To the Hills, We Say | Two Chimneys, Gethia

By Ashlin Mathew

In the mood to get sun kissed and spin dried with the Himalayas for company? Then head straight to Two Chimneys in Gethia. This is literally a hop, skip and jump away from Delhi, albeit the one that takes 6 hours. This is a place for those wanting to de-stress and it is just a blink away from the clutter in Nainital.

Walk in to discover the hill-cottage that you dream of while reading Enid Blyton’s. It is your wonderland for as long as you stay with white chimney tops peeping out from in between forest green roof tops. Your bags will be taken care of as soon as you step in through the gate. Slip off your footwear while you stroll across the lush lawns to the foyer to be greeted by an affable manager and a fibre-glass tiger with tribal art on it.

With delectable room names such as Olive, Willow Suite, Deodar, Goat Shed and Oak, you will be hard-pressed to choose your hideout. The First Things, where I stayed, gazes at the pool and comes with a loft and the private ante room. The hook though is the tub in the bathroom overlooking the valley to soak in! The Oak has a wooded sitting room with French windows, a spacious bedroom with a stone fireplace and a bathroom to delight the senses. It comes with its own sit-out that overlooks the Jeolikote Valley.

{The Willow Suite}

{The Olive}

{View from The Olive}

The teal-coloured pool amidst the splendid outdoors is all yours. Don’t forget to take your first meal of the day on the wooden deck here. With ample sunshine and dark-chocolate mountains, you couldn’t feel more at peace. For those wanting some alone time, lands end is your spot. With wooden benches overlooking the valley, this is love at first sight. Come here at night to find shooting stars to wish upon. I did!

As you stroll around the place, you’ll discover red feathers, silver oaks, weeping willows, Jacarandas and bottle brushes providing you and the chirpy “twitterer’s” generous shadows. The surprise finds are the fig tree and the juicy peaches. To soothe your parched throats, you’ll find home-made ice tea with lemon rinds in it on tables around. Feel like grabbing a chair, head straight up to the machan – the highest point here.

Being a tree paradise, this place has turned into a haven for bird lovers too. Two Chimneys is home to many perennial species and the winter home of several migratory birds as well. Siberian rubythroat, Blue-throated barbet, White-throated Fan-tail, Lemon-Rumped Wabler, Scarlet Minivet, Rufous-bellied Niltava, Rufous Sibia and Verditer Flycatcher are just some of the visitors that grace these grounds. Animal lovers are likely to spot gorals, barking deer, porcupines and those lucky will see a leopard sprinting across the valley below. And everyone will be taken in by the peaceful mountain dog Bijli on the property.

The adventurous few can make this their base camp to hike up to Nainital, which is a 4 km walk or a 30 minute drive from here. Just 20 odd kms away is Naukuchiatal, which, as the name suggests, is a nine-cornered lake fed by an underwater spring. The hidden gem in the mountains is Jilling. It is an hour’s drive to Matyial and an hour’s walk through a dense oak and rhododendron forest. You can top it up with a rudimentary lunch at a village home. Bhimtal, Sattal, Pangot, Almora and Ranikhet are close by too. There are many who drive down to Jim Corbett national park from here.  

All the book worms, fret not. Most of you are likely to carry your own books but it never hurts to curl up in their cosy reading room with a book from their well-stocked library. From chick-lit to bloke-lit and almost everything in between, you’ll find it all on these shelves. For those who refuse to enjoy nature at its best, hunt for the games room to indulge in a game of table tennis or pool.

As the story goes, the stone and wood house was built over a century ago by a British army officer’s wife who fell in love with the area and decided to settle down. She chose the tip of the hills overlooking the valley to build her house and it is where this boutique lodge stands.

This is an all- year around destination. The summers and warm and windy and the clouds wrap the house during the monsoon as the lightening revs up the entire valley. The winters, I am told, are cold but with crisp sunshine in the afternoon.

This is not for those who are enamored by impersonal five-star hotels. It is personal at Two Chimneys, even the rooms. The service is friendly and you will feel at home. They bring on the table various cuisines with their khao-suey being one of the best. The South Indian surprise is delectable too. You can get your own liquor. Don’t hesitate to get your pet along, they have no qualms about it- just inform them.

Notes in our {Little Black Book}

Start early, for all those wanting to miss the traffic and reach the place comfortably by lunch time at 2 pm.

Getting there | Transport 

Car | Delhi – Hapur {take the bypass here} – Garh Mukteshwar – Gajurala – Moradabad bypass – turn left after the bypass {to catch the Jim Corbett park route} then cross Tanda, Do Raha – Bazpur-Kaladungi- Haldwani, Jewlikote and to Gethia.

Bus | Over-night buses from Delhi reach either Haldwani or Nainital. Private taxis will bring you to Two Chimneys.

Train | Ranikhet Express starts from Old Delhi Railway station at around 10.30 pm and reaches Kathgodam (last station) by 5 am. Taxis will readily take you to Gethia.

Tariff | The Willow is Rs 5,900 while The Olive, which opens into a pebbled courtyard, is Rs 4,200. The rates are for double occupancy and are inclusive of breakfast and bed tea.

For those wanting to stay for longer periods, they offer different packages.

Address |

Village and P.O. – Gethia
House no -1,Chinkuwa
District Nanital
Uttrakhand

Contact no | +91-5942-224541

Karishma Handa | 08859969719

About the Author | Ashlin Mathew is part journalist by profession, but with or without a purpose, a full-time writer. Though she started as a Computer Science Engineer, she decided to follow her dreams of writing in English. Post her Post-Graduate diploma in Journalism, she was picked up by a newspaper in Hyderabad. After working with them for more than four years, she decided to move to Delhi to challenge herself. Its the city she calls home, for now. Read more from her at www.wildlyuntamed.blogspot.in