Meet the Hosts of Persimmon Farmstead

Persimmon Farmstead is run by two friends who left corporate IT careers in 2021 and settled in the Kullu valley to build a small family farmstay near Manali. We host in person — we call most guests before they arrive, plan dinners around the day's mountain weather, read the roads for you, and keep two homes running: one at Badgran, 14 km south of Manali, and one at Shanag, 4-5 km north toward Old Manali and Solang.

People book Persimmon expecting a room. What surprises them is that there are actual people behind it — two of us, who answer our own phones, who cook in our own kitchen, and who will tell you honestly that the Rohtang road is shut before you drive two hours to find out. This guide is the part most hotel websites skip: who we are, and what it is like to be hosted by us for a couple of nights.

Two friends, one valley, and a plan that made no sense on paper

We met years before Persimmon, in the way a lot of Delhi and Gurugram friendships form — long hours, screens, and a running joke that we would one day open something in the hills. The joke stopped being a joke during the 2020-21 lockdowns. When offices emptied and everyone was staring at the same four walls, the two of us kept coming back to the same idea: leave the IT jobs, move to the Kullu valley, and cook for a living.

By 2021 we had done it. Neither of us is from Manali, and we will not pretend otherwise — we are settlers here, not sons of the soil. But we chose this valley on purpose. We wanted the apple country south of the town, the highway close enough that a road-tripper from Chandigarh could actually reach us, and land where an orchard could go in the ground. What we did not have was any experience running a hotel. That gap turned out to be the best thing about the place, because we built it like a home we happened to open to guests, not a hotel we were trying to make feel homely.

Why we said the food had to be the point

Early on we made ourselves a slightly reckless promise: that the food at Persimmon should become a subject people talk about in the town. Not a buffet. Not a hotel menu with sixty dishes we cannot do well. A small farm kitchen that cooks a few things properly.

We should be straight with you here. Ours is a family kitchen, not a hotel kitchen with a brigade of chefs and steam tables. On a full evening it is a handful of hands, a real stove, and one of us usually somewhere near the pan. That is a limit, and it means dinner runs on a rhythm rather than round-the-clock room service. It is also exactly why the dal tastes like someone's grandmother made it, because in a sense someone did. When guests write that Persimmon has the best food they ate in Manali — and enough of them do that it stopped being a fluke — they are tasting the fact that the person who owns the place also cares what leaves the kitchen.

“We would rather cook eight things you remember than eighty you forget. If you have an allergy, a jain preference, or a kid who only eats plain parathas — tell us on the call. We plan the evening meal around who is actually staying that night, not a printed menu.”— A note from the hosts

The phone call before you arrive (yes, that is really us)

One habit guests mention again and again in reviews is that the owner calls personally. That is not a call-centre. When you send a booking request on WhatsApp — +91 62306 45166 or +91 99999 75545 — the person who replies, and usually the person who rings you a day or two before check-in, is one of the two of us.

We do it because a five-minute call solves things a booking form cannot. We find out what time you are actually leaving Delhi or Chandigarh, so we know whether you are arriving for lunch or at midnight. We ask if you are bringing a dog, because both our homes are pet-friendly and we would rather know than be surprised. We ask if it is a honeymoon, an anniversary, or a first trip to the snow with small children, because those stays get planned differently. And we tell you the truth about the weather and the roads for your exact dates, which is worth more than any brochure.

Reading the roads and the weather so you don't waste a day

Manali runs on road conditions, and the roads change by the hour. A big part of hosting here is simply knowing, on any given morning, what is open and what is not. We do this every day, so you do not have to guess.

