Ferncliff– elegant, colonial style boutique

by Vijaya Chandrasoma

Ferncliff today is an elegant, colonial style boutique chalet nestling in the mountain resort of Nuwara Eliya, the City of Light. Often referred to as “Little England”, Nuwara Eliya has the feel of a British hamlet, with colonial-style homes, hotels and guest houses. It was originally earmarked as a pastoral resort where the British indulged their favourite pastimes of hunting, golf and horse racing in the pseudo-aristocratic atmosphere of the British country-home circuit. Nuwara Eliya remains an escape even today, not only for Sri Lankans who flock there during the “season” in April, but for tourists from the world over, who can enjoy, even for a few days, the life of a colonial past.

Describing Nuwara Eliya in his wonderful book, “Running in the Family”, Michael Ondaatje wrote: “Nuwara Eliya was a different world. At an elevation of 6,000 feet, the families could look forward to constant parties, horse racing and the All Ceylon Tennis Tournament. This was the Nuwara Eliya in the twenties and thirties. Everyone was vaguely related, and had Sinhalese, Dutch, British and Burgher blood in them going back many generations”.

Ferncliff also boasts a storied pedigree. The earliest recorded owner was His Excellency Lieutenant General Edward Barnes, in 1831. The property came into the hands of the de Saram family in 1883, and has been in its ownership since, managed today by the latest generation of Sproule-de Sarams.

The bungalow remains one of the last of its kind, authentic and historic, distinctive among the ever-changing, oft-times garish dwellings of modern Nuwara Eliya. It has four large and superbly furnished double rooms and two garden suites; cosy and comfortable sitting and dining rooms with the roaring fireplaces of a bygone era that leave one with a touch of nostalgia for simpler times.

Ferncliff’s beautifully maintained garden, with its manicured lawn and a profusion of multicoloured flowers, is a joy to behold, and provides an ideal niche to read or have an afternoon siesta. This description does scant justice to one of Ferncliff’s signature features, so I sought expert advice for a more pictorial account:

“The Ferncliff gardens are resplendent with ancient camphor and cedar trees, and tree camellias standing like sentinels, watching over the lush lawns. The garden teems with birds and butterflies, surrounded by lilac osbeckias, Chilean firebush plants and lantana flowers. Cherimoya trees in the courtyard are surrounded by wild ferns and orchids, nestling below vistas of Mount Pedro, the highest peak in Sri Lanka”.

The garden has not always been so green. Its checkered history was perhaps best described by Michael Ondaatje, in the 1930s: “Anyway, a few years later, we decided to work at the lawn of Ferncliff, which was turning brown. So we arranged to have some turf delivered from the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club. And when we started digging we found about thirty bottles of Rockland Gin buried in the front lawn by your father”. The father under reference was a scion of a previous generation of the de Saram family, males of which have a predilection for the demon drink, second only to mortal fear of their formidable wives; and when those wives happened to be of the de Saram clan, one could assume they had Teutonic blood coursing through their multi-cultural veins.

My personal memories of Ferncliff go back well over 50 years, when it was a holiday home in Nuwara Eliya. The owner let any and all of his friends use – and sometimes abuse (in the nicest possible way) – the house whenever we wanted a few days away from the rat race in Colombo. My personal memories of Ferncliff are numerous, perhaps even too indiscreet to list, but I will never forget a holiday spent one April in the early 70s. Four close golfing friends and wives, all of us in that first flush of post-nuptial euphoria, decided to spend the April “season” at Ferncliff.

A perfect holiday, four men playing golf in the mornings, with more than a little convivial time spent with like-minded friends at the 19th hole of the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club. Returning to Ferncliff to a scrumptious lunch, planned by the ladies, and prepared and served by the wonderful staff, we were welcomed by our new and adoring wives with not a hint of complaint at our late arrival in various stages of inebriation. Any expectations we were foolish enough to entertain that this kind of docile and tolerant behaviour would persist in the future were shattered before long.

Before we visited Ferncliff, we had been warned about the ghosts who roamed the house at ungodly hours, making eerie noises. These warnings were so ominous that we were persuaded to fortify ourselves with copious amounts of alcohol to face these horrors. The fact that the ghostly sounds were ultimately revealed as the groans of the creaking wooden floors did not inhibit the continued flow of the good stuff.

It may be relevant to quote from the extracts of a few comments expressed by recent guests: “Ferncliff was top notch in every way. It is a most beautiful, characterful holiday bungalow, now converted to a small boutique hotel, set in a stunning garden – all very private yet very central in Nuwara Eliya. It is just a 10-minute walk to central Nuwara Eliya, with the hustle and bustle of a hill country town located in the environs of the beautiful Victoria Gardens and the Nuwara Eliya Golf Club. A warm welcome from the start with tea and homemade biscuits. All the food was beautifully prepared to order, tea on the lawn in the afternoon and roaring fires in the sitting and dining rooms in the evening. And the hot water bottles in our beds stayed miraculously hot all night”.

A truly unique experience in an authentic colonial atmosphere, a style of life of a forgotten era blended with traditional Sri Lankan hospitality.