Our Founder’s Story
The journey behind Plantation Villa
Our story began with Ishara De Silva and her personal journey that reshaped her understanding of health, happiness, and success. What started as a search for her own healing evolved into Plantation Villa: a place where you can experience the restorative traditions of Ayurveda and mindful living that helped Ishara find her own path back to happiness.
From the City to a Life Relearned Before creating Plantation Villa, Ishara built a fast-paced career in global finance.
Driven by ambition, she pursued professional success in the hope it would bring her happiness. She became one of the younger Vice Presidents at Citibank and later a Director at Barclays.
At twenty-nine, a cancer diagnosis forced a sudden and dramatic pause. This life-changing moment became the starting point for a deeper transformation, leading Ishara to question the stress and lifestyle she had previously accepted as normal.
Ancient paths and inner change Searching for a different approach to cancer recovery, Ishara returned to Sri Lanka and immersed herself in Ayurveda and mindfulness.
Under the guidance of traditional doctors, yogis and buddhist monks her treatment moved beyond the illness to restore balance across her entire body and mind.
She deepened her meditation practice and returned to the Buddhist teachings of her youth. Through quiet reflection, she realised that happiness is not found outside ourselves, but is something we cultivate within. Months later, medical tests showed no trace of cancer, yet the most significant change had already taken place in her heart.
Founding Plantation Villa Ishara realised that her corporate life no longer aligned with her new path.
Returning to her father’s childhood village, she founded Plantation Villa as a social enterprise and a place for genuine healing.
Her vision was to offer everything that helped her and everything she wished she had during her own recovery. To provide practical tools to care for the body and mind through Ayurvedic medicine, nourishing food, and the stillness of nature. In 2022, we extended this same vision to the UK by opening our retreat in the peaceful countryside of Herefordshire.
The Principles That Guide Us Today, both our locations are guided by the same simple values:
- Holistic Wellbeing: Balancing body and mind through Ayurveda, mindfulness, yoga, and nourishment.
- Practical Learning: Teaching habits you can carry home into your everyday life.
- Love and Care: Providing a home away from home where you can feel safe, loved and cared for.
- Community Support: The whole purpose of our organisation is to give to others and offer support to our wider communities.
- Living with Nature: Maintaining a respectful and protective relationship with the land.
A few words from Ishara “My own journey taught me that wellbeing is not only about the body. It is also about the mind, our relationships with others, and the way we choose to live each day.
When we are caught up with the demands of our daily life we often feel we do not have the time to work on ourselves or we would rather use our time and money elsewhere doing something more fun and uplifting. I understand this because I used to think like this. But investing on oneself is really the best investment because we reep the benefits of it every moment of every day that we are alive. Everything else we do is so temparory. We may feel good then but it soon changes.
I started Plantation Villa to help people that may have been suffering or feeling just like I was. I wanted to create a place that they can come to. I wanted to share the tools and practices that helped me and to offer the love and care that at times I wish I had. Even with supportive family around us, we can feel alone and misunderstood, because going through a difficult time can be awfully lonely. Through the work of Plantation Villa, this way, no one will have to go through the suffering I went through… because we are here for them. For everyone.”