Cocooned in Darjeeling: The Mayfair Manor, Jungpana

Leaving aside its consummate luxurious, nestled between fragrant pine, thick forest, and an accumulation of tea bushes along with enveloped for prolonged by its isolated location, Jungpana tea property, now christened Mayfair Manor (the group acquired Jungpana in January 2022), provides an distinctive experience in tea tourism. There’s merely no completely different tea yard that boasts such a confluence of pure wonders, verdant views of valleys on all sides of its august coordinates, flowing streams and seven waterfalls.

As stunning and distinctive as these waterbodies are, I was most struck by daybreak. With animals stirring at dawn, one might rise up and, in that case, this writer recommends going exterior and taking throughout the view. Watching the photo voltaic slowly increase over the verdant humps of Jungpana’s hills is nothing in want of breathtaking.

The drive is positively scenic, passing by Mahanadi Railway Station the place Toy Put together of Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (DHR) listed as a world heritage by UNESCO stops on path to Kurseong and Darjeeling.

That acknowledged, by far, basically probably the most inserting methodology to technique the property is on foot. With valley views that make for astounding photos, surrounded by forest thicket, it is a good looking methodology to herald one’s arrival at Jungpana, Darjeeling’s Queen of Hills.

Later throughout the day, when the mist rolls in, one different form of magnificence might be expert. The just about apparitional mist, its tentacles folding spherical company, is a type of welcome that might be a Darjeeling explicit. It’s like taking a steam tub solely at a cool temperature. The delicate tenderness of the feathery fog on one’s face is form of like being kissed by nature. There is no completely different experience want it. And, it isn’t one which’s merely forgotten. It retains me coming once more to Darjeeling, and may seemingly draw once more company year-after-year.

After which there will be the bungalow: restored and augmented from the distinctive inbuilt 1910 and as quickly because the residence of the Nepali royal family. It provides 12 exquisitely embellished and spacious suites, each named for an historic decide hooked as much as the property.

The distinctive colonial sort has been preserved and the entire eight rooms on the very best aspect present an unobstructed and breathtaking view of a valley vista. Solely a view of the mighty Kanchenjunga peak might current a scenic rival.

The rooms have ample home to position one’s toes up and loosen up. Extreme ceilings, which might be in keeping with the distinctive design of the bungalow add to the sense of vastness in these quarters. Each room can merely can accommodate a family of three, and may be an additional member for two, with a further mattress. The decor can be colonial and comfortable, with sofas, armchairs, and desk. And naturally, classic four-poster beds because of the remainder might be misplaced proper right here. A capacious tub and bathe house comes with fashionable fixtures and a settee! And, the entire rooms have fireplaces.

Large balconies invite you to watch the daybreak or set over the panoramic wonders that embody the property. Having a cup of freshly brewed Jungpana tea in morning whereas listening to birds chirping, and streams flowing, as a result of the mist rolls in, is an experience which lifts one out the ambit of town and beguiles one not at all to want to go away!

The adornments, fittings and fixtures have been handpicked by proprietor Dilip Ray, and current for the attention to component. To not be missed it the bungalow library, grand and historic and successfully worth spending some time in. There is a well-equipped and clear in-door consuming house, a gasoline fired barbeque with a gazebo connected, a recent spa, and (extraordinarily) a heated swimming pool (one factor water shortage forestalls at completely different Darjeeling tea estates).

Youngsters are welcome and indoor amusements embrace swimming, desk tennis, billiards, and a sport room. The gazebos and libraries are good for curling up with an ideal e e-book. And, the grounds are well-suited for mountaineering. Pals aren’t allowed to peruse the gardens on their very personal because of fragility of some sections and guides are despatched with them. The employees, drawn from native tea staff and their relations are admirably educated on the Mayfair centres.

The afternoon tea is a not-to-miss event. Crunchy tea leaf pakoras, mushroom pate on multigrain bread with truffle oil, rooster tikka puffs and Nepali cheese diamond pastries which may be half pakora half filo pastry… tarts of various varieties, home-baked cookies, and decadent squares of chocolate brownie cake. That’s usually burnished sometime later with snacks from the barbeque, which embrace diverse types of kebabs, prawn, and skewered paneer and grilled veggies. You can work it off with a protracted stroll perhaps. Tea moreover choices prominently throughout the delicacies in numerous respects, from chai pakodas to morning eggs poached in tea.

