Accomodation
Each of the four bungalows is different. Summerville with an air of a country cottage, Castlereagh with an eclectic style of its own, the high colonial Tientsin, one of the first planter’s residences to be built in Ceylon and the more modern Norwood; abounding with 50’s character. Summerville and Castlereagh are situated opposite each other on the shores of the Castlereagh lake, Norwood is at the other end of the valley about 15 minutes away by car and Tientsin is about 30 minutes away in the next valley. Each house comes with its own manager, chef, butler and houseboys and from 4 to 6 rooms each – Master Suites with a separate living room and private gardens, Garden Suites with verandahs to private gardens and spacious Luxury Rooms of great character. Rooms are named after past tea planter occupants.
Rooms
The bungalow at Norwood commands a fine view of the eastern end of the Bogawantalawa valley and rests in the shelter of one of the finest bamboo stands to be found anywhere. The suites are oversized with imposing colonial style furniture, some with four-poster beds and very elegant bathrooms. A spacious lounge and well-stocked library lead out to a croquet lawn, a large swimming pool and sun deck. It is here where planters of the past invited friends to enjoy the pristine air and glorious outlook. You too can wander the gardens unchanged since yesteryear, soaking up the atmosphere of a time gone by.
Amenity
- Swimming Pool
- Sun Deck
- Lounge Area
- Bathroom
- In-Room Electronic Safe
- Tea and Coffee Making Facilities
- In room safety deposit box
- Airconditioning
- Hair Dryer
Step into the world of Tientsin and step back in time. Named after the Chinese village from which the original tea seedlings came, this very British residence is a historical landmark. Six glorious rooms and suites open onto magnificent English gardens still standing loyal to the colonial planters’ wives who created ‘a little bit of home’ in a far away land. Wander the glorious rose terraces and hide away under a leafy arbour to the myriad sounds of the many birds that make their homes there. Each suite too is faithful to the original design with polished wooden floors and high ceilings; some with four-poster beds. A large swimming pool and raised garden offers panoramic views of the tea-carpeted mountains that lead towards the World Heritage Horton Plains National Park.
Amenity
- Swimming Pool
- Private garden
- Coffee and Tea Maker
- In-Room Electronic Safe
- Balcony
- Tea and Coffee Making Facilities
- In room safety deposit box
- Airconditioning
- Hair Dryer
Travellers approaching Castlereagh from the road can glimpse tantalising views across the lake of this magnificent symbol of the glory days of colonial life. Nestled in a wooded dell close to the water, this century old bungalow offers unrivalled water views and superb garden suites to suit every taste. Elegant parquet floors all around with open fireplaces in the dining and drawing rooms, evoke recollections of the life and times of the tea planters who once lived here. In the extensive grounds summerhouses can be found where tea is served and a good book enjoyed until the sun goes down over the water and it’s time for sundowners on the terrace overlooking the lake.
Connectivity
- Cable / satellite TV
- International Direct Dialing
- Direct Dial Telephone
- High Speed Internet
- WiFi
Amenity
- Dining Room
- Private garden
- Living Area
- In-Room Electronic Safe
- Balcony
- Tea and Coffee Making Facilities
- In room safety deposit box
- Iron and Ironing Table
- Airconditioning
- Hair Dryer
High above the lake at the edge of a tea plantation, Summerville stands sentinel. This four-room bungalow enjoys magnificent views of the water and beyond to tea planted mountains in the distance. Some suites open to private gardens and all accommodations have easy access to the cozy lounge where picture windows provide a backdrop to a roaring fire as the evening mist draws in. Summerville offers individual accommodation or the entire bungalow can be booked for a group to enjoy the very personal atmosphere of this great house.
