What do you do when you find yourself with land to spare after turning part of 88 lush acres into an enviable eco-luxury resort? If you’re the JW Marriott Bonvoy Khao Lak Resort & Spa, you dedicate 27 acres to what may be the largest organic farm of any resort in the Asia Pacific. Like any other visitor to Khao Lak – Phuket’s sleepier cousin, just an hour north by car – we’d come to this impressive sprawl for the stunning beaches and thoughtful hospitality. Yet, we found ourselves staying for the baby sharks (more on that later) and the compost, believe it or not. What can we say? When you leave behind a crowded city like Singapore, the effect of the resort farm life can be surprisingly delightful.
Tucked between a private stretch of beach and acres of tropical gardens, JW Marriott Bonvoy Khao Lak is known for its staggering number of swimming pools (over 20), gorgeous beachfront and generous family-friendly suites. But its latest offering, a six-course dinner experience titled Sown & Reborn, was what drew us here… Well, that and the prospect of lying on a fabulous beach.
Offered at the hotel’s Drift Beach Bar & Grill, Sown & Reborn is an elegant evening that begins, if you fancy a sunset walk, in the resort’s farm. A chef leads you through hydroponic greenhouses and neat garden beds teeming with roselle, holy basil, morning glory and dozens of vegetables grown on soil nourished with tons of food waste that the hotel turns into compost. In the first quarter of 2025, it converted 8.5 tons of food waste into compost for the farm and repurposed four tons into edibles like croutons and juice (754 litres of it) from fruit trimmings.
