Andiramada Walawwa – come home to a villa where Old Ceylon lingers..
Tucked away in the green countryside of Rambukkana, near Pinnawala of the elephant bath legacy, Andiramada Walawwa is a grand old Sri Lankan manor which takes you back to the Old Ceylon era.
From the moment you arrive and see the Walawwe’s old thirikkale (cart) all spruced up in the driveway, it feels like the cart is waiting for the genteel folk of the walawwe to go out on a ride.
Thanuja Madawala has turned a once majestic 19th century British era home into a modern villa that offers all amenities yet very much retains a sense of stepping into a gentler time, one of shaded verandas, polished antique furniture, afternoon tea and long conversations interrupted only by birdsong.
She has worked painstakingly to create the right vibe of this charming villa. Retaining the high ceilings with their intricate details, opening up the villa where sunlight can stream in and the curtains sway gently in the breeze. The modern amenities are in place yet not disturbing the perfect old world charm.
Walk in to be greeted by a glass of cool king coconut from the garden, watch the sunlight dance on the pool waters. The open verandah is replete with an outstanding collection of original Ena de Silva batiks representing the traditional flags. Thanuja is from the ancient Aluwihare clan of Matale and it seems her love of the tradition and Ena’s resplendent craft of batik has enhanced the villa’s unique footprint.
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Andiramada Walawwa is in no hurry to onboard the visitor
You check in when Chandra the housekeeper greets you with a tray laden with home -made patties and pancakes to be washed down with tea before you contemplate whether a swim is in order or a walk down the paddy field will do. Either way, it will end with a Sri Lankan spread of rice and curry and vegetables from the garden Chandra and her husband tender.
The spacious sit out Thanuja has created facing the pool is the kind of precious place where you go to sit for a few minutes and end up sitting down for an hour. Watching the greenery sway gently in the wind, a bird dip into the pool for a sip and the gazebo light up with fairy lights at dusk. It carries the vibe from where people sat down for a longer time, were in no hurry and had no phones to check. Instead, they had good food, good conversation and plenty of time.
An authentic Sri Lankan dinner awaits you when the day is done. Lovingly put together and served in the dining room which Thanuja says used to be a what was known back then as a ‘dum kussiya’, the outer kitchen where the big stoves were fired up and where cauldrons cooked the day’s meals. The walls were covered with soot and were as black as the night. Now, the dining room , filled with light and warmth, is a place where you are served meals on an athul patha ( traditional Sri Lankan plate which is a reed basket) echoing the village’s sustainable dinnerware practice from centuries ago.
Here you are treated to a visual enrichment of a past lived well at a slower pace and a sense of hospitality that accompanied that art of living. This is for the times when you prefer slow travel, not going anywhere particular yet going everywhere – in your mind, in your vision of a past revisited.
The villa offers four beautifully designed air-conditioned bedrooms that are spacious and individually furnished with a vintage theme. Each room is accompanied by an ensuite bathroom and comes with Wi-Fi and comfortable living areas which allow guests to enjoy the nostalgia with the right sense of comfort.
The swimming pool is perhaps the clearest meeting point between the old and the new. Surrounded by tropical greenery, it offers an irresistible escape during the heat of the afternoon.There is something wonderfully indulgent about swimming beneath the Sri Lankan sun before returning to an antique-filled walawwa for breakfast and tea.
This is the hour for a cool drink on the veranda or a slow walk around the grounds. It is also when the walawwa’s sense of history feels strongest. With fewer modern distractions, it is easy to imagine how life unfolded here decades ago.
A conversation in the living room, a visitor dropping in unexpected as they did back then, a board game and another cup of tea ; experiences brought together as a mosaic of memories and at this villa, all of them come to life at once.
Andiramada Walawwa lies in the Rambukkana countryside, within convenient reach of Pinnawala and the surrounding region. You can go to feed the elephants at the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage or watch them come to the river for their evening bath.
Andiramada Walawwa is not merely a villa inspired by Old Ceylon. It is a place where something of that gracious, unhurried world can still be felt, and where travellers are invited to become part of it. Lovingly put together as a labour of love.
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