about
Picturesque tea nest is a green-roofed colonial cottage with gables, high ceilings and lace curtains, and snuggles in 1,800 acres of tea plantations. In front of it, jagged mountains slope down to curving green valleys. The 1800s heritage mansion was once the home of British aristocrats and also an international tea school. Nature resorts took it over, restored and refurbished it, keeping its colonial spirit intact.
There are six rooms with evocative tea-themed names – lemon, green, silver tips, golden tips, chamomile, and jasmine. Have a crackling fire going on chilly nilgiri nights while you snuggle in your room’s inviting confines. Indeed throughout the year, a soft mountain breeze wafts into tea nest making it a cool getaway.
The rooms are all done with understated elegance typical of a british tea planter’s mansion. A snug living room with a welcoming fire place warms chilled feet after a long trek or a guided tea garden walk.
Relax on the sun-stunned porch with a cup of fragrant tea; perhaps you will see a bison or Indian gaur lumber through the plantation even as nimble women, with baskets on their backs, pluck two leaves and a bud, flitting from bush to bush like bright butterflies.
Go bird watching, smell the flowers and sip a cup of fragrant tea as the early morning mist rolls in. Wake up with the sun…
nilgiris
Nilgiris – it’s easy to get poetic when pronouncing the name; to linger over it; to stretch out the word like a song… So evocative is the name of the misty beauty of these blue-green mountains, shared by tamil nadu, karnataka and kerala…
And nothing is lost in translation for nila means blue and giri means mountains… blue mountains is an equally enchanting name.
One of the earliest descriptions of the nilgiris where tea nest is situated was the one by captain s. b, ward, dy surveyor General of the then madras government. “The climate of these mountains,” he said “is the finest known in the tropics.”

Ootacamund, queen of the hill stations, is only 22 km away while kotagiri and wellington are other spots that visitors can explore at leisure. Scale the highest peak in south india – dodabetta – all of 8,649 ft; head out to mukurthi, another lush rainforest area; or the hills and dales of upper bhavani.
If you want, you could head for kanyakumari, the tip of India where three oceans meet; to chennai by the sea or even to the neighbouring states of kerala and karnataka.
responsible tourism

Our Green Code
- We have installed foam flow faucets to reduce water consumption
- Degradable / bio degradable waste is segregated
- Plastic / paper / glass / metals (cans) waste are recycled
- All the shampoo, conditioner and lotion bottles are returned to the supplier so that they can be sterilized, refilled and recycled
- We are continuously working at minimizing noise levels at the homestay
- Our staff is accommodated within the property.
- Energy-efficient cfl bulbs are used on the property
- We have planted native species of trees within the resort. These include fruits and plants that are the natural habitat of birds and amphibians
- We have taken steps to minimize formal landscaping
- Our efficient usage of lights in public areas minimizes disturbance to nocturnal wildlife
- We have restored and maintained the heritage structure in which tea nest is located.
- Restoration material was sourced locally.
- Our kitchen and restaurant work to showcase local cuisine.
- About 80 percent of our staff is local
- Our resort supplements the income of local taxi drivers, doctors and families
- We purchase our groceries and vegetables from local markets
- The resort complies with all the labour laws of the state
- Wherever possible, we ensure that products used at the resort are not made by child or bonded labour
- We ensure that suppliers are paid a fair price for their products and services
climate

SEASON | MIN | MAX | CLOTHING |
March – May | 17 Deg C | 29 Deg C | Light woollens |
June – September | 15 Deg C | 22 Deg C | Thick woollens & rain-wear |
October – February | 7 Deg C | 20 Deg C | Heavy woollens |
travel
Tea nest sits snug in the middle of tea estates in upper coonoor. To reach it, one must take a small detour (3 km) from the scenic mountain road between mettupalayam and ooty.
Closest airport: coimbatore (74km)
Closest railway stations: mettupalayam (34km) on the main line and coonoor (3km) on the toy train line between mettupalayam and ooty (22km)
The toy train

According to discovery channel, the narrow gauge track between mettupalayam and coonoor is one of the steepest in world and it was one of the very first railway projects to use the cogwheel to negotiate the incline.
The toy train is a year-round service. It chugs out of mettupalayam every morning and returns in the evening. Its timings tie in with the overnight nilgiri express between chennai central station and mettupalayum via coimbatore.
The railways run an additional service between mettupalayam and ooty to cope with the summer and diwali vacations rush.
In addition there are morning and evening shuttle services between coonoor and ooty – 19 km apart.
Getting to tea nest by road
(Distances in Kilometres)
CITIES | ROAD |
Coonoor | 3 |
Ooty | 22 |
Coimbatore | 74 |
Salem | 238 |
Kochi | 267 |
Mysore | 242 |
Bangalore | 320 |
Chennai | 565 |
Hyderabad | 943 |
Mumbai | 1306 |
Time taken to travel by air and rail to coimbatore
(The closest airport and main-line station to the resort)
Time in Hours
CITIES | AIR | RAIL |
Salem | — | 2.5 |
Kochi | 30 minutes | 4 |
Mysore | — | 5.5(bus) |
Bangalore | 30 minutes | 8 |
Chennai | 1 | 9 |
Hyderabad | — | 24 |
Mumbai | 1.5 | 36 |
The drive from coimbatore to the homestay is about 2 hrs
Location
Latitude : 11.353002
Longitude : 76.795909
Altitude : 6000 feet or 1850 meters above sea level.