The menu at Jungpana choices standard North Indian meals harking back to kebabs, biryani, gobi masala and dal makhani along with standard Nepali fare that is light on spice and oil, and looks as if a warmth and hearty home-cooked meal, with many greens, light lentils, mutton, and rooster that are not intently spiced. The Nepali alternative is especially engaging, since it actually works successfully throughout the hilly setting. A couple of of the luxurious surprises embrace scrumptious winter delicacies like Nepali greens, broccoli, and a type of fermented cheese that is tangy and full of style that goes successfully with salad and rice.  A joyful shock is the supply of prawn imported from neighbouring Bangladesh, which tastes want it had come from one in every of many native streams, the border is so shut. These are barbequed throughout the evenings as snacks or utilized in curries for dinner.

On present are two packages, non-alcoholic and with alcohol. It is worth noting that there are so many types of tea-based mocktails on present that for those who occur to order the earlier, you aren’t seemingly to miss the latter.

For prolonged Jungpana has been an isolated tea yard with a slim, gravelly snaking avenue most important as a lot because the doorway to the lower part of the property, which is at an altitude of spherical 3,500 ft.. The alternative aspect of the property, the upper aspect, is form of impregnable, cocooned by nature and saved in pristine scenario. This half is called Mahaldiram and at one degree was its private yard. Tea proper right here is cultivated at an altitude of upwards of 6,500 ft.. Bringing the tea down is such an issue, that it is despatched down by cable car reasonably than completely different means. In prior years donkeys and ponies had been used to hold down the tea. The upper yard is dwelling to basically probably the most distinctive cultivars, which might be marketed on the very best prices. The high-altitude teas grown proper right here have a daring flavour with honeyed notes. They fill the mouth and better palate, and the aftertaste lingers on the tongue. 

The yard, itself, spans 400 acres (160 hectares) at altitudes of three,300 to 6,600 ft. (1000-2000 m).  It was significantly neglected throughout the time it modified arms from its earlier householders to Mayfair. The model new householders revitalised the vegetation, with pure fertiliser and widespread irrigation. The manufacturing facility has been modernised. Whereas innovating and upgrading their facilities at a feverish tempo, Jungpana has been cautious to care for its heritage. Located a short stroll of a few half kilometer from the resort, one in every of many first landmarks that is seen on the doorway of the manufacturing facility is a 100 yr earlier generator, restored and saved for inspection as a type of museum piece. 

The manufacturing facility has its private fountain and each house is labelled so guests taking a tour will merely understand the place they’re and what train is being carried out in each section. Certainly one of many highlights of the power is the ‘Tea Experience Room”, which is a giant boardroom with a counter at one end for tasting. 

What makes Jungpana an indulgence is its location. It’s faraway from many points. One can’t go to a neighbouring metropolis or metropolis with out making a protracted journey requiring a 4-wheel drive car, and the distractions of metropolis life are absent whether or not or not, televisions, internet connections and even a reliable phone neighborhood. Not that one is completely cut back off, nonetheless it takes some work to hunt out an house the place cell service and emails work, and it is doable you will shock if its effectively definitely worth the problem whenever you presumably can have the benefit of being liberated from the disturbances of metropolis life.

PS: One downside worth noting: roadwork is being deliberate after monsoons to make the roads safer. Until then, it’s advised to utilize a 4×4 car to technique and descend from Jungpana. (Our 2-wheel drive Innova slipped backward down a ridge on the best way during which once more, and had the driving force not managed regain administration, a vital accident might need occurred.) That’s one factor which guests would possibly want to arrange themselves.

SB Veda is the pen determine for Sujoy Bhattacharyya, who’s a British/Canadian unbiased writer primarily based in Kolkata. Born in London and raised throughout the UK and Canada, the award-winning writer and editor’s works have moreover been revealed in The Neutral, The Guardian, the Ottawa Citizen, The Worldwide Calcuttan and Pragati Worldwide. He has a longstanding connection to Darjeeling, the place he tries to go to yearly, and he’s presently engaged on a e e-book a few Darjeeling tea yard, which is anticipated launch in 2023.