It began sometime after 2 am. By six, when the kitchen team came in to light the ovens, the courtyard was already white and the deodars beyond the wall had turned into hunched, patient figures.
- Season
- Year-round
- Best written from
- The terrace, mid-morning
- Reading pace
- Unhurried
The morning
There is a specific silence that comes with heavy snow — not the absence of sound, but the way every sound seems softer, further away. A door closing on the far side of the retreat. A raven, somewhere.
We opened the terrace at 7 am for anyone who wanted coffee outside. Three guests came. Nobody spoke for a long time.
The rest of the day
The road to Naran closed by 10 am. We lit every fire in the retreat, moved the afternoon tea to the library, and asked the kitchen to make khow suey for lunch. Nobody complained.
By evening the sky had cleared and the valley, under a nearly full moon, looked like something out of a much older story.
A working day at Oro
The kitchen wakes first, at half past four. The bread is in the oven by five, the ovens are cleaned by six, and the first pot of coffee is on the table by seven. This rhythm has not changed since we opened.
The garden is cared for before breakfast and guest spaces are prepared for the day. Everything else — the walks, the reading and the long afternoons — happens between these daily routines.
What we learn every year
That the weather forecast, on this ridge, is more or less a rumour. That guests remember the small kindnesses long after they forget the grand gestures. That the third snowfall of the season is always the most beautiful, and always the one nobody photographs.
That there is, in every season, at least one week we would happily live through again exactly as it happened.
A word to returning guests
If you have stayed with us before, you already know: the retreat changes, slowly, from season to season. A new stone in the courtyard. A tree we could not save. A room we finally finished. A dish that has, at last, become itself.
Come back in a different season than the one you first knew. It is, more or less, a different retreat — and, more or less, exactly the same one.
— In closing
A last thought before you go
A journal, in the end, is a promise to remember. We keep this one on your behalf — so that the small, particular days here are not lost to the general blur of a busy year.
Come and add a day of your own to it. That is, quite honestly, what the retreat is for.
— Frequently asked
Questions guests often ask
- Can I visit for a day trip?
- The retreat is designed for overnight stays, but the tea room welcomes daytime visitors with prior booking.
- Do you have off-season rates?
- Yes — November, February, and early March carry a considered off-season rate that includes dinner. Ask reservations.
- Is there a dress code?
- None. Warm, comfortable and honest — that is the whole code.
— Further reading
If you liked this piece
Mazhar Khan writes from the retreat about mountain travel, food, and the small rituals of hospitality in the Kaghan Valley.