A few things we save guests from routinely:

• Rohtang Pass needs a permit and stays shut through deep winter — we tell you before you plan a day around it. In season the permit and green tax run roughly 550 rupees plus vehicle charges, and it is closed on Tuesdays for maintenance.
• Atal Tunnel to Sissu is the reliable snow day-trip when Rohtang is closed — about 35-40 km from the Badgran home, and the tunnel itself is a free 9.02 km drive under the pass.
• Solang Valley for paragliding and snow is a short hop from our Shanag home, roughly 8-9 km up the road; a full paragliding flight there runs around 3,000-3,500 rupees depending on height and season.
• Volvo timings and where to get down — the overnight Delhi-Manali Volvo is roughly a 12-14 hour run and typically costs 1,400-2,500 rupees a seat depending on the season and operator.

None of that is on a menu card. It is just the stuff you learn when you live on this axis and drive it in every season.

Two homes, and how we help you pick

Part of hosting now is honestly telling you which of our two places suits your trip, because they are genuinely different and the wrong choice can colour a whole holiday.

The flagship at Badgran sits at the 14 Mile bypass on the Kullu-Manali highway, about 14 km south of Manali town, opposite Span Resort, one minute off the highway. It is orchard-quiet, the rooms get proper morning sun, and it is the easy pick if you are road-tripping in with your own car, arriving late, or want to be off the tourist crush while still reaching Mall Road in well under half an hour. Rooms here are the Deluxe Cottage, the Premium Double, and the Mountain-View Single.

The Shanag home is the other direction — near Bahang, 4-5 km north of Manali toward Old Manali and Solang, higher up and closer to the snow line. Wooden chalets and stone cottages sit on open orchard lawns, and in winter you are meaningfully nearer the snow. Rooms here are the Chalet Room and the Stone Cottage. If your trip is built around Solang, Old Manali cafes, or waking up nearer the white stuff, Shanag is usually the answer. We will say all this on the call rather than let you book blind.

One honest note that applies to both homes: our rooms are cosy. They are warm, clean, and full of light, but they are not cavernous suites, and we would rather you know that than arrive expecting a ballroom. Guests who come for the orchard, the food, and the hosting are the ones who leave happiest.

What a day with us actually feels like

Mornings are the quiet argument in favour of this whole life we built. The sun comes over the ridge and lands straight into the rooms — this is the thing people write about most, waking up to light and, in the cold months, snow on the peaks seen from the bed. Tea and coffee come early. Breakfast is unhurried; nobody is rushing you to clear a table for the next sitting, because we are not that kind of place.

Through the day you are mostly out — Solang, the tunnel to Sissu, Hadimba temple, a village walk, or a trek basecamp run if you are heading for Hampta or Bhrigu. We help you shape the plan the night before over dinner, because a plan made at 10 pm with someone who drives these roads is worth three tabs of internet advice. If you would rather do nothing, the orchard lawn and a book are a completely respectable itinerary, and the dog, if we have one about, will keep you company.

Evenings are the bonfire, weather permitting, and dinner from the farm kitchen. This is when the two homes feel most like homes — guests who arrived as strangers end up trading road stories around the fire, and more than once we have watched a solo traveller and a family of five swap Rohtang tips over the same plate of siddu. We are usually around, not hovering, but reachable — that is the whole point of hosting a place small enough to run ourselves.

What we are not

Trust runs both ways, so here is the honest boundary. We are not a resort with a spa, a gym, and a lobby the size of a cricket pitch. We do not take online payments — booking is a request-to-book conversation over WhatsApp or email, confirmed by one of us, and we like it that way because it starts the relationship with a real exchange. Our kitchen keeps hours; it does not run all night. And we cannot promise snow in your room's view in April any more than we can promise sun in January — the mountains do what they do, and we will tell you the odds honestly for your dates rather than sell you a season that is not there.

What we can promise is that the people in the reviews are the people you will actually deal with. You book a room and you get two hosts who know your name, cook your dinner, and read the road for you. After four years and a 4.9 on Google across 141-plus reviews, that is still the part we are proudest of.

If any of this sounds like your kind of trip, message us on WhatsApp at +91 62306 45166 or +91 99999 75545, or write to reservations@persimmonfarmstead.com. Tell us your dates and who is coming. We will pick up the phone.