Page 193 - WDT Magazine Egypt

us. “She wasn’t really that interested in flowers, but
in texture, foliage and anything weird.” With Walska’s
penchant for the dramatic, “if one of something was
good, 50 was better,” Beamer said.
The extraordinary plant collections at Lotusland
include The Dunlap Collection of cactus. Merritt
Dunlap of Fallbrook in northern San Diego County
had developed his cactus collection for 37 years and
bequeathed it to Lotusland in 1999. It is breathtaking
for the specimens that have obviously loved growing
here for nearly 20 more years.
From there I drove to the Santa Barbara Botanic
Garden, founded in 1926 and dedicated to the conser-
vation of California native plants. Meadows of golden
California poppies and white Matilija poppies, red
penstemon and purple lupine lead to trails through
California redwoods and coast live oaks covering 78
acres. Along its 5.5 miles of paths are the historic Mis-
sion Dam and Aqueduct built in 1802 to supply water
to the Santa Barbara Mission, which lies down the
road. And while I was there, a telescope was trained
on a Cooper’s hawk and her three babies still in the
nest.
Just up the road was my final destination, El En-
canto. Now Belmond El Encanto (www.belmond.com/
ElEncanto), this legendary resort in the hills above
Santa Barbara has been in my dreams ever since
I first stayed there in 1980. Closed for seven years
of major renovation, it reopened in 2013 and I am
happy to report its enchanting collection of clapboard
bungalows and Spanish Mission stucco cottages has
been restored and improved but remains as charming
as ever.
El Encanto (The Enchanted) began in 1913 when
James Warren hired two local architects, Winsor Soule
and E. Russell Ray, to design a complex of six resi-
dences of varying sizes which he hoped would be
attractive to people at the then-new Normal School spa, as well as the beloved Arbor and Lily Pond that
nearby, according to the Santa Barbara Historical Mu- have been a favorite wedding site for locals for dec-
seum. While the school’s patrons never really came, ades.
artists did and soon the complex became a small art While a Mercedes is at the ready to whisk you down-
colony. town to Santa Barbara or Montecito restaurants, once I
Today there are 92 rooms and suites, a completely arrived, I didn’t want to go anywhere.
rebuilt main building with its ocean-view terrace and I had found Shangri-La for sure.
excellent restaurant, a gorgeous pool and splendid

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