Your first evening at Kodamanju

Most guests arrive between 3 and 6 pm, tired from the road and a little surprised by how cold it is. Here is what the first evening usually looks like.

Annie meets you at the gate, helps with bags and shows you to your room. The estate view rooms are in the old bungalow and look over the tea towards the valley; the attic family room is up a steep wooden staircase and sleeps four. Each room has a heater, extra blankets and a hot water bottle, which you will want after dark from October to February, when nights can drop to 8°C.

Then comes tea on the verandah, our own estate tea with achappam or banana fritters, while the mist rolls up from the valley. This is the best time to tell Annie what you would like for dinner and about any dietary needs. Dinner is ₹650 a person and needs to be booked by 4 pm, so let us know when you confirm if you are arriving late.

Dinner is at 8 pm at the long table in the dining room, where guests often eat together with Thomas, who is happy to answer questions about the estate. Mariamma cooks Kerala food: appam, a vegetable stew, an egg roast or a fish curry, rice, thoran and pickle, with fruit from the garden to finish. There is no television in the rooms, and Wi-Fi works best in the dining room. Most guests are asleep by ten and wake to the sound of the estate workers walking up the path at seven.