Application for Overnight Guests

Aranya Refuge Theravada Buddhist Monastery has rented Tugwell Cottage, near Sooke, BC, for two months in February/March 2025.

Bhikkhus from Metta Forest Monastery (Wat Metta) will be in residence, with some monks staying for a month and others for 2-week periods.

Tugwell Cottage is in rural Sooke, BC. Guests are welcome to meditate in the meditation hall and join the daily schedule of a Theravada Buddhist monastery. The location offers a large open yard with a creek running through the property. The house has a large wrap-around deck available for outdoor walking or sitting meditation. A forest and trails are nearby, offering a wilderness refuge suitable for forest monks in the Thai Forest tradition. The monks will stay in a separate house on an adjacent property.

Tugwell Cottage is approximately 15 minutes by car from downtown Sooke and 50 km from downtown Victoria.

We welcome applications for Overnight Guests from Monday, February 3, through to Sunday, March 30, 2025.

Requirements for Overnight Guests

Please be in touch with us by email if you have any questions.

Approved visitors will be asked to sign a Participant Agreement.

Accommodations

Tugwell Cottage is a large two-story log home offering accommodations for overnight guests. The house has 5 bedrooms — 4 upstairs and 1 downstairs — along with 3 bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a spacious living room area that will be arranged to be the meditation hall (sala). There is a large wood stove and electric baseboard heating. The wrap-around deck provides space for sitting or walking meditation.

Accommodation options include single rooms and shared rooms for two people of the same gender. Overnight guests will be accommodated during one of the eight available weeks. Guests are expected to arrive on Monday and depart the following Sunday. We ask that you clean and vacate your room by 1pm, although you are welcome to stay on the property and leave at a later time.

For emergencies, Wi-Fi is available, and there is access to a landline phone. Text messaging may work depending on your provider. For full cell phone service, the town of Sooke is just a 5–7 minute drive from Tugwell Cottage.