Kandy boutique hotel in Sri Lanka

Both the families of the hotel's owners have been in India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon) for five generations, and we seek to return something to this beautiful part of the world. The hotel is very different to the normal concept of a hotel and we like to feel that guests staying there see it much more as staying in a private house with a friend rather than a commercial exercise. The hotel is well established in the local community, and exists well with its neighbours.

It is still a very productive Tea Estate, producing organic green tea. Within the constraints that exist, the hotel is a very responsible member of the local community in terms of totally organic food production (and of course the tea). Good ecological practises; best employment practices etc.

We try to run the hotel in as totally a responsible fashion as possible. In particular: We have a total staff of 14, 3 are from outside the area, but others recruited from within the area and trained by ourselves. We buy as much as we can of our food from immediately local sources, and we contribute towards a variety of local causes, such as the Buddhist school near us. We try to train our staff as well as we can, both at the hotel and on short external training courses.

We have no rubbish collection here, and therefore, for our own interests, strive to prevent waste. In particular we have a scheme to pay locals small amounts to take away bottles that cannot be recycled for their use. We have excellent supplies of water, both from our own spring and our own bore hole, but the bore hole is only used when needed. Electricity is so expensive in Sri Lanka that we do everything possible to minimise consumption without unconvincing guests. All heating for water is done with solar heating, and electricity only used for lighting; refrigeration etc.

We have an abundance of wild life, both in terms of animals and birds, which we encourage and feed where appropriate, for the benefit of guests. All our own gardening practices are organic. For building, everything we use is locally sourced in Sri Lanka. We are significant supporters of Kacpaw, a nearby charity which sterilises and then re-houses village dogs. We try to make our staff as aware as possible of the importance to adhering to these general practices.

It is very rare that we purchase anything from outside Sri Lanka, simply because of the costs. Although most guests eat here, when they would like a change we advise on a choice of restaurants which we feel are sympathetic with our general standards.