Sri Lanka Tourism Blog

Nature, Culture, Luxury… a Lifestyle!

The newest and most ambitious project of Jetwing Hotels, located within 5km of the ‘8th Wonder of the World’-Sigiriya- is the creation of a truly ‘Lifestyle Hotel’. Sigiriya, located within the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka is famous for its rich history and Sri Lankan heritage. Vil Uyana situated within view of Sigiriya rock, on the flatlands that stretch to the west, integrates into an ancient plan - a plan to irrigate, in the tradition of the Sinhala kings.

The introduction of a wetland on reclaimed agricultural lands within the Dry Zone, provides the unique backdrop for this exciting new property. Inspired from local and rural traditions.

A private nature reserve provides a haven for wildlife and a setting of peace and tranquility. The hotel is possibly the first in the world to construct a wetland system with lakes and reed beds to form a private nature reserve.

This has allowed for the first time in Sri Lanka for rooms to be built over water. Centered around water bodies are parklands and woodlands, designed for leisure; an extension of the ancient practice of planning gardens for pleasure.

A challenge has been overcome, for the conversion of Dry Zone chena lands formed by slash & burn agriculture, to a seasonal wetland (land that is inundated by water for part of the year). The colonization of the new habitats by local fauna and flora has been accelerated by the planting of reed beds and groves of trees.

5 acres of land was used to re-grow paddy using traditional methods of farming and harvesting, providing a new and exciting feature. Rooms have been placed within the paddy fields, thereby giving the guest a unique opportunity of participating in both the farming and harvesting if they wished; yet another first in Sri Lanka! The regeneration of the forested groves create a feeling of ultimate privacy and seclusion in the Forest Lodges, the largest of the Chalets.

The tastefully designed rooms boast space as its hallmark of luxury. Dine in the privacy of your room or ‘under the stars’ or simply relax and pamper yourself at the Island Spa with a range of treatments to choose from.

The many components of the ecosystem will be subject to continuous monitoring. The hotel is unique in building a research facility from inception. Comfortable accommodation will be provided to researchers locally and internationally, overcoming one of the key logistics hurdles to field work. The research center also has a library, a room for laboratory based work and a computer room. The guest will be a participant in the metamorphosis of tourism as a champion of conservation. The environmental awareness will be an important aspect of a new ethos.

As part of Jetwing’s responsibility towards local communities an English teaching program is being held in two Buddhist temples located near Vil Uyana. Namely, Rotawewa and Kimbissa. Unemployed youth now attend these classes where they are trained to read, write and speak English. Halfway through their 6 months training they will receive hotel craft training in a field selected from Hotel Housekeeping, Reception, Restaurant & Bar and Cookery. The objective of the initiative is to make them gainfully employable. Some of them will have the opportunity to join Jetwing while others can look for employment in other companies in Sri Lanka or even overseas.

Whether it is the nature lover in you or the task of ‘finding yourself again’ treat yourself to an experience…come be part of the lifestyle!

This prestigious property is scheduled to be opened in Autumn 2006.

25 Tastefully appointed Chalets set in 3 distinct ‘habitats’:

7 Water Pavilions 1030 Sq. Ft (Dining Deck 200 Sq. Ft)

6 Paddy Field Villas 1030 Sq. Ft (Dining Deck 200 Sq. Ft and Plunge Pool 200 Sq.Ft)

2 Marsh Villas 1030 Sq. Ft (Dining Deck 200 Sq. Ft and Plunge Pool 200 Sq. Ft)

10 Forest Lodges 2100 Sq. Ft (Private Pool)

Spread Over 24 Acres of Land

Location:

169 km from Colombo (About a 4 ½ hr drive)

153 km from the International Airport (About a 4 hour drive)

Adisham is the kind of place seekers of peace dream about. Now a religious house where tranquility lies like a blessing and the grandeur of sweeping mountain vistas takes your breath away, Adisham was originally the country seat of Sir Thomas Villiers.The spirit of Thomas Lister Villiers strongly pervades this stately house. Villiers came to Ceylon in 1887 with 10 sterling pounds in his pocket. He was born in 1869 in Adisham Rectory in Kent, the son of Rev Henry Montague Villiers. He was a grandson of Lord John Russell, twice prime minister of Britain.

Villiers received a public school education but instead of settling down to a business or political career in England chose adventure in the colony of Ceylon. Soon after his arrival, he began life as a trainee planter (a creeper) on Elbedde Estate, Bogawantalawa. In 1896 he married the daughter of a tea planter and went to Brazil. He returned to Ceylon four years later and soon began his own tea estate, Dikoya Group.

In 1905 Villiers joined the firm of George Steuart, a trading and estate agency house in Colombo, and rose to be its chairman in 1928, a position he held till retirement in 1948. He also played a role in Ceylon politics.

It was while he was chairman of George Steuart that Sir Thomas commenced building a dream home in the country. He selected an idyllic site at Haputale, surrounded by virgin forest and commanding views across hills and valleys and the highest mountain ranges of Ceylon. The house was designed in the Tudor style, on the lines of Leeds Castle in Kent, with stout granite walls of locally quarried stone, long, narrow turret windows and chimneys. It looked in every detail an Elizabethan country mansion, the retreat in the tropics of a homesick Englishman, nostalgic for the scenes of his boyhood. Villiers spared no expense to ensure that his country home was luxurious in its appointments. The roof was covered with flat Burma teak shingles. The doors, windows, paneling, staircase and floors were all of Burma teak. The elaborate pillared landing on the main staircase adorned by portraits of his relatives, the Clarendons and the Dukes of Bedford, consists of four stout English oaks, polished, but otherwise natural.

