SINGAPORE \u2013 Just two years after its launch, a boutique farm stay business in Changi Village is seeking a new owner, possibly marking the end of a rare farm experience in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Clarence Chua, who co-founded House of Melissa Boutique Farmstay in November 2024<\/span><\/a> with his wife, Candice Li, tells The Straits Times that the person who takes over their lease might be \u201csomeone who has always wanted to unplug from it all, leave the corporate world for a few years and do something totally different\u201d.<\/p>\n There are about three years left on the lease.<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cPeople say, \u2018One day, I want to retire in the countryside.\u2019 Here\u2019s the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Chua hopes for a suitable offer by the end of November, when he faces an increase of \u201ca few hundred dollars\u201d in his monthly rent for the site, a former chalet located within the Civil Service Club in Netheravon Road.<\/p>\n \u201cIf no one takes it over, we might have to close it by the end of the year,\u201d he says. He and his wife, both 42, have two sons aged seven and nine.<\/p>\n House of Melissa, a boutique farm stay with views of the sea, used to be a government chalet.<\/p>\n PHOTO: HOUSE OF MELISSA<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n A short video he posted on the @house.of.melissa account on Instagram on Oct 4 poses this question: \u201cEver wanted to run your own farm stay?\u201d<\/p>\n Its caption reads: \u201cWe are selling House of Melissa!\u2026 Take over our profitable, market-ready boutique farm stay that you can actually live in too.\u201d<\/p>\n Viewings are from now until end-November and he hopes to find a new owner by Dec 1. He did not disclose his asking price.<\/p>\n The Instagram reel has been viewed at least 120,000 times, and Chua says he has had around 15 inquiries in the past two days.<\/p>\n The property, leased from the Civil Service Club<\/span><\/a>, spans about 12,000 sq ft. Also known as House of Melissa Evelin, a fictional British naturalist imagined by Chua and his wife, it boasts sea views, free-roaming chickens and hornbills, an apiary of more than 10 hives hosting thousands of bees and a garden with jackfruit, coconut, tapioca and coffee plants.<\/p>\n It can house nine guests within three bedrooms. Guests can don a bee suit, learn about bees and harvest honey, as well as pick the occasional free-range egg. Other activities include kayaking, cycling and fishing.<\/p>\n House of Melissa, a boutique farm stay in Changi, has free-roaming chickens and an apiary.<\/p>\n PHOTO: HOUSE OF MELISSA<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Besides staycations, the House of Melissa is used for weddings and other events, with a clientele including groups of schoolchildren and professionals. Prices range from around $300 to $600 a night for the whole house.<\/p>\n Chua, who used to run a landscaping business for 10 years, says he is looking for a lease takeover under pressure. \u201cEvery year, the monthly rent goes up by a few hundred. And since the Iran war, demand has dropped, which other businesses in Singapore are also facing,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n He and his wife are also motivated by another nature-themed business that they run.<\/p>\n They opened The Sundowner Nature Experience Centre \u2013 which offers food, craft and nature experiences, such as pizza-making and encounters with rescued honeybees \u2013 in 2020 on the rooftop of a shophouse in Siglap. At the end of 2025, they moved it to a larger space at the Old Bukit Timah Fire Station.<\/p>\n Chua, who also runs a bee rescue business, where the insects are removed and relocated, says: \u201cSince we moved the Sundowner to a new place, we don\u2019t need as much space any more.\u201d<\/p>\n He stresses that House of Melissa remains profitable, even though revenue declined slightly in 2026.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new owner would essentially take over a fully functioning hotel, including our inventory, our brand, our channels and our partnerships,\u201d he says, adding that there is scope to boost its current 66% occupancy rate about 20 nights a month.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want it to continue. I think it\u2019s a concept that works \u2013 a boutique farm by the sea. I think if more people knew about it, they would visit more. At one vantage point, you don\u2019t even see any buildings, cars or roads.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you make the effort to go to this corner of Singapore, the pace of life changes and slows down,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 Just two years after its launch, a boutique farm stay business in Changi Village is seeking a new owner, possibly marking the end…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/90647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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