Some of it is simply here and yours to use. Some we arrange. A few things need a day's notice or an outside provider, and those are marked. Most groups do nothing at all on the first day, and that is the correct use of the house.

AT THE BUNGALOW

Breakfast in the garden
Included · any morning · say the night before · clear weather
Breakfast comes with every stay, every day. On a dry morning it moves out to the lawn or the South terrace instead of the dining room.

Bicycles
Included · as long as you like · no notice · not in heavy rain
Kept at the house for the lake circuit. Five kilometres, flat, about forty minutes at an unhurried pace.

The bonfire
Ask on the day · evenings · wind-dependent
The caretaker sets it on the lawn or the South patio depending on which way the wind is going. Kodaikanal is cold after dark for most of the year, which is the point of it.

Wood-fired pizza in the garden
Charged separately · evening · one day's notice · dry weather
There is a wood-fired oven on the grounds. The kitchen lights it and the pizzas come out in front of you, which children find considerably more interesting than dinner indoors. It usually turns into the evening the group remembers.

Tiffin and long meals outdoors
Charged separately · afternoons and evenings · half a day's notice
Lunch, tiffin, dinner and the grill are all cooked here. Most of the vegetables come from the garden. Tell us about dietary requirements before you arrive and the kitchen plans around them.

The house walk-through
Included · about thirty minutes · ask the caretaker
The bungalow was bought from a Scotsman in 1947 and has been in the same family since. The caretaker will take you through it: the rooms, the fireplaces, what was here before and what was put back.

The one acre, unprogrammed
Included · all day · nothing to arrange
Lawns, garden paths, eucalyptus and pine, hammocks, badminton, cards and board games, and the pear tree on the front lawn that fruits in July.

FROM THE FRONT GATE

The horse comes to you
Charged separately · thirty minutes · notice the evening before
Everywhere else in Kodaikanal, riding means walking to the public stretch by the boat house and taking whichever horse is free. We do it the other way round. The horse is brought to The Dunnottar and you ride out from the front gate and around the lake, your group only, a handler walking alongside. No queue. For a child who has never sat on a horse, a considerably better first ten minutes.

The lake circuit
Yours to do · about an hour on foot · best before eight
The walk around Kodaikanal Lake is about five kilometres. From our gate it is two minutes to the water, and you can do the whole loop without crossing a road. Most guests take it slowly in the morning, before the buses arrive at the boat club. Pedal-boats and rowboats are at the boat house if you would rather see the lake from it.

The Dunnottar Walk, self-guided
Yours to do · two to three hours · no notice · not in heavy rain
A loop we mapped ourselves: up Lower Shola Road past the old houses, through Bombay Shola and the cemetery, up Daisy Bank to the TV tower and La Salette, then down past Pambar and back along Lake Road. Twelve waypoints, the map on your phone, no guide needed.

Coaker's Walk
Yours to do · forty minutes on foot, ten by car · best six to eight in the morning
The path runs along the cliff edge and on a clear morning you can see the plains. The benches at the far end are where the older guests find their seat.

Bryant Park
Yours to do · five minutes on foot
Next door. Founded in 1908. The annual horticultural show in May is worth timing a stay around.

The markets
Yours to do · ten minutes by car
Sunday and Tuesday are market days: vegetables, plums, eucalyptus oil, homemade chocolate. The Tuesday morning market at Coaker's is where our cook still goes.

FURTHER INTO THE HILLS

We work with one guide who knows the shola forest and the old paths, and he picks the route to the group rather than the other way round. Four routes, arranged on request, charged per person, and all of them subject to weather and conditions on the day.

Reservoir Trek
7:00 to 9:00am · two to three hours · maximum six guests · ₹500 per person, minimum ₹2,000 for two
The early one, and the best of them. You are out before the town is awake and back in time for breakfast in the garden.

Vattakanal Falls Trek
Whenever suits you · ₹300 per person
The manageable one. Fine with older children.

Dolphin's Nose Trek
Whenever suits you · ₹400 per person
A proper walk. Not one for small children.

Poombarai Village and the farms
Full day · starts 8:30am · ₹700 per person
A working village in the valley, terraced fields, and the drive there is half the reason to go.

Pillar Rocks, Guna Cave and the Pine Forest
Yours to do · half a day · taxi arranged by the house · twenty-five minutes by car
Do them as one loop. Pillar Rocks is the one for the photograph; the Pine Forest, planted in the 1880s, is the one for the walk. Clearest between October and December, often in cloud during the monsoon.

