Well, it all started around 2007 when we walked up to a bald patch on a forested ridge at 6200 feet and decided to build a dream.
We named it Woodsmoke. Afterall, that is what dreams are – real at the core, amorphous in their boundaries.
True to its name, Woodsmoke decided how it wanted to start and where it wanted to go. It started as a stone and glass summer home but then decided it needed company. So, more rooms got added every year, each one hugging the contours of the land and befriending the deodars or the pines or the oaks as per its inclination.
Over the years Woodsmoke gathered around itself a close-knit staff, hailing almost entirely from Himachal Pradesh itself, to maintain its smooth functioning. On the same lines of loyalty, it also attracted a sizable number of repeat guests, irresistibly drawn to its personalised service and warm hospitality.
Being embedded so intrinsically in the locality and the landscape, Woodsmoke accords due seriousness to its social and ecological responsibility. We respect local sensibilities in our conduct. All the raw materials used in the property are sourced locally. We are also committed to regenerative use of resources through our investments in solar heating, water harvesting and STPs.
It is no surprise then that Woodsmoke is a place where a villager shouts out a cheery greeting to a guest, where a train's whistle merges with birdsong, where misty mornings and blazing sunsets bookend a lazy day, and where nature is home.
As we said earlier, Woodsmoke, true to its name, does not subscribe to a fixed form. Its organic identity is reflected in an equally eclectic décor. Each room grew from its own sketch and its walls tell their own story. Clad in original artwork, they break into windows that add nature's colours to each room's palette.
We have guests who always ask for the same room on repeat visits while there are others who want to stay in a different room on every subsequent visit. It is this perhaps that also makes Woodsmoke a popular choice as a location shoot for music videos and soap operas. There is something for everyone.
You will find a manifestation of 'unity in diversity' in every nook and corner of the property – quite like the ethos of India.
This then is Woodsmoke. Timeless as the mountains that root it but free as the spirit that names it.
It is not perfect but perhaps that is what makes it real. It gives you the space to be alone or to be convivial, to work or to play,
to explore or to settle….
The verbs are many but the noun is one – Space.
Woodsmoke gives it to you because it has always had it. And why not, when freedom has always been its guiding maxim.
Now that you know our story, come, tell us yours.
