Most people had not heard of Coonoor before the famous and very beautifully directed movie, Kapoor and Sons, at least I hadn’t. And man I must admit while the movie was totally engrossing with its depiction of the dysfunctional family, the way it captured the beauty of the unspoilt Coonoor was equally breath-taking. Every frame and every camera angle showed what the place really stands for and it is then I decided that it is a must visit place for me so I landed in this beautiful Shakespearean hamlet in the summer of 2016.
On Tripadvisor, they showed a beautiful villa converted into a stay and the tranquillity of the place along with its surroundings ensured that I book it for my entire stay duration. The reviews of fellow travellers for ‘The Tea Nest’ were equally endearing. So after the flight landed at Coimbatore, I took a taxi from the airport and started for Coonoor. Luckily the taxi driver was a very nice young man called Selva. Noticing my slight discomfort and tired face, he stopped over to a local coffee shop and asked me to have some rasam vada and filter coffee. The food came in just about five seconds and was pretty lip-smacking. The filter coffee was strong and crisp with very less sugar, In other words, simply perfect. After finishing my cup, I ordered another and Selva also repeated his coffee. By then, I got pretty high, both on energy and trust as Selva chatted with me all through our ride and kept on sharing interesting anecdotes.
The road from Coimbatore airport to Coonoor is a long drive full of coconut trees, green fields, bright blue skies and the endearing Nilgiris staring down from a distance. The journey took us about 3 hours to reach as it started drizzling and we had to drive carefully because of the zigzag mountain roads sandwiched between think layer of trees and steep valleys on its sides. As Coonoor approached, the air was filled with the aroma of fresh and blooming tea leaves which just transported me to a different world altogether. Every breath that I took was soaked in the deep fragrance of brewing tea and with that, I was becoming even more excited to begin my journey of tea tasting. To most coffee lovers like me, this might come as a surprise that Tea is the second most popular beverage in the world, after water. It is estimated that somewhere between 18 and 20 billion 6 oz. cups of tea are drunk daily on our planet. Also, the variants for the beverages are mind-numbing in itself viz. ice tea, green tea, white tea, chamomile tea, fruit tea, ginger tea, chocolate tea, honey tea, Darjeeling tea, Chinese tea, herbal infusion tea, clove and cinnamon tea and the list just goes on and on. Coming to Coonoor had transformed me into some sort of overnight tea connoisseur. Lemme share the details of the tea tasting journey a little later on.
The Tea Nest as it is called was in the truest sense of the world a beautiful old world villa converted into a guesthouse for patrons who would want to spend most of their time around the tea plantations as it is inside a tea estate itself. The rooms boast of a stone panelled fireplace, a queen size bed, a huge window to look across the sprawling tea estate and beautiful local landscape paintings. The common room was filled with a wide array of books on diverse topics, a Carrom board, Chess, ludo and a cricket gear, a Football and a set of badminton racquets. The various types of tea were displayed in a tastefully done wooden sampling shelf on the right and towards the left were thoughtfully laid fairy lights above the large fireplace that added to the existing charm of the overall décor.
As it was late noon, I decided to order for a cinnamon tea and tomato cheese sandwich in the room and rest for a while. The freshly prepared snack came in quickly and I finished it almost in no time and later on buried myself in the soft blanket while keeping a bit of the window curtain open to allow sunlight entering the room as beams.
When I got up it was around 5.30 PM and the sky was turning a bright crimson and deep purple, turning the beautiful valley of the front porch into a dark lined silhouette of the sleeping lady. The sleeping lady is a famous sightseeing point in Coonoor as the valley’s crests and troughs resemble a woman who is lying with her hair open and to my amazement from The Tea Nest this valley was clearly visible from the front porch. As I was admiring the wonderful ways of nature the dark clouds suddenly appeared from nowhere, completely transforming the colorful skies into shades of dark grey and black and it started drizzling. White thick patches of clouds contrasted with the color of the sky and added to the mystique of the valley in front of me as the sleeping lady is now wearing a veil of clouds, thus masking her beauty from the eyes of strangers.
The entire evening and later part of the night it kept on raining in moderation and it became cold. Post dinner the other guests had assembled in the main hall and we chit chatted, played board games and sand together as a large, united family.
Next morning Selva came to show me around the place. He first took me to Sims Park – The park is divided into eight major sections and you’ll have to walk down the hill lined with exotic and majestic trees like Pine, Cypress, Fir, Magnolia and Shola. Flower beds, rock gardens and lawns are created to give a pleasant and symmetric look to the park. A small island garden is in the middle of the park at the end of the valley downhill where boating is allowed. You could compare it to the parks shown in various Bollywood movies during the 90’s. It was just beautiful and serene. Our next destination was Dolphin’s nose. It is located at a distance of 12km away from the Coonoor city. It is near to the Tiger hills. From this viewpoint you can see the St.Catherine Falls standing on the top site. The Coonoor river can also be viewed from this place. The deep forest valleys are covered with greenery and mash of treetops.
While returning from Dolphin’s Nose we reached another point called the Lamb’s Rock. The drive to this spot is very interesting through tea estates. The view from the topmost point is eye-catching.You can see the toy train going from this point. There is so much of greenery surrounded by, trees and a well-paved road that you definitely fall in love with this post. Good place for photography and sunset.Beneath the rock, lies a vast forest reserve. On the right, there is a Helical ravine featuring Coonoor river. Soon I felt hungry so Selva took me to this nearby Tea Estate that had a canteen for the tourists called High Field Tea Factory. I was pretty amused to see Chocolate Tea there and ordered one cup along with some cheese Maggi and paneer pakoras. Chocolate tea resembles filter coffee in color and texture, however, its aroma goes back to the childhood dairy milk days. Without holding temptation for long I took a sip and was directly teleported to the childhood dream where everything in the house was made of chocolates and there was a chocolate river flowing nearby the house. Whatever you do or don’t, you gotta try this. After what can be only termed as pure gastronomic pleasure that calmed all senses alike Selva and I started our explorations once again.
Next was a toy train ride from Coonoor to Ooty. Selva dropped me to the train station and drove towards Ooty where I had an overnight stay at Derby Greens, a Mahindra property. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is located in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. It runs from Mettupalayam to Udagamandalam (Ooty), via Coonoor, in the Nilgiri Hills. The track is 46 kilometres (28.5 miles) long and passes over 250 bridges (including 32 major ones) and through 16 tunnels. This railway is particularly picturesque because of the surrounding rocky terrain, ravines, tea plantations, and forested hills. It is also called as Heritage train as it pulls quaint blue and cream wooden carriages with large windows. It takes close to one hour and twenty minutes to reach Ooty from Coonoor, crossing stations like Wellington & Lovedale. You can book the ticket for Heritage train online otherwise it is advisable to go early and get the ticket at Railway Station.
As I sat on the window seat of the old railway carriage pulling through thick forests, valleys and tea estates my mind recalled the famous lines of R. L Stevenson’s poem –“From a Railway Carriage”
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone forever!
Each line echoed true in my soul as I captured the lovely memories of Coonoor in my heart and move on to the next destination, ready to explore a little more of these imposing, enormous yet endearing and beautiful ranges called the Nilgiri
Ways to reach Coonoor -
* Frequent flights to Coimbatore from all major cities in India
- bus service from Mettupalayam bus stand
- taxi service available from all nearby cities
- state transport buses run daliy from Coimbatore/Ooty and other cities
Best time to visit
- Winters from October to March
- Summers from May - June
