The Terms of Your Stay

Booking and Confirmation

A booking exists when we have confirmed it to you in writing, by WhatsApp message or email, with the dates, the cottage and the rate in it. An enquiry is not a booking, and neither is our saying that a week looks free.

Keep that confirmation. It is the document that settles any disagreement about what was agreed.

Payment

A deposit of one night's rate confirms the booking. We ask for it within 3 days of sending you the confirmation, and until it arrives the dates are held for you but not guaranteed.

The balance is paid on arrival, or in advance if you prefer. The Early Bird rate on the offers page is confirmed when the deposit is paid.

We take cash in Sri Lankan rupees or US dollars, cards, and bank transfer in advance. We tell you with the confirmation whether a card payment carries a bank charge, so there is no surprise at check-out.

Rates and What They Include

Rates are quoted per cottage per night and include breakfast for the people the cottage sleeps. The rates shown on this site are starting rates and are higher in the busy season, so the figure that applies is the one in your written confirmation, not one you read on a page months earlier.

Quoted rates include all government taxes and service charges. Nothing is added at check-out beyond what you have asked us to arrange, and that is itemised.

Sri Lankan guests are quoted and charged in rupees. Everyone else is quoted in US dollars. The direct rates are here.

Occupancy

Each cottage sleeps the number stated and that number is firm rather than optimistic. The Double Room Cottage sleeps two, the Triple Room Cottage three, the Quadruple Family Cottage four and the Economy Quadruple Cottage four.

We have no cots and no extra beds, at any age. Anyone aged 13 or over counts as an adult for occupancy.

If you arrive with more people than the booking is for, we may not be able to accommodate them, and with only seven cottages there is often nowhere to move you to. The four cottage types are set out here.

Check In and Check Out

Check in is from 2pm until 11pm. Check out is between 8am and midday. Someone can be reached at any hour, so a later arrival is usually fine if you tell us it is coming.

If the cottage is free the following night we can often let you check out later. That is a favour rather than a right, and it depends on the week.

Cancellation

Set out in full on the cancellation policy page, which forms part of these terms.

Things We Arrange for You

Safaris, jeeps, drivers, tuk tuks, site guides and cooking lessons are provided by other people. We arrange them at cost and we take nothing from them.

Your contract for those is with the person providing them, and their terms apply. We will help if something goes wrong, because we know them and we will still be here after you leave, but we are not the supplier.

The Property and Your Safety

This is a forest property. There are uneven paths, low light at night, insects, monkeys and other wildlife. None of that is a fault, it is the reason people come, and it does mean taking reasonable care and keeping food and doors shut.

There is a swimming pool. Swimming is at your own risk, and children must be watched by an adult whenever they are in or near the water. Children are the responsibility of the adults with them at all times.

Damage and Behaviour

We take no security deposit. Damage beyond ordinary wear and tear is charged at the cost of repair or replacement, agreed with you before you leave rather than discovered on a card statement afterwards.

We have asked people to leave perhaps once. It is a quiet property with a handful of guests, and behaviour that stops other people sleeping is the one thing we will act on.

Governing Law

These terms are governed by the law of Sri Lanka.