Suresh Sathyanathan and his wife, Anuju, are members of Ragala temple’s fellowship. They live in a traditional workers’ house on the Hethersett Estate, an apt setting for their cooking classes, which naturally culminate in a shared lunch. Prepared in a rustic kitchen with windows opening onto vegetable patches, the meal is served with a mug of ‘yard tea’, so called because, as Suresh demonstrates, its flavour comes from being ‘pulled’ in a long stream from three feet above (above left). On the northern slopes of the same peak lies
the Concordia Estate’s Goatfell Bungalow, once the planter’s residence. From here, he could watch over his ‘garden’ of tea hills and enjoy sweeping views across Kandapoola town to Pidurutalagala, Sri Lanka’s highest mountain at 8,281ft. Rebuilt in the 1940s with an art deco spirit, today it’s been reimagined as an elegant retreat with just four bedrooms and a dining room that celebrates contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine (opposite and left).
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER – EXPERIENCES COLLECTION 39