More Than A Cup Of Tea

A trio of resorts is subverting expectations of Sri Lanka by offering highly distinctive experiences.

- Charmian Leong

There are few countries in the world that aren’t worth a revisit. Sri Lanka is not one of them, especially after gourmandising on single estate teas and blue swimming crabs. Resplendent Ceylon, the hotel group owned by Dilmah Tea’s Fernando family, has strategic outposts placed in areas that show off the very best of Sri Lanka’s cultural and aesthetic diversity. It’s not every country where cool, tiered hills of tea plantations, a sultry safari and a coastal paradise are all a zip away from one another. The Peak joins luxury tour operator Lightfoot Travel for a preview.

BREWING TRANQUILLITY

Ceylon Tea Trails pegs itself as the world’s first tea bungalow resort, and it spans an impressive 810ha of tea country. Five bungalows and a private one-bedroom cottage (for a total of 26 suites and rooms), built between 1888 and 1950, make up the resort and are so generously spread out that it would take 30 minutes to drive between the two farthest ones.

As a rule, sprawling natural beauty demands to be enjoyed intimately – and Ceylon Tea Trails does offer guided walks in the mornings and evenings, and a tour of the nearby Dunkeld tea factory and tea fields. However, leaving the quiet comforts of the bungalows might prove a herculean task. All of them are colonial-styled, with the outer structures and facades remaining unchanged since they were erected, but the interiors carry a little personality from the decade each bungalow was inspired by. Summerville, for instance, with its location right on the banks of the Castlereagh Reservoir, is redolent of a country cottage, while the 128-year-old Norwood was refurbished with 1950s accents.