Brief Garden by Bevis Bawa - A Review

9 min readAug 21, 2022

A nature enthusiast’s escapade. A photographer’s paradise.
An architect’s magnum opus that can appease an artist’s appetite.

(Fancy words stop here. The rest is in plain language.)

The Journey

The garden is at Beruwala. Around 1 to 2 kilometres from the destination, the roads are so narrow it’s one-way travel only.

But we got lucky, cause when we went no vehicle came from the opposite end.

What to bring and wear

Caps/Hats. On a sunny day, it can get quite exhausting and dehydrating.
I dunno whether you can get water from there but better to have a bottle of water with you.

There is at least one review on google which recommends bringing mosquito repellents. I would say for most people, this is probably not necessary. I don’t remember getting bitten by anything.

But then again I get bit by mosquitoes almost every day at my home and am yet to contract any disease from them. I have also never been hospitalized for any disease. So, maybe am just lucky or too badass for diseases.

We visited the garden on 13th August 2022. When we visited, the garden seemed to be well-maintained. However, I did see some photos from google maps of the place around 2021, where the place seems to be a bit more cluttered.

If you are going with children or anyone else who is more vulnerable to mosquitoes, maybe take a repellent with you.

Do not wear full sleeves unless you want to get drenched in sweat.

Entrance

There is parking for around at least eight cars.
When we arrived, a few other groups of people had already arrived and were trying to contact the place as there was no one at the entrance.
Within a few minutes, a caretaker came out.

You purchase the tickets from the caretaker at the entrance by cash.
At the time of writing, per person:
Rs. 2000 - Garden + Home
Rs. 500 - Garden only

The caretaker is quite friendly and speaks English well. After we purchased the tickets, he showed us the map of the place and unlocked the gate for us to go through.

He won’t be guiding you though, it is up to you to embark on a tiny adventure.
However, later on, he guided us through the home and elaborated on its history.

This map is at the entrance.
But in my opinion, it’s better to explore and figure out where to go (which is what most people do even after trying to read the map).

Architecture & art

This turtle-themed fountain can be found in a section left of the main entrance after you enter.

The moonstone and stairs leading to the courtyard

After a while, you will reach these stairs that lead to a courtyard. From the courtyard’s entrance, you would be able to see a sculpture of a horse at a distance.

I would love to play football in this courtyard.
A couple of portable, lightweight goalposts and I can celebrate ‘Siiiuuuuuuu’!

Pass the courtyard and you will encounter Bevis’ home.
To your right, there is a cascading pond.

A cascading pond which is home to many tadpoles and a few frogs

Once you reach the main entrance of the home, turn left and you will come across this arc. In this section, there are quite a few interesting artefacts.

I dunno whether the placement of these heads is intentional or not.
Either way, the caption is my interpretation.

Is this figurine,

Simply holding his penis?
About to urinate?
About to masturbate?

Let me know what you think in the comments.

This figurine could be considered homoerotic, although I didn’t interpret it as such until I was reading about the garden later on. Bevis was supposedly openly homosexual and some of his works are supposedly homoerotic, including this one.

Source:

The face on the left is positioned such that it stares down at you,
as you relieve yourself.
Definitely, not creepy.
Rather, charming.

First, I thought the lamp resembled a hornet nest.
Then, I realized it looks more like a pine cone.
Also, on the left wall of this hallway, there is a series of pictures with poems (you can spot them in the picture).

I dunno whether you are allowed to read these books/not. Probably not.

There is a section outside the home with an open shower, this mirror opposite the shower and this face.

Fauna & flora

Walk through the main entrance to the garden and after a while, this tree should be on your left.

You are most likely to miss these frogs if you aren’t observing closely.

The flower on the right is a black bat flower, the other’s name I can’t remember. I do remember the caretaker mentioning something about one of the flowers (or maybe both) being brought from Malaysia.

There was also a cute mongoose that kept scurrying around the garden.
I saw it in two different locations, dunno if it was two mongooses or the same one.

Mongoose at Brief Garden by Bevis Bawa - Sri Lanka

Cute.

https://youtube.com

Bevis

I was told by the caretaker that Bevis was 6 ft 7 inches (around five to seven inches shorter than Big Show) and he owned around 20 cars or so.

I was also told more facts and history but my ears weren’t paying as much attention as my eyes. Besides, I am generally not a fan of hearing many details about the past, no matter the subject.

Photography

Other than the two pictures I have captioned otherwise, I captured these images on my Redmi Note 9 Pro and I did not edit any of these images.

If I can capture these with my phone, you could do much better with a flagship phone, or better yet a DSLR or mirrorless camera with a good zoom lens.

Conclusion

What separates Brief Garden from the rest?
Well, for starters, it’s not just a garden.
It’s more of a mini art museum and garden.

Do not expect this to be a typical, tidy, paved garden, especially like other local botanical gardens. I don’t think that’s the intended aesthetic of the place.
The ‘clutter’ is part of the place’s charm.

They are open from 9am to 4pm.
We spent around 2 hours (11am to 1pm).
For most people, around 3 hours should be more than enough to leisurely unwind here.

If you love nature by your nature, then this will be an exhilarating experience.
If you are an HSP like myself, you will most likely be able to appreciate the place’s appeal.