Being on cloud nine assumes its true meaning during your stay at the ‘Glasshouse Celeste’, a paradisical getaway in the Basot village in Uttarakhand’s Ranikhet. The place is cocooned within mist-shrouded mountains, overlooking the gorgeous Kumaon landscape. As the Gurugram-based couple behind the homestay point out, the homestay was a corollary of their quest to find an antidote to the hustle of city life. They scoured the length and breadth of India’s terrain before saying yes to this particular piece of land that hugged a cliff in Ranikhet.
What convinced them? Sourabh Upadhyay, an IT professional, credits the mountains for working their magic. He and his wife, Vishala Katta Upadhyay, a marketing professional, have always had a soft corner for the great outdoors. The couple, now in their forties, recalls their intrepid youth — trekking, mountaineering, and biking adventures filled most of those years.
No matter the destination, they found solace in the mountains. So, when it came to picking a spot for a holiday home, Uttarakhand was the natural choice. “This piece of land was secluded, with a beautiful view of the snow-clad mountains,” Sourabh explains, underscoring this as the main criterion while picking the land, “That, and the fact that there are no neighbour’s homes blocking the view,” he jokes.
The couple was ecstatic when they zeroed in on their nest. And now, they are inviting you in for a cup of tea.
Glasshouse Celeste: Where you befriend the heavens
The views are flattering, to say the least, from the three-bedroom glass villa. Here, solitude isn’t a fleeting illusion but a friend who visits and keeps you company, beckoning you to sit back and watch the undulating terrain unfold before you. The view of the Uttarakhand skies is as uninterrupted as that of the valley. Fun fact: Vishala shares that the homestay gets its name from the multiple celestial references that dot the estate. “It literally means ‘under the stars’.”
The altitude — Glasshouse Celeste sits at a height of 4,500 ft above sea level — elevates the aesthetic appeal of the place, with the homestay boasting floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Every nook offers a coveted view of the landscape, flanked and dissected by hills. And the glass facade ensures you are as much a part of the picture.
Ankush Rohilla, Sourabh’s colleague, who was also part of the project along with his wife Shobhna, was particularly excited about the prospect of designing a place with glass. It continues to be his favourite aspect of the stay. Elaborating on the choice of a glass facade, Sourabh says, “We didn’t really see the sense in staying in the middle of nature and then locking ourselves up in a brick-and-mortar construction. So, we decided to go for the glass pavilion architecture.”
The couple duo entrusted architect Saubhagya Daksh, founder of IDIEQ, an architectural firm specialising in building in ecologically sensitive areas, with the ask. Explaining more about this, Daksh shares, “We use toughened glass for the homestay. Glass is a beautiful material when it comes to the greenhouse effect.”
He explains, “In winter, the glass absorbs heat through the small openings (awnings) in the structure, and keeps trapping heat through the day. In the evenings, the home stays warm because of this trapped heat. In summer, hot air escapes through the awnings, enabling the home to keep cool.” He adds that by deploying the principle of ‘inverted beams’, they were able to create the illusion of space, which further adds to the allure.
A traditional Kumaoni experience
While Glasshouse Celeste is beauty personified, the behind-the-scenes reveals a deep commitment to sustainability, fleshed out in the tiniest details. Sourabh emphasises, “Our solar panels power 90 percent of the villa, and we collect rainwater with a 56,000-litre system. We grow fresh produce organically in our gardens and prioritise hiring locally, which helps uplift the regional economy.”
While the locale does make for an idyllic spot, it also meant a lot of challenges during the construction. Ankush shares, “One of the biggest challenges which we faced in this project was installing the bathtubs in the bathrooms. All the bathtubs are crafted out of a single piece of stone and are very heavy. There was no way for a crane to reach the place.”
To counter the problem, he says, they designed a small trolley and used a crane to move the bathtub into an open area. “Then, we used manpower to roll it to the bathroom. Once aligned to the final position, we used the skylight opening to drop the strap and lift the tub into place with the crane. During all these operations, the crane operator was blind-sighted as the crane was on the road below the property, almost 30 feet down from the level of the main building.”
A lot of adventure for one day!
At Glasshouse Celeste, you’ll be eating healthy, rest assured. Vishala and Sourabh pride themselves on their little kitchen garden, pockmarked with colour. The vegetable and fruit plants, they explain, feature heavily in the dishes curated at the stay. “We grow basils, chillies, potatoes, bottle gourd, local flowers that go into chutneys and the Kumaoni thali, the madwa roti (flatbread made from finger millet), bhatt ke chadkani (black soybean broth), and jholi (onion fritters in a spicy yoghurt sauce).” A true feast awaits.
Lunches and dinners overlook the picturesque valley. Here, time ticks at a slower pace than the rest of the world. You can simply sit with your drink and relax on the deck, soaking in the best sunset views in the Himalayas.
Those who love a bit of adventure can head to the Ramganga River for an early morning trek or pay a visit to the Kasar Devi Temple, an hour away from the property, which boasts one of the strongest geomagnetic fields in Asia. You could also make a day trip to the Jim Corbett National Park, just an hour’s drive from the homestay.
The location promises you humbling encounters with nature’s grandeur. And that is what adds to the thrill, Sourabh points out. “It’s all about how you embrace nature. Once you embrace it, it embraces you back in these moments.”
Edited by Khushi Arora; All images courtesy Vishala Katta Upadhyay
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