Windamere Hotel, built as 'Ada Villa' in 1841 and then turned into a boarding house for tea planters and other Raj types, on contract, in the late 1880s. In 1939, it became 'Windamere Hotel', a colonial hotel situated on Observatory Hill, in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

The hotel started out as boarding house for bachelor

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

planters in Darjeeling, in what was then

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, were built in 1841 and opened up as a Boarding House in the late 1880s. It was acquired by Tenduf La, a Sikkimese of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

an descent, who turned it into a hotel with the name Windamere. The hotel became more widely known as Darjeeling became the summer capital of

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

. It expanded and took over a new wing, formerly the Loreto Convent, where the actress Vivien Leigh had spent some years in childhood.Darjeeling is all the Raj

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

, 1 August 2009. In 1959,

Palden Thondup Namgyal Palden Thondup Namgyal ( Sikkimese: ; Wylie: ''dpal-ldan don-grub rnam-rgyal'') (23 May 1923 – 29 January 1982) was the 12th and last Chogyal (king) of the Kingdom of Sikkim. Biography Palden thondup Namgyal was born on 23 May 1923 at the ...

, Crown Prince of

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

, met his future wife

Hope Cooke Hope Cooke (born June 24, 1940) was the "Gyalmo" () ( Queen Consort) of the 12th Chogyal (King) of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal. Their wedding took place in March 1963. She was termed ''Her Highness The Crown Princess of Sikkim'' and became th ...

for the first time in the Windamere Hotel. The hotel is also known for its views of the tea plantations below and of Mount

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the ...

, the third highest peak in the world.

References

External links

Windamere Hotel, Darjeeling India
Tourist attractions in Darjeeling Hotels in Darjeeling Heritage hotels in India Hotels established in 1939 {{India-hotel-stub