Berijam Lake
Outside provider · full day · forest permit required, limited daily numbers · forty-five minutes by car
The road climbs into the Palani Hills sanctuary and you may see bison from the car. It runs on permits rather than on your schedule, so ask us early in the stay and we will tell you whether it is open.

WHERE TO EAT IN TOWN

We cook all meals at the bungalow, so this is short. For a coffee in town, Pastry Corner on Anna Salai is a long-running favourite. For chocolates, Cocoa Mountain.

BIRTHDAYS AND FAMILY MILESTONES

Birthdays, anniversaries and small family celebrations work here, and we have done enough of them to be useful about it: cake from a Kodaikanal bakery, the long table laid outside, the bonfire lit, pizza from the garden oven for the children and the kitchen's own dinner for everyone else.

Two things worth saying plainly, because they are what makes the house what it is. This is a residential road and a family home, so celebrations here are stay-led rather than events, with no loud music or sound systems. And the bungalow kitchen cooks everything: we do not take third-party catering or outside private chefs. Day visitors are welcome with prior notice, up to 10pm.

Tell us the date and who it is for when you book.

DEPENDING ON WHO IS COMING

A family with young children. The acre does most of the work. It is enclosed, the lawns are flat, and children can be outside without an adult two feet away. Then the horse at the gate, Bryant Park, a boat on the lake in the late afternoon, and the pizza oven after dark. The lake circuit is walkable for a seven-year-old if you allow two hours and stop for corn. Take Vattakanal Falls rather than Dolphin's Nose.

Three generations together. The trick is not making everyone do the same thing. Grandparents take the garden and the lake road; the middle generation takes the Reservoir Trek or the golf course; the children take the horse and the oven. Everyone comes back to one table. Book the whole bungalow for this: the two wings mean early risers and late sleepers stop being a problem.

A group of friends. The bonfire and the pizza oven do the work. Beyond that, the Reservoir Trek at seven, Poombarai for a full day out, nine holes at the golf club, the Sunday market, and long evenings that do not require anyone to drive anywhere.

Two people. The Dunnottar Walk, the lake at six before the town wakes, a boat in the afternoon, and dinner at the house. The North wing is enough.

Arriving from abroad. If Kodaikanal is the quiet stretch in the middle of a longer trip, the answer is usually less, not more. Two full days here, one guided walk, one evening at the oven, and no early alarms.

TWO NIGHTS, THREE NIGHTS

Two nights. Arrive at two, tea in the garden, the lake before dark, bonfire, dinner. Next morning the Reservoir Trek or the horse at the gate; the town or Coaker's Walk in the afternoon; pizza at the oven in the evening. This is the most common shape and it works.

Three or four nights. Add the full day at Poombarai, the Pillar Rocks loop, and one entire day where nobody leaves the acre.

HERITAGE STAYS IN KODAIKANAL, A SHORT SURVEY

Kodaikanal was settled by American missionaries in 1845 and built up through the late nineteenth century as a summer hill station for the British and the Scots. Several of the bungalows from that period still stand, mostly along Lake Road and the side roads above the lake. A few have been opened to guests in recent years:

— The Carlton Hotel sits at the western end of the lake. The current building is newer than the original Carlton (founded 1894), but the location is the same.
— Greenlands is an older property on the southern slopes, with views across the lake. Best known for its terraced garden.
— Villa Retreat keeps the original colonial character of its house intact and has a long view down the valley.
— The Dunnottar Bungalow, our home, was built in the 19th century and passed to our family in 1947, when its previous owner, a Scotsman known as Lord Chamberlain, sold it and left for the United Kingdom with two suitcases. We are on Lake Road, on the water itself.

If you would like to stay in one of the carefully restored heritage bungalows on the lake, you can take all of The Dunnottar Bungalow (five bedrooms, up to fifteen guests) or just the North or South wing.

GETTING HERE

Madurai is the nearest airport, about three and a half hours by road, climbing into the hills from Kodai Road. The train station is at Kodai Road; from there it is two hours by taxi. The road up has thirty-seven hairpin bends. Most guests arrive in the afternoon and ask us not to plan anything for the first evening.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

April to June is summer, and the lake is at its busiest: book early and do the walks before nine. July to September is the monsoon, when the lake is full, the lawns are deep green, the town is empty and the afternoon showers come between three and four. Bring proper shoes. October and November are post-monsoon: the clearest air of the year, the plains visible from Coaker's Walk, and the best months for the treks. December and January are winter, cold and bright and quiet, with bonfires after dinner. February is when we put the garden in.

ARRANGING ANY OF THIS

Tell us when you book, or message us the week before. The horse, the treks and the pizza oven need a day's notice. The bonfire does not. Trek rates are per person and subject to weather.