Holmwood Estate
Holmwood Estate (ஹோம்வூட் தோட்டம்) | |
|---|---|
 Tea Processing Centre (Not in operation) | |
| Country | Sri Lanka |
| Province | Central |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+6 (Summer time) |
Holmwood Estate (Tamil: ஹோம்வூட் தோட்டம்) is a Tea Estate in the Agrapatana region in Nuwara Eliya District, Central Province. The Estate is famous for its unique landscape. It comprises two Divisions, i.e. Holmwood and Sutton Divisions. Holmwood Division is the major division with larger population. The Estate has about 392 workers including both male and female workers.
Geography
Total extent of this Estate is 255.44 [1] of which 198.88 ha is planted with Tea.
Economy
The Estate mainly produces Tea. There are minor agricultural products, mostly highland vegetables, ranging from Leek, Potato, Carrot, Beetroot and so on.
The Estate is managed by Agrapatana Plantations Limited, a Public Company with Limited liability in Sri Lanka. The Estate produced 231,000 kg of Tea during 2006/07 period with a yield of 1,160 kg per ha.
History
People living in this Estate share the cultural traditions of Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka. There are small number of people who are Sinhalese. There are people following Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism. There are no Muslim population in Holmwood Estate. Hinduism (Shaivism) (Tamil: சைவ சமயம்) is the main religion followed by more than 70% of the Estate people.
People
People living in this Estate are a mixture of Tamils and Sinhalese. Indian origin Tamils are the major ethnic group in the Estate as in most of the tea estates.
Festivals
Although the Tamil people belong to Shaivism, they worship Amman deity at the first place. Each family has its own ancestral deities. However, Māri (Tamil: மாரி),Tulu(mAri), also known as Mariamman (Tamil: மாரியம்மன் and Mariaai (Marathi: मरी आई), both meaning "Mother Mari", spelt also Maariamma (Tamil: மாரியம்மா), or simply Amman or Aatha (Tamil: அம்மன், "mother") is worshipped by the people alike when it comes to common festivals. Religious festivals of Holmwood Estate people are almost similar to all estates in the Hill country while people of this Estate practice few unique festival rituals also.
Interesting Places
The Estate itself is an interesting place to visit. The Tea planted in almost 90% of the land is so green and is a tourist attraction. There are some attractive and entertaining locations within the Estate. They are described below.
Ramar Malai (இராமர் மலை)
A mountain with a temple of God Rama at the peak. This mountain regarded as the most interesting place for the people in Agrapatana, Dayagama and Glenlyon area. People, mostly Tamils, from all Estates in the vicinity used to visit this mountain in certain times of the year. The interesting folklore about the origin of the Rama temple is well known to residents of the area. It is said that people who were working on cleaning the peak for tea plantation when they found an arrow-like steel rod which is still there in the temple among statues and belied to be an arrow used by God Rama during his war with Ravana as said in Ramayana. Since the day that arrow was found, the place started to be worshiped by Hindus and visited by all religious people.
Sutton Hill
The Sutton division which is administratively a part of Holmwood Estate is situated at the bottom of a mountain range, which is identified as Sutton Hill(சட்டன் தேரி). Surrounding Estates and Agrapatana town could be seen from this hill. The highest point of the hill is 5425' above sea level which is a 900' steep height from Agrapatana town where the elevation is 4500'. The windy hill and the view from the hill attract visitors to this place.
Peer groups used to come to this Hill for different purposes on holidays. Youths, specially boys used to visit the Hilly area to enjoy the view and the breeze during festival seasons though there is no any relationship between the Hill and festivals.
Estate School
The Estate School is the second educational institute after the pre-school. Estate school has up to Grade V and a 75 number of students. There are five teachers in this school including the Principal. The school has a history of more than 80 years.
Climate
Holmwood Estate shares the climatic conditions prevailing in Nuwara Eliya, Hill Country Climate in other words. January to April 21 °C - 14 °C, May to August 18 °C - 16 °C and from September to December the climate is between 18 °C - 15 °C.[2] However, the Estate doesn't experience the climatic changes in the same way as Nuwara Eliya does. Coldness of the seasons experienced milder than in Nuwara Eliya. The forest cover in the South is an evidence for its climatic richness.
References
- ^ {http://www.lankemplantations.lk/15378-APL.pdf}
- ^ 21°C 14°C 18°C 16°C 18°C 15°C