Rural retreat near Udaipur
Overall: 
Location:
Staff:
Cleanliness:
Positives: Hassle free, clean and friendly with good food and drink available.
Negatives: Auto needed to get to shops bars and restaurants, so not ideal for anyone looking for nightlife or enjoying late nights.
Beautiful modern stone house in amazing countryside, a spotlessly clean home stay hotel with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Its main bonus was that there is NO tourism there, so no hassle or demands for money, just nearby villagers who seem happy to see you around. After Delhi it was a pleasure to see villages free from litter. It's an absolute haven and I can imagine a lot of travellers would appreciate it as a place to unwind after visiting more "touristy" hassle packed places.
At the Mountain Ridge there was no pressure to either join family life or do our own thing, we ended up doing some of both. HUGE bookshelf each of fiction and non fiction which was a nice surprise. We stayed in the beautiful Monsoon Palace Suite, and appreciated nice touches such as having fruit and fresh flowers in our room, and joss sticks and candles in the bathroom. The water is solar heated, so if it's not warm enough to fill the massive bath you have to ask to have the immersion heater switched on, which may be necessary in the winter months.
Highlight for me was our hike in the surrounding hills with a local tribesman, to temples and holy places. Once he realised our other interest in flora and fauna he pointed out an amazing variety of things I'd never have spotted! This was arranged by Piers, the English owner of the Mountain Ridge. He's become involved in the local communities and he has even given a home to one of the little village boys, so it didn't feel as if our Western presence in the area was "wrong" if that makes any sense. His assistants are Nepalese and part of the family, even though I'm frankly not a "kids" person at all I really enjoyed having their well behaved and cute children around.
We stayed for 6 nights in November 2008, it was hot during the day and cooler at night, but at the Mountain Ridge it was definitely cooler than in Delhi and certainly not too hot for a fairly unfit Brit to do a seven hour hike. There was a huge fireplace in our suite, set with logs, but unfortunately the weather wasn't yet cold enough to justify using it. I want to go back in the winter, I imagine that a log fire would be terrifically romantic.
Location:
Staff:
Cleanliness:
Positives: Hassle free, clean and friendly with good food and drink available.
Negatives: Auto needed to get to shops bars and restaurants, so not ideal for anyone looking for nightlife or enjoying late nights.
Beautiful modern stone house in amazing countryside, a spotlessly clean home stay hotel with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Its main bonus was that there is NO tourism there, so no hassle or demands for money, just nearby villagers who seem happy to see you around. After Delhi it was a pleasure to see villages free from litter. It's an absolute haven and I can imagine a lot of travellers would appreciate it as a place to unwind after visiting more "touristy" hassle packed places.
At the Mountain Ridge there was no pressure to either join family life or do our own thing, we ended up doing some of both. HUGE bookshelf each of fiction and non fiction which was a nice surprise. We stayed in the beautiful Monsoon Palace Suite, and appreciated nice touches such as having fruit and fresh flowers in our room, and joss sticks and candles in the bathroom. The water is solar heated, so if it's not warm enough to fill the massive bath you have to ask to have the immersion heater switched on, which may be necessary in the winter months.
Highlight for me was our hike in the surrounding hills with a local tribesman, to temples and holy places. Once he realised our other interest in flora and fauna he pointed out an amazing variety of things I'd never have spotted! This was arranged by Piers, the English owner of the Mountain Ridge. He's become involved in the local communities and he has even given a home to one of the little village boys, so it didn't feel as if our Western presence in the area was "wrong" if that makes any sense. His assistants are Nepalese and part of the family, even though I'm frankly not a "kids" person at all I really enjoyed having their well behaved and cute children around.
We stayed for 6 nights in November 2008, it was hot during the day and cooler at night, but at the Mountain Ridge it was definitely cooler than in Delhi and certainly not too hot for a fairly unfit Brit to do a seven hour hike. There was a huge fireplace in our suite, set with logs, but unfortunately the weather wasn't yet cold enough to justify using it. I want to go back in the winter, I imagine that a log fire would be terrifically romantic.
