Myself and my wife stayed at windermere for three nights and I should confess that the experience was unlike anything I've had before - absolutely fantastic and relaxing.

Though I booked a valley view room, it was upgraded to a cottage upon arrival since it wasn't the peak season. The rooms are big, clean, and have fantastic views. When you stand at the patio, all you hear are sounds of chirping birds.

The 2 hour walk in to the cardamom plantation was a really nice touch. It started raining while we were in the middle of the plantation. The plantation was so dense that it seemed we were in an equatorial rain forest.

I am really surprised that a few of the other reviewers didn't like the food. Probably they haven't tasted good Indian food. For all those non-Indian visitors to Windermere, I just have this one to say - whatever Indian dish you eat at the restaurant here, there isn't a better version of that particular dish you can find anywhere else. Even the ubiquitous rava upma, a south indian breakfast dish, tasted so great that I was raving about it to my mom.

It was a fantastic experience for us and we would definitely stay at windermere again in future.

The value of service is tested when an emergency occurs. One member of our party had a medical setback on the second day of our stay. The response of staff, owners, and nearby clinic was superb. John took leadership in assuring that the patient was rushed to the Munnar clinic. He arranged for food to be brought from the estate for her and us. He stayed several hours to make sure that care would be provided. Dr Simon contacted his colleague at the Kochi Hospital to arrange examinations. John then visited her in the hospital in Kochi to assure she received the care she needed. To suffer a medical setback in India, we could not have been in better hands. The only disappointment was that our friend was not able to spend another day enjoying the beauty and hospitality of the Windermere Estates.

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.