9 summer secrets
Chapslee
Built in 1830 by an East India Company surgeon. Acquired by Kapurthala's Raja Charanjit Singh in 1938. Serves Awadhi cuisine. Has a room belonging to Thumri singer Naina Devi.
One of the paintings that hangs within Chapslee shows the house surrounded by wilderness except for one other structure. This must have been soon after it was built in 1830 by an East India Company surgeon. Since then much of the wilderness has been replaced by the mountainside sprawl of Shimla, and the house has changed owners several times. In 1938 it was acquired by Raja Charanjit Singh of Kapurthala as a summer residence. And this is the character it retains as one of India's earliest heritage hotels.
Inside, it is somewhat dizzying: curtains from the Doges Palace in Venice, Murano chandeliers, Baccarat goblets, Limoges cups, Satsuma and Peshwa vases, Indian miniatures, Royal Doulton tiles, French tapestries, mounted heads, weapons from the Kapurthala armoury. A cup of coffee materialises as a laden table carried on one shoulder by a uniformed bearer, and a service bell is seldom out of arms reach. Visitors can choose from five themed suites (one of them is the room of classical vocalist Naina Devi, who married into the family, and another the rajas, with a fireplace in the bathroom).
The current owner, Kanwar Ratanjit Singh, has been perfecting recipes passed down from the royal houses of north India. The Chapslee kitchen leans towards Awadhi cuisine and favours the pulao over the biryani. The Kapurthala royals have been known for gourmandise and Francophilia, and these come together in their European menu, most clearly in their consommé.
Sunnymead Estate Built by civil servant Jawahar Kishan Kitchlu in the 1890s. B&B set amid a riotous flower garden and filled with books and objets d' art Heritage structures in Shimla are also repositories for other kinds of recipes, such as the ones involved in mixing mortar. Dhruv
