James Taylor's Loolkandura Tea Estate Tour from Kandy

Loolkandura Estate is one place you need to visit to get a peek into the tea estates of Sri Lanka. This estate was the first place where a patch of tea was planted after an unsuccessful attempt at building a coffee plantation. It is called James Taylor’s tea estate after James Taylor, the first person to be in charge of the estate. This 6 hour private tour includes an extensive exploration of the tea estate. You get to visit James Taylor seat, the Tea Tree, James Taylor statue, the tea factory, James Taylor log cabin, and the weighing stations. Your local guide with walk you through all these places while explaining about the significance each place.

Highlights:

• Explore Sri Lanka's historic tea industry during a private tour
• Discover the life of famous tea planter James Taylor
• Learn about Mr. Taylor by visiting his former residence and monuments to his life
• Visit a tea factory still in operation today and a tea weighing station
• Great way to get an in-depth look at Sri Lanka's tea industry

Itinerary:

• 7:00am - Trip starts with pick-up from your Kandy hotel in air-conditioned private care. 
• 8:00am -  Reach the Taylor’s Hill from where you start the guided tea plantation tour of the Loolkandura Estate. Start your visit by learning about the estate’s origins, including its creation by planter James Taylor
• 8:30am-12:00pm - Enjoy a Tuk-tuk tour of the Estate and visit many of the historic sites in and around Loolkandura. A local knowledgeble guide tell you all about the history and other information about the estate.
• You’ll spend the next several hours visiting the many highlights of the plantation created by Mr. Taylor, including a favorite chair once used by Taylor himself, a statue erected in his honor, and a log cabin the planter once called his home. You’ll also tour the Loolecondera Tea Factory, which still packages tea to this day, and see the weighing stations where the fresh leaves are brought in from the fields for processing.
• 12:15pm - We come back to Taylor’s Hill and head back to your hotel in Kandy.
• 1:15pm - Tour ends with drop-off at hotel.

Places Covered:

• James Taylor Seat & Tea Tree – A place overlooking the valley where James Taylor used to rest and sit. See the first tea bush he planted here.
• James Taylor Statue – A monument built in honour of the Godfather of Ceylon Tea as thanks from the local families who benefitted from the introduction of tea to the area.
• The Loolecondera Tea Factory – A functioning government-owned tea factory which still contains some of the original equip-ment. Walk through the factory and learn about the intricate pro-cesses of making the perfect tea. James Taylor
• Log Cabin – Walk up to the remains of where James Taylor once resided among pretty flower gardens and read the tale told in the ‘Ode to James Taylor’.
• Weighing Stations – Observe gatherings of tea pluckers in their colourful sarees with their burgeoning bags of tea leaves as they weigh their daily harvest using original equipment from the heyday of Loolecondera Estate