TAKING TEA IN LIMURU

On Sunday -- one of those beautiful, blue-skied days that seem to make the birds sing louder and the air feel fresher -- we headed to Kiambethu Tea Farm in Limuru for lunch and a little learning with some friends. It was a smooth drive, just a short hop up a mercifully free Waiyaki Way, marred only by some of our convoy being stopped by the police over out-of-date driving papers. Once off the main road past the Bata sign, the emerald expanses of the tea plantations stretched up hills and curved around the road, looking like particularly inviting soft blankets but really made up of knee-high bushes planted almost on top of each other. The air was rich with the smell of the tea plants and the more mature aromas coming from the tea-producing factory nearby. People in their Sunday best traipsed along the road on the way home from church: children in elaborate frilly dresses and pretty hats, women in smart ensembles, men in fresh shirts and even jackets despite the broiling heat. Kiambethu is owned by third-generation white Kenyans and is reached by rattling up a loose-stone road before turning into a tree-covered drive and coming to a halt in front of a low house with a shady verandah, Colobus monkeys on the roof and a rich lawn that just demanded to be stretched out on.
After a cup of tea (of course!), owner Marcus Mitchell took the adults into a shady, lived-in sitting-room of faded sofas and flower etchings to talk about the tea-planting process, while the children headed for that delightful lawn and its maze of flowerbeds. A cheeky Colobus monkey hung upside-down from the roof to snatch bananas from the hands of children held aloft by the guide. Our youngest was game to try, and delighted when the hairy hand of the monkey touched her, as her older sister looked on half-enviously, half-frightened. The monkey scoffed the banana and then threw the skin back down -- something our girls found deliciously naughty. The children rampaged around the lawn, darting in-and-out of the flowerbeds and running shrieking from the very docile dogs. Then it was time for a walk among the few acres of indigenous forest left on the farm, past some well-fed, fat cows that one visitor commented looked like they had come out of an ad for a dairy product. In a land of rhinos and big cats, they nonetheless entranced the children. Other favourite sights included a chameleon and a brilliant green grasshopper. Our almost-toothless guide filled us in on the different trees and their importance to the Kikuyu, stressing that this was why they had to keep locals out. Lunch was eaten in the shade of the trees on the lawn -- like a big, well-organised family picnic. We helped ourselves to a fabulous buffet of salads, meat, cheesecake, home-made butter and soft, soft bread before lazing with more tea on the canvas chairs set out nearby. A great day out, and really close to Nairobi if you take the road to Runda past Village Market and head out that way. Best to book in advance.