Fort Jadhavgarh-All the masala but missing the taste!
Prerna Sinha
If you are a traveller who loves beautiful heritage hotels, If you like the idea of camping but can’t get down to the complete basics ,planning a destination weddingthen this is a lovely option close to Pune and Mumbai.An amalgamation of ‘Shaniwar Wada’, ‘Raja Kelkar Museum’ and a luxurious five star hotel. It is only an hour’s drive from Pune and 3 and half hours from Mumbai.
The door to royalty!
Fort Jadhavgadh is not a grand palace but a fortified residence of Pilaji Jadhavrao ,who was a general in Chatrapati Shahuji’s army. It is a relatively small fort (A ‘Gadhi’ in Marathi…) built in the early part of the 18thcentury, on top of a small hill. The restoration work is simply fabulous.
To give you the look and feel of the place ,as you enter through the main entrance, you are greeted by traditionally dressed ‘Mavles’ (Maratha soldiers ) and a trumpet is blown with drums announcing your arrival like in the olden days.
The Royal trumpet welcome
An impressive wooden main door leads into a small passage that takes right angle turns. The main entrance also has the manager office, quite aptly named, the ‘Killedar’ (Chief of the fort). Some carefully preserved artifacts line the main stairway, which leads to the main courtyard. Near the manager’s office you have a signage and a mortar like stone placed .The signage promises a surprise fit to any person who can lift the stone with one hand facing down and climb all the stairs.The stone looks heavy but not impossible.Trust me it was rather impossible,it’s made of pure lead.We all had a go at it with no success rate.One of our friends did make it with one hand but,facing upwards,so no surprise gift for him.
it’s look easy -but looks are seriously deceptive!
The hotel rooms are located along the periphery, and one side of this quadrangular area has the coffee shop and the conference rooms. A small stairway leads to the top of this fortified structure, and to the topmost point inside this fort. This level has a swimming pool and their newly appointed spa .
Our room corridor
Swimming Pool
The Coffee Shop ‘Chajja’ is located directly above the fort’s main entrance.but does have the common North Indian dishes and basic sandwiches and breakfast items. We were served out evening tea with biscuits and pakodas and buffet breakfast here.
The Chajja-Coffee shop
The scrumptious buffet spread-The Chajja
It is great to observe how they have created all the modern day luxuries and five star comforts inside this historic fort.
The hotel is pretty with really great surroundings, especially given that it is the first luxury heritage hotel in Maharashtra. But there is a lot of room for improvements.For starters the service,is really poor and can test your patience limits.You ask for a glass of milk for kids and it may never arrive,at least there will be a delay of 20 minutes or so.Any special requests you have,don’t even bother breaking your head with them.
The view from the Royal tents-Oh so green!
The well manicured gardens of the Fort
The view from the fort
The food lay is huge for breakfast and lunch ,but oily and the food taste is not upto the mark of the place.It’s more like a poor dhaba quality.
One more thing that we found a little surprising was that the rooms were missing the refrigerators.This made getting cold water and colddrinks a bit tough.Also we like to carry cheese,bread,fruits and butter for kids ,as they feel hungry at odd hours .But because there were no refrigerators our fruits,bread got spoilt the next day and butter melted.
These were our major hiccups apart from these,their spa was very ordinary.The rooms were basic and again not upto the mark of the hotel.Infact,the spa reception looked like a makeshift arrangement.Since,I like to experience spa wherever I stay,I tried the massage here as well and it was just basic.
The makeshift Spa
These apart they have a lot of activities that are planned for the day,in case you’re that enthusiastic group like us with a lot of kids who have to be kept engaged.Some of the activities include a steep trek in the morning to the nearby hills and you can catch some of the best views of the valley,a bullock cart ride, hotel guided tour etc.
Look at this list-You can be engaged all day!
The hotel guided tour is interesting ,as the guide also explains the history and if you’re lucky he might take you to a old dungeon and if he likes you ,he might tell you the way out or else:+++à
I like their sense of humour!
Though this does look scary!
Our accommodation was in deluxe rooms,very close to the courtyard.We chose this as we had a mixed age group of kids and did not want to be very adventurous.The room has a double bed a really nice nook placed in the corner of the room where you can lounge.Attached to the room is a walk in closet which further extends into the shower are(no bathtubs here ;().There is LCD TV,safe,locker,hairdryer and even a weighing scale.I missed the refrigerator and bathtub.It’s a pretty comfortable room and looks much better than the pic that have been put on their website. Their other accommodation like royal tent and luxury tents are far tucked away from the main hotel and are placed in the midst of nature.Though we did not stay there,we figured out that if you stay here you can ask them to arrange for campfires,next to the waterbody which is right opposite the tents.It’s like camping.
The Deluxe room
A little nook in the corner-to just curl up with books
The Royal tents
The best part of this heritage hotel complex is the amazing Maratha artifacts museum that showcases a small percentage of the collection of Mr. Kamat (owner of the Jadhavgadh Hotel and the Orchid Group). Various objects from the 18th, 19th and early 20th century have been carefully preserved, restored and demonstrated behind glass panes, in an air-conditioned environment. Objects include Nut-Crackers, Kitchen Equipment, Tobacco Pipes, Jewellery Boxes, Mirrors, etc.
Overall, Jadhavgadh was a great experience for us and I hope they improve their services and the small hitches which prevent it from becoming one of the most sought out places.
