Warm welcome from owner (Dr Simon) and delicious drinks and nibbles on arrival. Well furnished cottage, good balcony with excellent views over the plantations and surrounding hillsides.

Excellent food and very helpful staff. Remeber to ask someone to show you how to get to the viewing point - excellent views. Only stayed 1 night but would love to have stayed for 3.

Its always nice when a place matches your expectations, and this one did--it was pretty much what I had always thought a hill station in India should be like. The Windermere is also a lot like the kind of resort you might find on a lake in Wisconsin--or a "camp" in Maine: cozy, rustic little chalets, tucked into the sides of a hill or the gardens of the compound. The grounds are immaculate, and the lodgings homey. This is not a plush hotel--accomodations are simple but comfortable, and everything is spotless. There are no tv's in the rooms, which I kind of liked.

We spent two nights here, but could have easily added a third. The clientele seemed to be a mix of Brits on the elderly side, with some Indian honeymooners thrown in. The web site for the hotel lists a lot of different hiking options, but when I asked about them, the staff seemed flummoxed. Fortunately, I had a print out of the website, which I pulled out. To their credit, the staff quickly understood that what we wanted, and made arrangements with a local guide service to set us up the next day on the perferct hike--a mixture or tea plantation ramble and mountain trek. But if hiking is important to you, I might email ahead to them to request this--we were at the end of the season, and good local guides were available, but we might not have been so lucky in the high tourist season.

If there is a weak spot, it is the restaurant; the food was extremely bland and uninteresting--but that may be a reflection of the tastes of the clientele. It was as if they were working out of some cook book left over from the 1930's.

They seem to be expanding the place at a steady rate, and if they add much more to it, it will take away the charm. There were several new chalets under construction on the hill side below us.

I'd read some mixed reviews but I have to say our experience was great! Against my better judgement we hired a limo to take us there - the trip was interesting and took around 4 hours including a puncture and a stop off at a local cafe for food but our driver was a nice guy and gave us lots of information about local wildlife and pointed out plants including coffee, tapioca, vanilla, guava etc. On arrival we were met by the friendly estate manager who told us that Windermere was a working tea and cardamon plantation and gave us information we would need, We were then taken through well tended gardens to our bungalow perched on a wooded hill and looking out over the most spectacular view of mist shrouded forested hills as far as the eye could see. The bungalow was big, wooden and very 70's retro - not the fluffy towels/slippers luxury of the Malabar House that we'd just come from, but it was comforting & homely. Suddenly we began to relax as we realised for the first time in India there were no car horns blaring, no motorbike engines, no shouting - just birds, the smell of woodsmoke and the fizz of our beer as we swigged on the balcony (beer by the way could only be served in the rooms as they do not have a licence for the restaurant - it also cunningly appeared on the bill as bottles of water). Complimentary tea and homemade cake of the day was served in a small thatched tea house in the garden every afternoon, so we wandered over and watched tea being brewed on a wood fire. Dinner was a set 3 course meal included in the price - excellent homecooked food each day - more than we could eat but the puddings were a bit dubious. There isnt much to do here except walk in the nearby hills and tea plantations which are beautiful, wildlife watch, read and relax which was a real tonic. There is a library for rainy days and they put on weekly events such as a campfire and BBQ which was great and got all the guests talking to each other. All in all a totally unique experience, utterly relaxing and run by genuine and friendly people who really love the place.

We have just come back from a wonderful trip to Kerala, and spent two nights at the Windemere Estate in Munnar. We would advise any traveller going there to make sure that they do not book one of the farmhouse rooms. Ours was poky, dark, without even two chairs to sit on. The bathroom was in serious need of refurbishment. The shower was in the bath without a curtain, there was scant hot water, and it just shouted " basic backpackers hotel at luxury prices". There are other much better rooms on the estate and we felt rather jealous of the lucky souls in them! Dr Simon, the owner is very charming, but he needs to spend some money on refurbishment. Everything else was ok. If you like spicy food be sure to ask for it otherwise you are given very bland meals. Oh ,and there's no liquor license . If you like a sundowner you will have to visit the government liquor store, an experience but not for the faint hearted!