history of OUR ESTATE
Started by Joachim Stoelke, a German priest, in 1854, Singtom Tea Estate is Darjeeling’s 2nd oldest tea estate. Stoelke also planted Darjeeling’s first tea estate, called Steinthal Tea Estate (our sister estate), in 1852. He was fondly known as ‘Father Steinthal’ as a result.
Father Steinthal discovered that the forests in the Singtom area were an abode of lions, tigers and leopards while hunting. When he planted the first tea bushes at Singtom, the locals named the area ‘Singtam’, which meant the house of tigers and leopards in the local language.
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From 1854 onwards, the estate’s ownership changed hands several times, and is with the Chirimar family since 1999. The Chirimars are one of India’s oldest tea planting families.
HISTORY OF OUR RESORT
The estate's resort is currently run by the 4th generation of the Chirimar family.
The resort was formerly known as the Director’s Bungalow, and was built by Father Steinthal in 1862. Father Steinthal opened the bungalow's doors to the public in 1864 when he needed a secondary source of income to fund the tea business, thereby establishing the property as the world's oldest tea resort. There was no other resort inside a tea estate at the time.
From 2012-14, The Chirimar family restored the bungalow to its former grandeur. They launched the business in 2014 as Singtom Tea Estate & Resort. In the years that followed, the resort gained its reputation as one of India's finest tea resorts.
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Finally, in 2022, we started constructing 2 new wings at the resort.