Tea Factory in Sri Lanka

The Tea Factory lies alone and unique, on the steep slopes of the tea plantations in Kandapola, in the sparsely-populated hills to the east of Nuwara Eliya. It was once exactly as it claims: a tea factory built in the 1930s by British planters. Nuwara Eliya can be approached via Kandy or Hatton. The drive from Kandy is about three hours. Although the final couple of miles along a badly-maintained road can be a little wearing, when the journey ends, there is no more luxurious way to explore Sri Lanka's history of tea making. The Tea Factory was once exactly that, before it was painstakingly converted into arguably the finest hotel in the highlands. It is still possible to pluck your own tea from the nearby Heathersett Estate and process it at the hotel's own miniature tea factory. The reception was once the drier room, the sifting and packing rooms now house a highly-recommended restaurant and bar. In a nostalgic recreation of the years of steam travel -- a narrow gauge railway ran along these slopes until 1940 -- the Tea Factory's fine-dining restaurant is a restored railway carriage, where you can enjoy a five-course meal with an infusion of Western and Eastern influences without any risk of soot in your eye. But it is the setting that delights many -- the gentle howl of the night-time breezes is likely to lull the most troubled mind to sleep.