Summerville Bungalow puts a more modern spin on the hospitality of Ceylon Tea Trails, the Relais & Châteaux tea resort of Resplendent Ceylon. Built in 1923 at 1,219 metres, it looks over the Castlereagh reservoir to the wooded mountain ridges beyond, and it is the bungalow where most guests arrive.
Summerville stands above the shore of Castlereagh Lake, about 20 minutes from Hatton and its railway station, which makes it the easiest of the bungalows to reach. It has its own dock: a ten-minute boat ride crosses the lake to Castlereagh and Dunkeld bungalows, saving a longer drive round on estate roads.
Resplendent Ceylon gives the drive from Colombo airport to Tea Trails as about 160 km and four and a half hours. Floatplanes land at Summerville's dock, and the train to Hatton is a scenic alternative. Book the Colombo (CMB) Airport transfer to Summerville Bungalow.
Summerville has five rooms:
Butler service, Wi-Fi and laundry are included. There is no air-conditioning, as nights in the hills are cool. Small and intimate, Summerville suits families taking the whole bungalow.
From the veranda guests watch the clouds roll in over the lake and the mountains, above a manicured lawn and gardens full of flowers where chipmunks and mongooses scamper past. There is a croquet lawn, and an infinity pool that seems to merge with the lake below. Inside, a cosy open-plan living and dining room is furnished with dark-blue sofas and a candle-lit dining table.
Stays at every Tea Trails bungalow are fully inclusive: meals, afternoon cream tea, wines and spirits, laundry and the "Tea Experience" tour with the Tea Planter in Residence at the Dunkeld tea factory across the lake. Guests can dine at the other bungalows, go out on the lake by boat or kayak, walk or cycle the estate trails, and make day trips to Adam's Peak and Horton Plains National Park. A minimum stay of two nights applies. For the other four bungalows see Ceylon Tea Trails.
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Pre-book a private vehicle for arrival, departure, or onward travel.
