the Peony room, with a striped rug on the floor
Morning light through a linen curtain in the Ermite room, falling on a glass carafe and a wooden table
The stone guesthouse seen across the lawn through olive trees, with a hammock slung in the foreground
A breakfast table laid with fried eggs, tomato and cucumber salad, bread and blue ceramic bowls

idea 02Eat what the garden gave this morning.

A long outdoor table dressed in blue-striped cloth and set with earthenware, beside a wall of stacked terracotta jars
Two jars of homemade preserves labelled by hand, tomato sauce and vine leaves, standing on a stone wall
Hands shelling fresh peas onto a blue cloth spread over a wooden table in the sun
The Ermite room, with a kilim rug across the floor and French doors standing open onto the garden
gardenthe houseterracelong tablethe pinesmountains, in the distance
Purple irises flowering in front of the guesthouse stone wall, with an olive tree overhead
A black-and-white photograph of two women, one young and one older, each carrying a huge armful of flowering branches under a rustic wooden shelter, tall grass in the foreground
The tree-lined drive up to the guesthouse, lined with potted plants and a red wooden door in the stone wall
The terrace table laid for dinner beneath hanging terracotta jugs, a blue striped cloth, roses at each place setting

idea 03Sit down at one very long table.

Bundles of wheat and dried herbs hanging to dry from a wrought-iron chandelier under the terrace roof, potted plants below
A single bed in the Peony room beneath a tall arched niche in the white plaster wall, with a sheepskin thrown across it
A vine-covered stone building at the end of a dry-stone garden path, its arched window catching the light
Pine-covered hillsides at dusk, the ridgeline dark against a pale sky

idea 04Walk straight into the pines.

A large rosemary bush in full pale blue flower in the garden
Roses and wildflowers growing thickly beneath an old tree in the garden
A woven tray of mezze — labneh, salad, olives, radishes and flatbread — laid out on a painted table

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