A proper bed
Coir and cotton mattress, cotton sheets, and two quilts — the second one visible in the cupboard, not requested from reception.
Where you sleep
Four rooms.
No two the same.
Nothing here is themed, branded or numbered. Each room is simply whatever that part of the house happened to be — a store, a byre, a child's bedroom — made warm and left alone.
- 4Rooms
- 11Guests max
- 1,740 mAltitude
- ₹2,400From, per night
In every room
The standard, everywhere
There are no room categories in the hotel sense. These things are true of all four.
Hot water, morning and evening
Solar-heated, gas-backed. It takes about ninety seconds to run hot. In January the solar does not cope and the gas does.
Heat that works
Wood heater in the Heritage Room and Cottage, oil-filled radiator upstairs. Hot water bottles at turn-down, October to March, unasked.
Fibre Wi-Fi
40–60 Mbps, with a 4G failover on a second network. It reaches every room. It drops in thunderstorms.
A torch and a lamp
Because the power goes, and because the walk to the bathroom in the Cottage is outdoors.
No television
Not a policy, an omission. We never bought one and nobody has asked twice.
Every meal
Three plus tea, included in the rate, at one table, at seven.
Laundry over five nights
Twice weekly, line-dried. In monsoon this means three days, so pack accordingly.
Room by room
The four, in the order people usually choose them
Scroll and each room will hold its place for a moment before the next one arrives.
01 · Most requested
The Valley Room
Two windows on two walls, both north. Between October and December you can lie in bed and watch the Panchachuli line go from grey to pink to white without lifting your head. The desk is here, which is why the long-stay guests ask for it and why it books out first.
02 · Step-free
The Heritage Room
The oldest room in the house, in the original 1940s stone section. Half-metre walls, a deep window seat, and a door straight onto the courtyard with no stairs anywhere. Cool in June, needs the second quilt in January. Chosen most often by guests travelling with parents.
03 · For families
The Orchard Room
The largest room in the main house: a double and two singles under a skylight, opening onto the upper terrace above the apricot trees. In the second week of June the fruit is at eye level from the window and the whole room smells of it.
04 · Most private
The Stone Cottage
A separate two-room building forty steps up the slope, rebuilt in 2021 from the stone of the byre that collapsed in the 2013 rains. Its own veranda, its own wood stove, its own kettle, and no shared walls with anybody. Honeymooners and month-long guests.
Practicalities
The things you will actually want to know
Grouped roughly in the order guests ask them, based on ten years of the same eleven questions.
Warmth
- Wood heater in Heritage and Cottage
- Oil radiator in Valley and Orchard
- Two quilts on every bed, always
- Hot water bottle at turn-down, Oct–Mar
- Extra pankhi blanket on request
Water & power
- Solar hot water with gas backup
- Spring-fed supply, rain-harvested
- 1.5 kVA inverter for lights, router, laptops
- Geyser and pump do not run on the inverter
- Cuts: usually 20 min, occasionally 4 hrs
Connectivity
- Fibre 40–60 Mbps, all rooms
- 4G failover on second network
- Jio and Airtel in courtyard and 3 of 4 rooms
- BSNL everywhere
- No signal at all on forest walks
Access
- Heritage Room is fully step-free
- Cottage is 40 steps up a stone path
- Upper rooms have a steep staircase
- Car parks 30 m from the courtyard
- Tell us about mobility needs at booking
Also here
Shared, and open to everyone
There is no lobby, no bar and no spa. There are these.
The veranda
Six chairs and a table facing north. Tea appears here roughly seven times a day without being asked for.
Two hundred books
Almost all left behind by guests. Fiction, birds, Himalayan history, and an inexplicable number of Scandinavian crime novels.
The chulha kitchen
Not off-limits. Lift the lid on the pot. Kamla will hand you the tongs on your second day.
Four terraces
Vegetables, apricot, apple, and one deliberately left wild because the bees need something in April.
An 8-inch reflector
Bought secondhand from an observatory in Nainital. Comes out on new-moon nights between October and February.
The courtyard
A cow, a dog, a walnut tree, and the neighbours' children. This is the actual centre of the property.
Rates
What it costs, all in
Per room per night, including all meals and tea. There is no service charge, no resort fee and no per-head activity pricing. GST is not applicable at these tariffs under current rules.
| Room | Sleeps | Low season | Shoulder | Peak | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Heritage Room | 2 | ₹2,100 | ₹2,400 | ₹2,900 | ₹38,000 |
| The Valley Room | 2 | ₹2,800 | ₹3,200 | ₹3,800 | ₹46,000 |
| The Orchard Room | 4–5 | ₹3,600 | ₹4,100 | ₹4,900 | ₹58,000 |
| The Stone Cottage | 2–3 | ₹4,900 | ₹5,600 | ₹6,600 | ₹74,000 |
| Whole house | 11 | ₹12,600 | ₹14,400 | ₹17,200 | On request |
Choosing
Which room, honestly
If you tell us who is coming and when, we will just tell you. But here is the short version.
Coming for the mountains?
The Valley Room, and come between October and December. Any other room and you will be walking to a terrace at 6 am, which is fine but less romantic than the brochure.
Travelling with parents?
The Heritage Room. Ground floor, step-free bathroom, no stairs between it and the dinner table. Tell us about medication and diet in advance.
Two adults, two children?
The Orchard Room. The skylight is the single most effective child-management device on the property.
Honeymoon?
The Cottage, without hesitation. Separate building, own veranda, own fire, and you can be as antisocial as you like without anyone taking it personally.
Staying a month to work?
The Cottage if you can afford it, the Valley Room if you cannot. Both have a real desk at the correct height.
All of you, all at once?
Take the whole house. Eleven people, four rooms, and the run of the place. We do this about six times a year and it is always the best week of the season.
Four rooms is not many
October to December books out roughly ten weeks ahead. May and June, closer to eight.