At the point where the Beas and Manalsu rivers come together in Old Manali, Maheshwar Singh and his mother Nanki Thakur built a home from stone and mud over three years, in the kathi-kuni tradition of seismic-resilient Himalayan architecture, surrounded by apple, cherry, kiwi, and walnut trees. They named it The Barn. It opened to guests in 2025. The red rice comes from Maheshwar’s uncle’s fields. The morel mushrooms, when luck is in, come from the forest.
Old Manali is not the same place as Manali. The main town — the Mall Road, the hotels, the traffic, the infrastructure of a hill station that receives millions of visitors a year — is a different geography and a different pace from the old village above it, where the streets are narrow and the houses are traditional Himachali construction and the apple orchards still press in close on every side. Old Manali has always been there. It is the place Manali was before it became what it is. And in the corner of Old Manali where the Beas and Manalsu rivers meet, Maheshwar Singh and his mother Nanki Thakur have built something that is entirely of this place.
Maheshwar was born and raised in Old Manali. He studied in boarding schools in Shimla and Kullu but remained tethered to the village — its culture, its ways, its traditional knowledge — in the way that people who grow up in genuinely distinctive places often remain tethered even when the world offers them other options. When he decided to build a homestay, he built it from the materials and methods of the landscape he grew up in.
The Architecture
The Barn took three years to build. The result is a U-shaped home built in the kathi-kuni style — the ancient Himalayan architectural tradition of interlocked timber and stone construction, designed specifically for the seismic conditions of the mountain zone, requiring neither cement nor nails, the building’s structural resilience emerging from the precision of the joinery rather than the strength of the materials. It is an architecture that has survived earthquakes across centuries of Himalayan settlement. Maheshwar built his home in this tradition not for aesthetic reasons alone but because it is the right way to build in this landscape.
The exterior carries powder blue window frames, wooden shutters, and ivy-clad stone walls — the visual character of a house that has come from its site rather than been imposed upon it. The 5,000 square foot farm that surrounds it is dotted with apple, cherry, kiwi, walnut, and other fruit trees — the productive orchard landscape of Old Manali, which has always grown fruit alongside its fields. The farm sits at the confluence of the two rivers, and the sound of the water is audible from the rooms and the outdoor spaces throughout the stay.
The Rooms
The rooms at The Barn are built to the same principles as the house: natural materials, traditional craft, the warmth of a space made from stone and wood by hand. Enormous windows — designed, in Maheshwar’s own description, to be nature’s own frames — bring the apple orchards and the mountain landscape inside every room, making the relationship between interior and exterior continuous rather than interrupted by a wall. The rooms are comfortable in the manner of a well-made home: not the comfort of amenities layered upon a neutral shell, but the comfort of spaces that have been built for the people who will inhabit them.
Nanki Thakur’s Kitchen
The food at The Barn is among its most defining features — and it is inseparable from the specific people and specific landscape that produced it.
Everything served at The Barn is prepared from crops grown in the village or foraged from the surrounding forest. The red rice served at the table comes from Maheshwar’s uncle’s fields — not sourced, not purchased, but grown by family members a short distance away. The fruits, pulses, and vegetables come from relatives who have orchards and farms. This is not a farm-to-table philosophy deployed as a marketing strategy. It is the operating reality of a household that has always lived this way.
Nanki Thakur — Maheshwar’s mother, raised in a pastoral family tradition — is the other half of The Barn’s culinary life. She is a passionate maker of pickles from wild mushrooms called lingdi, and carries the family’s traditional recipes with the authority of someone who has been making them since before the concept of heritage cuisine existed. Her signature preparations include rara chicken, boti mutton, and khatta meat — the slow-cooked, deeply flavoured dishes of the Kullu Valley’s pastoral tradition that are entirely unavailable in any restaurant and require this specific knowledge to produce.
When the monsoon arrives, Maheshwar and his uncle venture into the forest on mushroom-hunting expeditions. When luck is in, they return with morel mushrooms — gucchi kiyaun in the local parlance — the extraordinary forest fungi that are among the most prized ingredients in Himalayan cooking. “Some of these things are subject to availability and pure luck,” Maheshwar says. This is the honest admission of a kitchen whose menu is determined by what the land and the forest choose to offer on a given day.
What Old Manali Offers
The Barn’s position in Old Manali — at the confluence of the Beas and Manalsu — gives guests access to the village’s own rhythm as the primary experience of the stay. Maheshwar leads heritage walks through Old Manali, sharing the stories, customs, and cultural knowledge of a community whose traditions — in architecture, in food, in the relationship between people and landscape — are genuinely distinct from anything that tourism has manufactured.
