WHAT WOULD YOU GIVE to have mango trees smiling at you as you enter your home? Or for litchi trees to usher you to your cottage? Or have hibiscus flowers peek through the window to check on you? This was my life for two days at Foothills Himalaya, a nature retreat in Pandey Gaon, Uttarakhand, an hour from Kathgodam railway station and the Jim Corbett National Park.
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Foothills is your ideal farm-to-table deal — a garden full of trees separating your cottage from the restaurant — where everything in the cooking pot is sourced from that self same garden and prepared from scratch. For instance, the Kumaoni thali we were welcomed with benefitted immensely from the raw mango inputs. A slight tang in the bhang ki chutney and brinjal cooked in amchur (dried mango powder) went a long way in making the aloo ke tuk, bhatt ki daal, arbi ki sabzi and Kumaoni raita far more delicious than they already were.
We were in for a surprise in the evening, when the same table had two huge wooden bowls containing pasta in arrabiata sauce and a green salad. They made for a lighter meal, a refreshing change from the afternoon’s pahadi delicacies, yet (once again) wholly made from scratch within the premises. The ladle used to serve the pasta had — quite metaphorically — a metal butterfly perched atop the handle.
Breakfast the next morning wasn’t short of homegrown surprises either. We tried something known as a suji bomb — a layered idli-like delicacy made of semolina, with a filling of paneer, and a tadka of mustard seeds and curry leaves. It was accompanied by a chilled muskmelon shake. That served as a healthy beginning to our rather lazy day, which involved strolling under the shade of the trees, chilling in hammocks, and plucking half-ripe mango and litchis. Foothills Himalaya allows you to pick anything you fancy from the garden and innovate a recipe in its kitchen. We used this free-flowing DIY option to brew some hibiscus iced tea, made of just-plucked flowers from the garden.
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A non-culinary benefit of living at the property is its intimate, warm and friendly home-stay setting. Rushil Shergill, the owner, took us for a spin around the village and the riverside forest in his jeep. His father, a retired Army veteran, regaled us with stories of his days in the military. Then there were the six dogs of various breeds who are always eager to play around the property with the guests. We ended our stay at Foothills Himalaya, relishing pizzas (again, made from scratch and with wholly homegrown ingredients) over a few drinks with Mr Shergill and his longtime pals. Isn't that the ideal farm life? To live away from the hustle bustle of the city, with friends, nature, dogs and good food for company?
At Pandey Gaon, Uttarakhand 263159. Call +91-7830668646