Amenity
- Swimming Pool
- Private terrace or balcony
- Dining Room
- dining space
- Living Area
- In-Room Electronic Safe
- Butler Service
- Balcony
- Bath Robe
- Tea and Coffee Making Facilities
- In room safety deposit box
- Airconditioning
- Hair Dryer
1 King Bed
Furnished patio with hill views
Layout - Separate sitting area
Relax - In-room massage available
Internet - Free WiFi
Entertainment - iPod dock
Food & Drink - Free bottled water
Sleep - Premium bedding, blackout drapes/curtains, turndown service, and bed sheets
Bathroom - Private bathroom, deep soaking bathtub
Practical - Safe, free newspaper, and iron/ironing board; free rollaway/extra beds and free cribs/infant beds available on request
Comfort - Fresh bed sheets (on request), fresh towels (on request), and daily housekeeping
Eco-friendly - Energy-saving switches and recycling bin
Need to Know - Housekeeping on request
Non-Smoking
Rooms
- Non-Smoking
- Furnished patio
- Turndown service
- Premium bedding
- Change of bed sheets (on request)
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Daily housekeeping
- Free WiFi
- Change of towels (on request)
- Bidet
- Number of beds - 3
- Desk
- iPod docking station
- Towels provided
- Energy-saving switches
- Bedsheets provided
- Recycling
- Slippers
- Shower/tub combination
- In-room massage available
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Rollaway/extra beds (free)
- Iron/ironing board
- Housekeeping on request
- In-room safe
- Deep soaking bathtub
- Separate sitting area
- Free bottled water
- Free newspaper
- Free cribs/infant beds
1 King Bed
667-sq-foot room, balcony with hill views
Layout - Bedroom and sitting area
Relax - In-room massage available
Internet - Free WiFi
Entertainment - iPod dock
Food & Drink - Free bottled water
Sleep - Premium bedding, blackout drapes/curtains, turndown service, and bed sheets
Bathroom - Private bathroom, deep soaking bathtub
Practical - Safe, free newspaper, and iron/ironing board; free rollaway/extra beds and free cribs/infant beds available on request
Comfort - Fresh bed sheets (on request), fresh towels (on request), and daily housekeeping
Eco-friendly - Energy-saving switches and recycling bin
Need to Know - Housekeeping on request
Non-Smoking
Rooms
- Non-Smoking
- Turndown service
- Premium bedding
- Change of bed sheets (on request)
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Daily housekeeping
- Free WiFi
- Change of towels (on request)
- Bidet
- Number of beds - 3
- Desk
- iPod docking station
- Balcony
- Towels provided
- Energy-saving switches
- Bedsheets provided
- Recycling
- Slippers
- Shower/tub combination
- In-room massage available
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Rollaway/extra beds (free)
- Iron/ironing board
- Housekeeping on request
- In-room safe
- Deep soaking bathtub
- Separate sitting area
- Free bottled water
- Free newspaper
- Free cribs/infant beds
1 King Bed
484-sq-foot room, patio with hill views
Layout - Bedroom
Relax - In-room massage available
Internet - Free WiFi
Entertainment - iPod dock
Food & Drink - Free bottled water
Sleep - Premium bedding, blackout drapes/curtains, turndown service, and bed sheets
Bathroom - Private bathroom, deep soaking bathtub
Practical - Safe, free newspaper, and iron/ironing board; free rollaway/extra beds and free cribs/infant beds available on request
Comfort - Fresh bed sheets (on request), fresh towels (on request), and daily housekeeping
Eco-friendly - Energy-saving switches and recycling bin
Need to Know - Housekeeping on request
Non-Smoking
Rooms
- Non-Smoking
- Turndown service
- Premium bedding
- Patio
- Change of bed sheets (on request)
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Daily housekeeping
- Free WiFi
- Change of towels (on request)
- Bidet
- Number of beds - 3
- Desk
- iPod docking station
- Towels provided
- Energy-saving switches
- Bedsheets provided
- Recycling
- Slippers
- Shower/tub combination
- In-room massage available
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Rollaway/extra beds (free)
- Iron/ironing board
- Housekeeping on request
- In-room safe
- Deep soaking bathtub
- Free bottled water
- Free newspaper
- Free cribs/infant beds
