The six hours of traffic caused by many cars on narrow roads and a sacred elephant walking from Colombo to Kandy were worth it as soon as I arrived at Taylor’s Hill. It is an old English style manor converted into a boutique hotel with 5 beautiful ensuite bedrooms. The house boasts expansive gardens that include an infinity pool, croquet, outdoor volleyball/badminton court and tennis court. The weather was rainy, windy and cool but a nice reprieve from hot Singapore! The wind was so strong that the swaying trees actually sounded like the open ocean if you closed your eyes. It was so high up in the hills that it felt like I was 100 ft from heaven.
I would recommend full board as there’s nowhere else to eat. All the food was delicious and included breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. There’s no corkage if you bring your own wine and alcohol. Soda water and tonic are available for a small additional fee if you need a mixer with your gin.
Inside the manor was a reading room with the perfect fireplace to gather around every night, two dining rooms, billiards room and a kids room. I spent most of my time in reading room. All the staff were extremely helpful, honest and polite.
During the day you can take walks around the village and neighbouring tea plantations. You can also borrow their bikes to ride along the pot-holed filled roads. The highlight of the trip was going to James Taylor’s original tea plantation. The guided tour was USD 35 each person and the factory was refreshingly un-touristy. The factory is 95 years old and tea is still being made the same method except with electricity instead of hydropower. There’s no gift shop to purchase the tea, you’re literally dropped into the factory to witness the traditional tea manufacturing process. It is Sri Lanka’s first black tea plantation – now government run, with 150 years of history, growing from 19 acres to now 1,000 acres. It produces English Breakfast Tea which is actually just Ceylon black tea. The factory sends all their tea to a weekly auction in 50kg bags.
The guide took us up 4,000 ft above sea level to the remains of James Taylor’s log cabin as well as his rock seat overlooking the country where he could plan out tea plantation ambitions. The drive up there was extremely bumpy with a couple points of fearing for my life (I thought the car would slide down the mud and off the hill). Our guide said he could actually arrange parasailing from James Taylor’s rock seat back to ground level and it would take 45 minutes to an hour. Next time I go back, I’d like to try that!
We were virtually the only guests staying at the hotel at the time so we were able to get a sneak peek at all of the rooms.
Summary: If you’re looking for a break where there’s minimal internet connection and you’re trying to disconnect from the world. This is where it’ll happen. In fact, you’ll feel like you’ve been transported back in time. The two smallest rooms at Taylor’s Hill have dank bathrooms so I would suggest going for the larger rooms.
Learnings for the future:
- Take the daily morning fast train from Colombo to Kandy and then drive to Taylor’s Hill instead of driving the entire way. It would save you about 2 -3 hours of driving.
- If you want to drive one-way, visit the Elephant Orphanage to break up the journey. The spice garden trip wasn’t worth it and they sell over-priced spices.
- The dirt road to Taylor’s Hill is marked by this landmark:
Key Contacts:
- Driver: Jagath – +94 71 443 5519. He can arrange tours and drivers for you. However, the tour guide I used was from Taylor’s Hill.
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