Visiting the Clarin Ancestral House

The House from the Road

One of the places I forgot to visit here in Bohol was the Clarin Ancestral Home in Loay town. I only came to know about it from the Bohol tourist map and somehow when I went into the town of Loay, I completely forgot about it. I think it was because a nice old man recommended that I visited the old church there, which I did, unfortunately, I totally forgot about visiting the Clarin Ancestral Home. Fortunately, for me, Loay is one the way back to Tagbilaran from Dimiao town. I just hailed a passing multi-cab heading to Tagbilaran and I was on my way.

Clarin Ancestral House

The Clarins are a prominent family here in Bohol and most especially here in the town of Loay. The family rose to prominence when one of its people, Jose Clarin, became senator of the Philippines in the early 20th century. This house is where the family all started. The house is wondefully preserved and has retained its Spanish architecture. It also incorporates a lot of native elements specially with its use of indigenous materials for building the house. It is now open to visitors as a museum.

Attractive Little Restaurant At the Ground Floor

The house is a two storey structure. The ground floor hosts as nice little receiving area, it was quite dark but I guess they weren’t really expecting any visitors. The other room has a nice little restaurant, it doesn’t seem to have any airconditioning, but with the materials they used to construct the place, I do not see any need for them to do so. I can see how this restaurant can be quite popular with wedding receptions though I do not have any idea whether it is used for such purposes.

Garden Outside With Native Style Huts

The open space outsde the house houses a few native style huts that looks like it is also used for functions,is quite attractive and I probably won’t mind eating here someday. I do not know whether the food here is good though. There was a caretaker at the counter waiting on me. It seems that I would be able to explore the house for a change. I have been to a few museums here in Bohol and most of them weren’t really that impressive. I’m hoping that this one will be something different.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/ClarinAncestralHouse.kmz}]