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FAZENDA CATUCABA

BRAZIL

An extraordinary, eco-conscious creative hub in the rural wilds outside São Paulo

When Radiohead's Thom York set about writing his second solo album, he holed up here, in a restored woodcutter's cottage overlooking a waterfall in rural Brazil. With no phone signal or Wi-Fi, or any other interruptions save for birdsong and a babbling brook, this is a true artist's haven.

Albeit one with the full, five-star service of Fazenda Catucaba, an extraordinary eco-retreat two hours' drive from São Paulo, behind it.

It's a challenge to find, this remote retreat; you have to snake down rust-red roads and through country villages, all cobbled streets and horse-and-carts. When you arrive through the woods that surround it, Catuçaba's main house, a restored 1840 colonial casona, gleams brilliant white in the dusk, framed by stately imperial palms.

Set in 450 acres of tropical rainforest, working farmland and rolling hills, this is the passion project of French banker-turned-hotelier Manu Renegade. It opened in 2010 as a 10-bedroom rural idyll for stressed-out Brazilian executives, and has evolved into a hub for creative thinkers and eco-warriors, with Renegade hosting think-tanks on how we can all live more sustainably.

There's a serious design aesthetic at play here, thanks to a carousel of visiting artists and designers invited to use the estate as a blank canvas, including a spectacular bamboo cathedral designed by the famous Campana Brothers for meditation ceremonies and a 100-percent-sustainable modernist villa from architect Marcio Kogan, an Oca hut built by the Amazonian Xingu tribe, and sculptures by artist Pasha Radeski.

The guests are an eclectic bunch of free-thinkers, creatives and smart-set Brazilians, and you never know who you might end up chatting to on the casona's porch while sipping earthy-rich organic coffee over homemade pão de queijo and jabuticaba jam. Across the courtyard, 10 bedrooms line up like ducks along the bank, indulgent yet simple, with rich wooden floors, standalone tubs and fireplaces.

Whether you choose to sleep here or in one of the estate's gloriously private cottages, everyone meets at the casona at some point, snuggled up on butter-soft leather sofas by the roaring log-fire over Caipirinhas shaken from Catucaba's own artisanal cachaça before feasting on honest, farm-to-table food cooked by warm-hearted locals.

Thankfully there's endless exploring to justify any over-indulgence: dreamy days on chestnut mares trotting through rolling pastures; trekking to waterfalls through Mata-Atlántica rainforest and swimming in silk-smooth lakes. Sunset is always an occasion, witnessed from spectacular view-points where staff set up impromptu picnics of ruby red Malbec and home-made goat's cheese, while back at base, bonfires and guitar strumming await under the stars.

KEYNOTE While it's utter bliss to relax in such natural simplicity, Catuçaba stands out as an eco-pioneer in constant evolution, all executed with a serious dollop of style.

REVIEW BY LAUREN HOLMES 
Fazenda Catuçaba, S/N Bairro do Pinga, 12240 Catuçaba, Sao Luiz do Paraitinga, Brazil (+55 11 2495 1586; catucaba.com). Doubles from US$470