The orchard landscape that surrounds The Barn changes with the season. In spring, the cherry and apple trees are in blossom — the white and pink that Old Manali’s villagers have always known as the sign that the year has properly begun. In summer, the orchards are in full leaf and the rivers are running strong. In autumn, the fruit ripens and the air carries the particular sweetness of harvest. In winter, snow arrives and the village takes on the interior quality of a community that knows how to endure the cold with grace.
Beyond Old Manali: the Hadimba Temple — the ancient wooden temple to the forest goddess Hidimba, one of the most atmospheric sacred spaces in Himachal Pradesh — is nearby. The Beas Kund trek, following the river to its glacial source, is accessible for those who want to walk upstream. Solang Valley, Rohtang Pass, and the broader Manali adventure circuit are within reach for guests who want the conventional Himalayan experience alongside the more intimate encounter that The Barn provides.
Why It Stays With You
The Barn is new — it opened in 2025 — but it is not new in the way that most new places are new. The kathi-kuni walls were built over three years from the materials of the landscape. The red rice on the table came from the uncle’s fields this season. The lingdi pickle was made by Nanki Thakur from mushrooms she knows how to find. The heritage walk is led by a man who was born in this village and has spent his life learning what it contains.
Maheshwar Singh built The Barn because he is from Old Manali and Old Manali has something irreplaceable to offer: the living culture of a Himalayan village that preceded the tourism and has not been entirely consumed by it. The powder blue window frames. The kiwi tree in the orchard. The rivers meeting at the edge of the farm. The morel mushrooms, when fortune provides them.
Come for the rivers. Stay for Nanki’s kitchen. Return for whatever the forest finds.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Old Manali, Manali, Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh (at the confluence of the Beas and Manalsu rivers) Instagram: @thebarnmanali Booking: Via Instagram DM (@thebarnmanali) · Also on Airbnb (search The Barn Manali)
Hosts: Maheshwar Singh (born and raised in Old Manali — heritage walks, foraging, farming) and Nanki Thakur (his mother — traditional Himachali cooking, pickle-making, family recipes) Opened: 2025 Built over: Three years
Architecture: Kathi-kuni style — traditional Himalayan interlocked timber and stone, seismic-resilient, no cement or nails. U-shaped building on a 5,000 sq ft farm. Setting: Apple, cherry, kiwi, and walnut orchards · Confluence of Beas and Manalsu rivers · Old Manali village
Rooms: Stone and mud construction · Enormous windows framing the orchard and mountain landscape · Natural materials throughout
Meals: Everything from the village and the forest · Red rice from family fields · Vegetables, pulses, and fruits from family orchards and farms · Nanki’s traditional Himachali recipes: rara chicken, boti mutton, khatta meat · Lingdi pickle (wild mushrooms) · Morel mushrooms when the forest provides (seasonal, subject to luck) · Foraging with Maheshwar (monsoon season)
Experiences: Heritage walks through Old Manali (led by Maheshwar) · Orchard walks through the farm · River walks (Beas and Manalsu confluence) · Foraging and mushroom hunting (monsoon season) · Hadimba Temple visit · Beas Kund trek · Solang Valley · Rohtang Pass
Getting There — Bhuntar Airport (Kullu-Manali): approximately 50 km from Old Manali — around 1.5 to 2 hours by road. — From Manali Mall Road: approximately 2–3 km uphill to Old Manali — around 10–15 minutes. — From Delhi: approximately 570 km — around 12 hours by road, or overnight Volvo bus to Manali (10–12 hours), then short taxi to Old Manali. — From Chandigarh: approximately 310 km — around 6–7 hours. — Old Manali is accessible by road up to a certain point; the final approach to The Barn may involve a short walk through the village. Coordinate exact directions with Maheshwar via Instagram before arriving.
Nearby — Hadimba Temple: 3 km · Old Manali market: 1 km · Manali Mall Road: 3 km · Beas Kund trek start: 15 km · Solang Valley: 14 km · Rohtang Pass: 50 km · Bhuntar Airport: 50 km
Best Time to Visit: March to May for cherry and apple blossom — the orchards in full flower, the rivers running with snowmelt · June to September for the monsoon — the forest is at its most productive for foraging, and this is when morel mushrooms may be found · October to November for the apple harvest and post-monsoon clarity · December to February for snow and the village in its winter character — arrive prepared for cold and the particular warmth of a stone house that knows how to hold heat
