Picturesque tea nest is a green-roofed colonial cottage with gables, high ceilings and lace curtains, and snuggles in 1,800 acres of tea plantations. In front of it, jagged mountains slope down to curving green valleys. The 1800s heritage mansion was once the home of British aristocrats and also an international tea school. Nature resorts took it over, restored and refurbished it, keeping its colonial spirit intact.

There are six rooms with evocative tea-themed names – lemon, green, silver tips, golden tips, chamomile, and jasmine. Have a crackling fire going on chilly nilgiri nights while you snuggle in your room’s inviting confines. Indeed throughout the year, a soft mountain breeze wafts into tea nest making it a cool getaway.

The rooms are all done with understated elegance typical of a british tea planter’s mansion. A snug living room with a welcoming fire place warms chilled feet after a long trek or a guided tea garden walk.

Relax on the sun-stunned porch with a cup of fragrant tea; perhaps you will see a bison or Indian gaur lumber through the plantation even as nimble women, with baskets on their backs, pluck two leaves and a bud, flitting from bush to bush like bright butterflies.

Go bird watching, smell the flowers and sip a cup of fragrant tea as the early morning mist rolls in. Wake up with the sun…