Secret Garden Villa

The staff were absolutely marvellous, the gardens lush and the breakfasts full. Walk across the road for the beach.

Rooms and buildings were showing their age; bit dark and stale smell. Two of the rooms had to share bathrooms and mozzies were a pest. Wifi kept dropping out. We could have done better along this beach area.

Let us begin with the positive - the staff was really nice. And the obvious - all the positive reviews of this property cannot possibly be authentic.

We aren’t the type to leave negative reviews. If we have nothing nice to say we usually don’t say anything at all. There are a few exceptions and this is one of them. During our month of travel in Sri Lanka, this is the only place we stayed that was a true disappointment. Everything we endured during our stay would have been bearable if our room and the hotel were clean. But they were not clean or kept. The place is not cared for at all. An older building requires a lot of extra up-keep. It cannot exist on charm alone. Especially in a tropical climate. Our room was so dirty we didn’t walk on the floor or shower without wearing our sandals. The walls, floors, ceiling fans, light switches and furniture - all covered in fifth. The bed linens, stained and threadbare. There were cockroaches and ants everywhere along with a really creepy 8” centipede - the kind that will bite you in your sleep. The electricity and water went off for hours at a time. We were told “They have no control over this - it’s the Sri Lankan government”. However, one afternoon I was in the shower covered in soap, while my husband was sitting outside on our veranda and an employee came outside our room and deliberately switched off the electricity. I had to wipe soap out of my eyes and off my body with a towel. When the electricity is shut off the water shuts off too. In the heat of the same night the power went out for 3 hours. The owner (who is Swedish) knew the power was going to be cut and hired a generator the same day for her restaurant (on the same property) which is open to the public. She did not care enough about her guests to extend the same courtesy. A few other issues- the toilet lid would not stay open. We had to hold it open and use the toilet at the same time. The “handheld” shower nozzle would not stay attached to the “wall mount” adaptor. The stream running through the “Secret Garden” is being used as a grey water flushing system by the establishment.