The Mayfair Hill Resort by Terry Blackburn

Darjeeling and The Mayfair Hill Resort are at the end of the line of one of the world’s great railway journeys: the single gauge toy train, a relic from the colonial era, which winds its way up through tea plantations and tiny mountain hamlets 2500 metres from the valley floor below. It’s slow sure, and a degree of patience is required for the 10-hour journey, which can be done by car in just three. But, unlike the railway, the sometimes hair-raising car journey isn’t a certified World Heritage Experience. Besides, given the Mayfair’s impeccable colonial-era credentials, it’s best to embrace the full Raj experience, to which the toy train journey is the perfect start.

Built as the summer palace of a Maharaja, the Mayfair manages the difficult balancing act in India of being Old World colonial without any of the pompous management and grovelling staff that exemplify many of the country’s ‘Rajophile’ hotels. The hotel is more popular with the Indian middle-class than tweed-jacketed Englishmen of a certain age anyway. Staff are as helpful as they are numerous – there’s even someone employed solely to light the coal fire in your room, which is handy given that temperatures drop below freezing in winter. In case a fire isn’t sufficient, hot water bottles are also provided. The rooms, many of which have stunning views of the tea plantation below, are a little chintzy but manage to be cosy without being twee.

All rooms are American Plan (inc. all meals), which is fine for a short stay, but since you can easily find yourself wading through ten courses a day, it can get a little overwhelming after a few days. All meals are served either from set menus or in a buffet, depending on the number of fellow diners, and amount to a gastronomic tour of Bengali cuisine – spiced pancakes are served for breakfast, paneer cheese crops up in multiple guises and sweet roti balls round off dinner. The concept of American Plan undoubtedly conjures up images of the worst kind of hermetically sealed package holiday, but in Darjeeling it makes perfect sense. Unless you’re staying in one of the other two luxury hotels in town (which are also AP) there is a dearth of decent dining options.

After dinner, there’s not a great deal to do except relax in front of the fire in the wood panelled library with a glass of, just about drinkable, Indian port.