Farmhouse stays

The traditional Bhutanese farmhouse is a three-storey building of rammed earth and timber: animals and storage below, the family in the middle, hay and chillies drying under the eaves. To stay in one is to step into a rhythm older than the road that brought you there.

Evenings begin at the bukhari, the wood stove, with ara distilled from the family's own grain and a meal of red rice, ema datshi and whatever the garden gave that day. Someone will show you the altar room. Someone else will try to teach you a few words of Dzongkha and laugh kindly at the result.

We work with a small number of heritage farmhouses in Phobjikha and Bumthang that have added good beds, clean bathrooms and hot stone baths without losing their soul. These are the nights our travellers talk about long after the dzongs have blurred together.