The garden lay-out was also British and, as in the house, the incomparable scenery is used to best effect. The terraced lawns, flowerbeds and orchard, like the drawing room, study, library, dining room and bedrooms, look out on lofty mountain ranges, all between 1,800 and 2,100m above sea level, etched sharply on the skyline to form a curious outline called the Sleeping Warrior.

Villiers imported fine period furniture, linen, carpets, porcelain, silver, and glassware from England for his home and named it Adisham after the Kentish village where he was born. English tea and cabbage roses bloomed on the lawns. Albertines and honeysuckle climbed over the porches and windows; strawberries, apples and Victoria plums ripened in the cool mountain air and the tropical sunshine. Villiers even had an English chauffeur for his Daimler.

Adisham entertained the social elite of Ceylon at the time: Its house parties included the governor and distinguished visitors to the island. Lady Villiers, chatelaine of Adisham, was a gracious, gentle person and a charming hostess. She was a painter of considerable skill and her oil paintings and water-colours, mostly of marine subjects, adorn the walls of the library and the drawing room. The Villiers had two sons but both pre-deceased them: Their only grandson, Stephen, who lives in England, recently visited Sri Lanka with a BBC team for the preparation of a feature on Adisham. Sir Thomas retired to Kent and died on December 21, 1959. In 1949, after Sir Thomas left George Steuart, Adisham and its furniture, fittings and other effects were sold to the Sedawatte Mills. In 1961 the Roman Catholic Church acquired Adisham with its 12 acre grounds and turned it into a monastery and novitiate run by the priests of the Congregation of St Sylvester, A missionary order that came to Ceylon in the 1840s. Today, the spirit of Sir Thomas and Lady Villiers linger in their living rooms kept in impeccable order by the Sylvestrines. The libooks and its cases of polished oak, is meticulously orderly even though the Regency clock on the mantelpiece of the handsome fireplace, with its gleaming fire-irons, has stopped ticking. A long line of the Dukes of Bedford look down from the walls and one gets the feeling that any minute Sir Thomas might come in, calling to his dogs.

The drawing room has been preserved in every detail. David Paynter’s study of Sir Thomas looks down from above the William IV furniture which is polished even if the Lancashire broadloom on the chairs and the Ax Minster carpets have aged gently. On the Dutch marquetry card-table is a half-finished game of patience and the Georgian gate-legged table is set for tea with Wedgewood jasper china. The rustle you hear is not the swish of silk dresses on the beautifully kept grand staircase; it is just the wind sighing in the forest trees. Outside the morning room the terrace looks out over the sunny lawns, rioting with a hundred varieties of roses. A signboard near the gate reminds you that if you can’t find happiness along the way, you will not find it at the end of the road. One of Adisham’s most wonderful sights is its natural bird sanctuary. Brilliantly plumaged orange mini-verts, green barbets, blue magpies, paradise flycatchers, hornbills, golden oreoles and a host of others which live in the forested slopes of the nature reserve above Adisham swoop down to feast on apple and plum trees.

Today’s Adisham is primarily a monastery, where a small community of six novices and a few monks follow a schedule of prayer, meditation, work and service. Adisham has made itself famous for fine products such as strawberry jam, orange marmalade, wild guava jelly and fresh fruit cordials.

When Adisham was purchased, the priests found half-wild strawberries, Seville oranges and guavas from the original Villiers orchards, which they developed and extended. The priests as well as a few villagers work in orchards, vegetable gardens, and dairy and in the processing of produce.

The day begins early for the novices and priests when the rising bell tolls at 05.30 hrs in the mist covered dawn. If is always chilly and, from November to January when the north-east monsoon howls down the Tangamalai wind-gap, freezing. The gong sounds for muster for tea-estate labourers on neighbouring Glenanore Estate when the priests kneel in prayer and meditation in the little chapel adorned with an image of St Benedict.

Breakfast is at 08.00 hrs and is wholesome and home grown: It is served, like all meals, in the plain and austere refectory. Two hours of silence, contemplation and study follow. Next come two hours of manual work in the orchards, flower and kitchen gardens, dairy, house, laundry or kitchen. Prayer at the chapel is followed by a lunch of rice and spicy curries with fresh vegetables from the gardens. A period of recreation follows, when a sense of humour and a cheerful heart are encouraged. An hour’s manual work, a short break for tea, silence, prayer, studies, more prayer, dinner, recreation, study and then, after 22.30 hrs the great silence of the monastery reigns. From their bedroom windows, the brothers can see the mist swirling round the Sleeping Warrior. On clear, moonlit nights, the view is stunning and heaven seems within touching distance.

Although it should be emphasized that Adisham is not in any way a commercial guest-house nor a Villiers museum open to casual callers, accommodation is available for 12 guests. It would suit people appreciative of a Christian spiritual experience, counsel and guidance, in a place of surpassing peace, solitude and beauty. The large rooms are comfortable and have some of the best mountain views in Sri Lanka. The food (three main meals and afternoon tea) is simple but excellent and the atmosphere edifying and serene.

Guests should not expect hotel amusements and are expected to be considerate of the rules of the community. The rate is Rs250 per day, inclusive of all meals. Prior written notice and booking are essential. inquiries may be made of Father Superior, Adisham, Haputale:

How to get there:

Buses from Colombo to Badulla (Route 99) pass through Haputale, the nearest town for Adisham, and you can take a local taxi from there. The best way to travel to Haputale is by train, 1st class sleeper or observation car for Rs238.50 one way. From Fort station.

or

Proceed along the Colombo Road (main street) up to the end of the Bazzar and take upper road to the Police station, proceed 2miles passing the Buddhist Temple then take left for and half mile till you Reach Adisham, an old English Maner first owned By Sir Thomas Villers, now run by Catholic priests.