1 Double Bed or 2 Twin Beds
333-sq-foot room with hill views
Relax - In-room massage available
Internet - Free WiFi
Entertainment - iPod dock
Food & Drink - Free bottled water
Sleep - Premium bedding, blackout drapes/curtains, turndown service, and bed sheets
Bathroom - Private bathroom, deep soaking bathtub
Practical - Safe, free newspaper, and iron/ironing board; free rollaway/extra beds and free cribs/infant beds available on request
Comfort - Fresh bed sheets (on request), fresh towels (on request), and daily housekeeping
Eco-friendly - Energy-saving switches and recycling bin
Need to Know - Housekeeping on request
Non-Smoking
Rooms
- Non-Smoking
- Turndown service
- Premium bedding
- Change of bed sheets (on request)
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Daily housekeeping
- Free WiFi
- Change of towels (on request)
- Bidet
- Number of beds - 3
- Desk
- iPod docking station
- Towels provided
- Energy-saving switches
- Bedsheets provided
- Recycling
- Slippers
- Shower/tub combination
- In-room massage available
- Private bathroom
- Free toiletries
- Rollaway/extra beds (free)
- Iron/ironing board
- Housekeeping on request
- In-room safe
- Deep soaking bathtub
- Free bottled water
- Free newspaper
- Free cribs/infant beds
Dining
Rates at Tea Trails are fully inclusive of gourmet meals and drinks, including top shelf spirits and wines.
The day at Tea Trails starts with that wonderful colonial institution, Bed Tea. Served by your butler as part of a gentle wake-up call, this must be the most civilised way to start the day. The butler will also draw your bath.
Then an early morning walk followed by an English or Sri Lankan breakfast. A unique aspect of Tea Trails’ cuisine is the use of fresh, home grown vegetables, herbs and teas from the surrounding estates. Basil, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, sage, parsley and mint inspire and enliven the chef’s menus every day: Broccoli with roasted almond soup with blue cheese. Keemun tea and fresh tarragon infused roasted chicken with braised curly cabbage and baby carrot. Oyster mushroom soup with garden fresh basil pesto. Moroccan mint tea crusted lamb rump steak with grilled herb polenta and roasted peppers in tamarind sauce. Zucchini and pumpkin frittata with rocket and pine nut salad. Desserts are unashamedly luscious: Orange and lime cheese cake with cinnamon rhubarb. Apple tart with Assam tea cream anglaise. Cinnamon tea poached pears with butter scotch ice cream. Passion fruit pannacotta with minted citrus fruit salad. Banana and sultana compote served with Hibiscus sorbet.
Tea Trails is all about the time-honoured planters’ traditions: Roaring fires and the comfort of a single malt whisky while the mists roll in or a stiff gin and tonic after a long day’s walk in the tea gardens, accompanied by the spicy flavours of Sri Lankan nibbles to stimulate the appetite.
Scrumptious afternoon high teas in gardens curiously English and exotic at the same time. A four-course dinner that is at once contemporary and colonial with its garden-fresh ingredients married with choice wines, best shared in good company. Or a fabulously aromatic, authentic Sri Lankan rice and curry for lunch — a definite harbinger of the afternoon siesta. Rates include all food & drink, no bills to sign.
Rates at Tea Trails are fully inclusive of gourmet meals and drinks, including top shelf spirits and wines. Even service charges, taxes and laundry are included. We won’t bother you with bills
Recreation
This is the essential Tea Trails experience. Our Resident Tea Planter will show you first hand the age-old tea making process. First, follow the trail of the planters of old Ceylon, as they trekked through the dense jungle looking for the best slopes on which to plant tea.
Then on to watch the tea pluckers pick two leaves and a bud with deft hands. Then to the factory where the all-important conversion to “made” black tea happens. The machinery used is of very traditional British design, some as old as 100 years. The process is a very artisanal one, unchanged for a century. The daily complimentary tour ends with a tasting of different grades of this great brew.
