Summer Hill Bungalow - A planter's life!

Departure Time:     0700 hours

Departure Venue:   My home (132/3, Stanley Tillakaratne Mw, Nugegoda)

Travel mode:          Our car (Toyota Soluna JQ6144)

Adventurers:           Avanti, Anushan Selvarajah and Ananda Perera (Driver)

After thaththi agreed to give us the car to travel to Nuwara Eliya for our next ‘review’, we set off early (but later than expected) one morning, along with Ananda.

The ride there was tiring and long, but constant chatter (Anushan and Ananda), food stops and beautiful scenery got us all the way there…

On the way, we even chanced upon a new power plant being built, possibly by the Government, and took many pictures to take back with us…

 (I felt like a spy, as we took pics from in between the trees, and through the forest! But it looked like a pretty big project. - Later realised, by the League, as the new Kotmale Power Plant.)

We also had a few scares, as the engine overheated, and we had to make a non-scheduled stop in order to make it all the way up that hill…

And finally we reached the Summer Hill Bungalow (Finlays)! It was a regular bungalow, set in top of a hill, and filled to the brim with flowers… As the managers were not available, we were let in by the housekeeper-cum-cook-cum-butler.

Stepping inside, the first thing I notice are the huge bouquet of lilies in the foyer! And from then onwards, at every corner, huge bouquets of fresh flowers greeted us… filling the house with a permanent fragrance.

Once Ananda was also settled in the driver’s quarters, we went about exploring the place, and taking in the clean, cold mountain air… The garden was being meticulously attended to, as the gardener was also hard at work on our arrival. Every corner of the garden, and driveway was covered with flowers, from anthuriums to roses, to lilies growing wild by the wayside! Gorgeous!

Soon it was time for lunch, and we sat down to your typical planter’s meal, of rice, fresh vegetables and chicken curry… all tasting as though they were made in clay pots. It was delicious.

 After lunch, as there was not much to do, we went for a walk down to the road, which overlooked tea bushes and a lake. Walking on the road for a few hours, we decided to head back, as it was getting darker, and the air was becoming chilly…

I plucked several lilies from the wayside, but alas, they did not survive the trip back home.

Dinner was also a wonderful meal of mashed potatoe, grilled fish, carrot sambol, veggies, bread and ketchup… a truly planter’s life! Dessert was also a pleasant surprise as we truly enjoyed homemade hakuru (treacle) soufflé.

We then spent the rest of the night walking about the house, which was deathly quiet, when we were not making a sound (as we were the only ones there!), and just chatting… We also went outside for awhile, but I could not remain outside for five minutes due to the chilly air!

And as a typical English winter night of sitting cuddling on the couch in front of a fire (although we had to imagine the fire!), we chatted into the night and only went to bed close to 1am!

Anushan, up early the next morning (as usual!) indulged in photo-catching, while I slept into the morning… Finally dragging me out of bed, we changed and went in for breakfast, which was a truly Sri Lankan affair -  pittu and kiri hodi, in addition to fish curry and pol sambol…

We then walked down to the road again, to walk off our stomachs, and ran into a couple of planters – one of whom wanted us to email him the picture that Anushan took of him. They were “with technology”!

We walked abit more further, up until we could see the lake more clearly, and sat on the edge of the mountain (tea bushes), watching the cows roam the streets, the tea pluckers going about their business and people going on with their daily chores… We also walked down a short way, coming up on a stream, and tested the water… which was freezing!

Coming back to the bungalow, Ananda had packed up our things, and after a few more routinely pictures, we thanked the caretakers profusely, and made our way back down to Colombo…

On the way, both Anushan and Ananda could not stand to watch the vegetable stalls pass them by, and stopped to buy a few… Satisfied, and with the smell of fresh vegetables filling the car, we headed back home.