Shalimar Spice Garden Resort is five kilometres from Kumily, the main town bordering Periyar Tiger Reserve in the high ranges of Kerala's Western Ghats. The hotel is down a rough, potholed track, where the forest starts to thicken and butterflies flicker in front of the windscreen, hidden away on a six-acre plantation of palms, pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, coffee and mango. The reception area, stuffed with antiques, is designed like a nalukettu, a courtyard flanked by a dining room. Clinging to the hillside are seven cottages, each concealed from its neighbour by use of clever elevations; together, they offer 15 rooms. There is a small pool at the top of the hill in a private, sun-drenched clearing.
Shalimar is owned by an Italian architect, Maria Angela Fernhof and her skills are much in evidence. The design maximises the light, which needs careful direction in a dense Indian forest. Sun cuts through a stained-glass crescent in the walls to cast a pool of fuchsia light in a bedroom. The walls are whitewashed, the floors are tiled in pale terracotta. The hotel feels modern and contemporary, with carefully placed objets d'art and simple platform beds, Indian-style thatched roofs and in some cottages, teak and rosewood door frames salvaged from Kerala's traditional tharavad houses. Each room has an en-suite bathroom and balcony. Because it is the most private, the best room is Room One, although it does have a longer walk to the pool and Ayurvedic spa. The latter was a recent addition whose design follows the ancient beliefs in the perfect healing environment: open fire, stone floor, handmade brick walls. Add to this Doctor Ginu and his staff and you've got the best feelgood spa in Kerala. The food - South Indian cuisine served on banana leaves, homegrown coffee, fresh tagliatelle tossed in olive oil smuggled in from Tuscany - is almost as surprising in this relative backwater as seeing that flash of tiger-orange in the jungle.
COST
Doubles from around £30. Cottages from around £39
CONTACT
Shalimar Spice Garden, Murikaddy, Idukki District, Kerala (00 91 48 632 2132; fax: 632 3022; email: shalimar_resort@vsnl.com; www.shalimarkerala.com). Bookable through Colours of India, Cox & Kings, Steppes East, Greaves Travel Limited, Scott Dunn World, Western & Oriental and Worldwide Journeys & Expeditions
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