Together with tea-infused cuisine, tea based spa treatments and trekking trails that traverse tea-blanketed hills, you can literally lose yourself in tea. You will leave Tea Trails with a newly found appreciation of this wonder herb “Camellia Sinensis” & the terroir of Ceylon Tea.
A leisurely walk or an adventure trek is a delightful way to experience the varied landscapes, exotic flora, abundant birdlife and the sweet rhythm of life in a tea garden. Take in vistas of mountain lakes, manicured tea gardens, forests and doll’s house villages. A guide can be provided or self walk on marked trails. Many of our guests walk from one Tea Trails bungalow to another for a meal or cup of tea.
Ceylon Tea Trails has opened up a world of adventure and discovery in the Bogawantalawa Valley at an altitude of over 1500 metres. The unspoiled beauty of the surrounding valleys and hills are a great biking experience. We have mountain bikes in the bungalows for complimentary use. For longer rides we recommend that you take one of our guides along.
All bungalows have a croquet lawn where you can unleash devious tactics against family and friends, a Pimms No 1 in hand. A Mr Woolcott is rightly quoted in The Guinness Dictionary of Sports Quotations as saying “It is no game for the soft of sinew and the gentle of spirit. The higher and dirtier croquet player can use the guile of a cobra and the inhumanity of a boa constrictor.”
Enjoy one of our special aromatic baths to begin or complete your day…or just as an indulgence whenever you so please. Choose from Cinnamon Spice, Green Tea, Black Pepper & Orange, Jasmine or a Bergamot & Geranium Bath. Or luxuriate in a spa treatment in the privacy and the comfort of your room after a hike or bike ride and soothe any aches and pains away…treatments include the Tea Trails Signature Massage, Deep Tissue Massage & Reflex Zone Therapy.
Tientsin bungalow has a fast clay court. British planters enjoyed an afternoon game after a tough morning in the fields and tea factory. Indulge in high tea at Tientsin after your game. Transport can be provided from other bungalows.
After coming off the slopes of Adam’s Peak, the clear waters of the Kelani River wind their way through the Hill Country of Sri Lanka before emptying into the Indian Ocean. Your adventure starts at a beautiful nature base in Kitulgala about 75 minutes from Ceylon Tea Trails. After a safety briefing and a few pointers on rafting technique, you’ll jump right into the action. Seven high quality, class III rapids and warm water make the Kelani a premier introduction to the sport of whitewater or an exciting choice for experienced rafters.
Adam’s Peak
Though not the highest mountain of Sri Lanka, the striking pyramid of Adam's Peak (2243m/7360ft) is certainly the most remarkable for its "sacred footprint". A depression in the rocky summit resembles a huge footprint, which has been venerated by Buddhists as that of the Buddha's, by Hindus as Shiva, and by Muslims as Adam's.
Kandy
No visit to the Island is complete without a visit to the World Heritage listed "Sacred City of Kandy" in the central highlands. The Kingdom of Kandy was established in the 14th century, becoming the country’s capital city in the 16th century. Steeped in political, cultural and religious history, Kandy played a central role in the tea plantation industry once tea production took sway in Ceylon.
Nuwara Eliya
Nuwara Eliya, 48km from Tea Trails, was first conceived as a health resort - a 'hill station' in British colonial jargon - about 1825. After Nuwara Eliya was 'discovered' by a British hunting party, Sir Samuel Baker the well-known explorer, fell under its spell and, planning to make it his home, imported to Nuwara Eliya all the appointments of an English country town, including a bailiff, Hereford and Durham cows, and even a blacksmith and a forge.
Horton Plains National Park
Sri Lanka's highest plateau is characterised by a beautiful landscape of rolling hills, covered in upper montane forest and wet patana grassland at an altitude of 2,100-2,300 metres (6,900-7,500ft). Visitors can follow a 10km circular trek that takes about 3 hours.
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