and Lujeri Tea Estates in an interview with guardian.co.uk:
My favourite hotels are…
Locally run guesthouses. I stay in many around the world, but recently I was in the tea estates of Malawi and stayed at the Satemwa Guesthouse in Thyolo (00 265 1473 256; satemwa.com) and Lujeri Lodge (00 265 8 854 894). It was so beautiful just sitting out on the veranda of these old planters’ houses looking across to Mount Mulanje with the red earth of the land against the vivid green of the tea fields. The guesthouses are almost from another era – basic, but meet all your needs and are quite romantic, with cool marble floors, fans on the ceiling and large beds with mosquito nets.
Source:
Me and my travels: Harriet Lamb, Director of The Fairtrade Foundation | Travel | The Observer
just found your blog or would have commented earlier – went to satemwa and didn’t stay at the guesthouse, but met the family-owners — an interesting tale itself that i’m afraid wouldn’t receive a fair telling in a blog comment.
all of this is to say that satemwa is beautiful and you can really do all that you’d want on a tea estate by staying there. they grow everything they need on site (including blue gum/eucalyptus trees to fell for burning) and they have their own dairy cattle to produce the best cheese one can eat in malawi. the best. try their thyolo mountain (also sometimes sold at savers choice in BT).