The Tea Factory Hotel

In the mountain range that gave the world pure Ceylon tea, Heritance Tea Factory was built in the days of the British Raj. It has been converted while preserving much of the original style and machinery.

From the moment you arrive, to be greeted by a cup of hot spiced tea, you realise that this is a hotel like no other. The atrium is latticed with steel, colour coded green to show the original metalwork and red to show which supports were added during the conversion in 1996. Above your head, two giant brass-capped wooden fans remind you that the bedrooms used to be the withering lofts, where the tea leaves were laid out to let the moisture evaporate.

The original engine in the basement that provided the main source of power is turned on for half an hour in the evenings – it’s fascinating to watch the camel-hair belts turning. And in the Goatfell Lounge you can see the solid scales used for weighing tea made by W&T Avery Ltd of Birmingham, UK.

The tea-packing room is now the hotel’s popular Hethersett bar. Where tea was sifted and graded is the hotel’s fine Kenmare restaurant. The former engine room is now the modern kitchen.

But this is not a historical museum. Heritance Tea Factory provides all the modern comforts and facilities to ensure you have a relaxing stay.

The 54 cosy, carpeted bedrooms come with bathtubs and showers as well as heating for when the mists close in. As well as our main restaurant, we offer the unusual experience of dining in a 1930s narrow-gauge railway carriage. And in addition to finding out about the local wildlife and community on our nature treks, you have the chance to pick your own tea and have it processed in our Mini Tea Factory, so you can take a little piece of Sri Lanka home with you.

Heritance Tea Factory has won 26 awards for its architecture, heritage, environmental policies. Most recently, in June 2011, we won the Gold Award for Architectural Heritage in the prestigious Green Apple Awards.