Hapu Tales

Arrival is up a narrow side road off the A4, five minutes from the highway and 4.5 hours from Colombo. HapuTales sits at 850 metres in lower Haputale, on 27 acres that were once a tea estate; one acre around the villas has been replanted with tea bushes in keeping with that history. Two villas make up the property. The Main Villa, at 280 m², holds three double rooms, a shared living and dining area, and a kitchenette, and suits groups of up to seven; the separate one-bedroom suite in the lower garden, Emerald Valley, has its own entrance and sleeps up to three. Rooms look out over the Haputale-Beragala Gap, with the Udawalawe Reservoir visible on a clear day. You can hear cicadas and frogs after dark, and cloud often settles below the terraces rather than above them. The garden holds fruit trees, spice plants and an herb patch, along with the tea bushes. There is an unheated pool, a pergola, and open terraces for reading or watching the mist move through the valley. Diyaluma Falls is 20 km away, Ella around 40 km, and the Haputale train station 15 km down the hill. Check-in guests are advised to stay at least two nights to settle into the pace.