oak hill farm.

This past weekend, David and I escaped for a birthday overnight at Oak Hill Farm.  John, Alison, and the boys were so sweet to offer to keep Judah and Amie for us.  On Friday morning, we dropped the kids off, stopped for breakfast, then drove the hour-and-a-half to the farm.  Here is my journal entry from Saturday . . .

David and I are wrapping up our overnight visit to Oak Hill Farm.

It is not exactly what I expected when we made our plans to come, but it has turned out to be a lovely experience.

This farm is a little haven, an hour outside of our city, tucked away in the rocky, rolling hills.  Oak Hill farm is beautiful in a rugged way.  The dirt is red and dry, but there is plenty of greenery too.  Palm trees and tamarind, hibiscus in flaming oranges and bougainvillea in deep pinks.  A thin path winds through the trees around the farm, through rows of lettuce and cabbage, through grape fines and tiny chili-pepper plants.  Of the ten-acre property, four acres are cultivated and Praveen and Meera have planted five hundred trees.

The rooms are small and clean with no frills.  The walls are thin, so that we could hear baby Neil crying next door loud and clear in the night.  Not necessarily a purely romantic setting.

Since it’s a home stay (which is basically the Indian version of a B&B), we’re treated like family, which means there’s not so much privacy.  At first it was a little off-putting for me, the introvert, who just wanted a quiet, anonymous getaway with my husband.

But the people are so dear.  Praveen and Meera, who in their early sixties perhaps, had this farm built eight years ago, with the plan of making it a home stay.  They take guests on the weekends, which helps pay for the cost of the piece of land and sprawling, breezy home.  They split their week days between farming the land and their flat in the city.

Besides our hosts, there is one other young family staying here: Sunil and Shailly and their one-year-old son, Neil.  We instantly hit it off with them.  Shailly is Indian-Canadian, and moved here when she married Sunil several years ago.  She is a licensed chiropractor in Canada and California, and is a quintessential west-coaster.  I am no west-coaster myself (if only I could be so cool), but it still feels like home to chat with her.

I can’t decide whether the best feature of Oak Hill is the tranquil, happy land, or the food.  All of the produce is grown right here and made into spectacular dishes, jams, puddings, and chutneys.  For meat and bread, Praveen and Meera comb the city for the finest sources, and you can tell.  The food is spectacular, and Meera’s famous for it.

We got a phone call from Praveen earlier this week asking whether we have any food allergies.  David told him about my gluten allergy, and when we showed up here, we were astounded by the care Meera took to cook lots of food that I can enjoy.  She showed us her new gluten-free/dairy-free cook book she bought especially for the occasion.

Our stay has revolved around eating.  We sat down for a full Indian lunch at 1:30 yesterday on the balcony overlooking the rolling hills.  Two kinds of rice, dals, vegetable coconut curry, Brussels sprouts, fried searfish, pickled chutneys, and a stack of chapatti for the wheat-eaters.  And fresh-squeezed ginger lime juice.

After a long afternoon that involved a vigorous hike for David, and writing and a nap for me, and a serve-yourself tea time buffet, we all gathered for an 8:30 candlelit dinner here on the balcony.   Sunil and Shailly surprised me with a bottle of wine to celebrate my 30^th birthday, and I was so touched.  Dinner was western-style—lots of fresh-grown veggies, boiled potatoes, and the most tender steak fillets I’ve tasted in South Asia.

Now it’s late morning, and my stomach is still full from the huge breakfast spread.  Dosa and dal and coconut chutney.  Scrambled eggs made with coconut milk.  Bread and croissants and four kinds of homemade jam.  Tea and coffee.  David and I exchanged phone numbers with our new friends, and spread out on the table with laptops and books for a quiet morning.

And because it’s a home stay it’s not really quiet at all, but I’m finding now that I enjoy that too.  I love that I can take my laptop into the kitchen and pester Meera with my hundred-questions about her cooking.  She gladly shares her recipes and gives me priceless tips like how to keep my dal from turning out too watery, that Kerala red rice is the healthiest for everyday eating, and where to find rice crackers and gluten-free pasta.

Our getaway called for a little flexibility and an adjustment of expectations, but we’ve gained new friends and a beautiful memory.  We will certainly come again, and next time we’ll bring the kids!