In this forest retreat, villas so good the owner hoards one

Gen Z called it first. The two-week annual holiday is over. You can go on micro-cations, which is truly a creative and practical way to switch off from errands, a full inbox, and all that itinerary planning. Or you could just room-rot in a destination that is equal parts scenic and comfortable. You could even draw a three-hour radius around you and end up visiting a town you may have overlooked all this while.

Project Karjat, a six-villa property in Waverla village, located just two hours from Mumbai, ticks all these boxes. In fact, with all that it has to offer, it is an overachiever of sorts among the many getaways in Maharashtra that get a new lease of life come monsoon.

For starters, it rewards you with stunning views, irrespective of the villa you book. On one side is the Waverla lake, on the other the trekkable Sondai fort. Ahead you can see the Karnala Bird Sanctuary extending into the Matheran hill range. Every villa also comes with a private pool, a private entrance, and a spacious, artfully done-up bathroom, giving you all the reasons to stay put and step out at the same time. To call Project Karjat a homestay would be underplaying the luxury it offers. To call it a resort will be ignoring its mindful design and character. A more befitting description would be your temp cosy home away from the urban rush.

It’s not just the landscapes that make Project Karjat one of the finest properties in the hill station. It’s how every villa has been built, thoughtfully, using materials native to the area. Almost everything—from the teak wood to clay tiles and the metal used to build the villas—is sourced from old homes in nearby villages. Even the swimming pool is built using natural stone found in local quarries. It’s this respect for the ecology that founder Tejas Mathur’s six villas reflect, inside and outside.

“Back in the day, people used to cut teak wood from the forests and build their houses. But eventually, they started putting steel slabs to make it a more ‘permanent’ structure. In the process, they take off the entire house and either throw it away or burn it for firewood, thus depleting these resources. So, every time I hear that a house is being dismantled in the vicinity, I select everything that can be reused.”

Growing up, Mathur always had a knack for building stuff. As a child, he once built a tree house and, with his sister, small playhouses for them. But the thought of building a commercial property was never on the cards. The MBA graduate from Singapore joined his father’s construction firm United Realty and Construction and built commercial homes in Navi Mumbai.

He designed and built the first villa on the family-owned land in 2020 as a way to ward off encroachments on the land. He saw this as an opportunity to build himself a personal escape and a space to experiment with what he felt was good design. Then, a couple more were built to accommodate friends and family visiting him. Before he knew it, the space was drawing booking enquiries. It started making sense commercially. And just like that, unlike resorts or multi-villa properties, Project Karjat was built along the way and opened to the public in 2023. The Owner’s Cabin and The Other Cabin, both built early this year, are the latest additions to the property, with yet a new villa and a healing centre focused on fascia therapy in the making.

Till date, Mathur has bought around 10 old houses within a 10 km radius of the property. Everything here, except the cladding in the two new villas—which are built with newer materials—is made with old wood. Over the past few years, he has educated locals about organic farming to build back the soil fertility while incentivising them—a lot of the produce from these farms finds its way into Project Karjat’s menu. Take for instance the grilled prawns with mango salsa that chef Sachin prepares for guests as part of his summer special or the palak patta chaat’s main ingredients and the microgreens in the avocado salad, which come from the neighbouring farms or the property itself.

The Owner’s Cabin is the closest peek into Mathur’s idea of modern design meets luxury meets living with nature. Imagine a bedroom placed at the centre of a private garden and a pool. It is snug yet expansive.

As you enter, you walk into a private garden lined with champa trees that double up as a fence. Lounge chairs and wooden benches looking out to the lake and the forest ahead are placed perfectly to enjoy slow mornings. Then there’s the pool with a view of the forest. When you finally enter the room, you walk past a covered patio, the perfect vantage point to see the rain work its magic on the area. The large windows in the room bring the outdoors in, lending it the feel of a secluded retreat. An equally generous bathroom features a marble-finished bathtub and plenty of room to unwind.

While most of the villas on the property can accommodate groups of four to eight adults, The Owner’s Cabin is designed for two. As the name suggest, it’s literally Mathur’s home away from home, and he tries to guard it too by filtering the guests who get access to it. The cabin has two dog sculptures—one marble and one chrome-finished—that Mathur thinks look like the ones he had at home. (The resort is pet-friendly.)

Close friends may get access to the Owner’s Cabin but so can people who truly enjoy nature, a slow pace, and limited, essential-only infrastructure. You get a complimentary breakfast served to your liking , Wi-fi, and the usual refrigerator, too, but do not expect round-the-clock service similar to 5-star properties. If indoors seem too sedentary, you can go for a walk around the property and the lake area, or choose between kayaking or a game of pickleball. The idea is to promote a slow pace for everyone on the team, too. Something Mathur is very particular about.

“People in the city are used to a very gentrified life. So, if you’re not a very outdoor person, it might not be very comfortable for some. Project Karjat is not made for everyone. We try to see if this person will enjoy the place or not because it has to be a good fit for the person who comes,” says Mathur.

So, if a quick monsoon escape is on your mind, let Project Karjat ease you into slow mornings and sweeping views, and maybe, just maybe, the Gen Z way of travelling will begin to make sense.

Project Karjat, Khalapur, Wavarle, Maharashtra 410202. For bookings, click here