On the edge of the Corbett Reserve Forest in the Kumaon foothills, an hour from Jim Corbett and an hour from Nainital, Hemanshu Joshi has built a farm — 2.5 acres of organic food forest, three mountain-facing rooms, a wood-fired kitchen, and a bonfire circle — and invited the world in. The world keeps coming back.
There is a particular quality that the best farmstays share: the sense that the farm came first and the hospitality followed, rather than the other way around. At Forest Side Farm in Kotabagh, this sequence is visible in everything. The 2.5-acre organic food forest — a dense, multi-layered poly-cropping ecosystem of fruit orchards, turmeric, pulses, herbs, and flowering plants — was not planted for guests. It was planted because Hemanshu Joshi is, first and always, a farmer. The three guest rooms exist because what he had built was too good to keep entirely to himself.
Kotabagh is a sleepy, sparsely populated village in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, sitting on the edge of the Corbett Reserve Forest in the Kumaon foothills. It is adjacent to Jim Corbett National Park — not the busy, resort-dense Ramnagar side, but the quieter, wilder periphery where the forest presses against the farmland and the boundary between the managed and the unmanaged is a matter of a few hundred metres. Mountains frame the horizon on one side. Verdant farmland stretches on the other. The village itself is the kind of place that has not been reorganised for tourism: a working agricultural landscape, growing its own food, following its own rhythms.
Forest Side Farm sits quietly within this landscape — five hours from Delhi, one hour from Jim Corbett’s Ramnagar gate, one hour from Nainital. The Better India has featured it. Condé Nast Traveller has recommended it. Guests have visited repeatedly, described the experience as what a tired soul needs to rejuvenate, and returned.
The Farm
The 2.5-acre organic food forest is described on the property’s own website as a rich, diverse, multi-layer poly-cropping ecosystem — and this description is accurate in the way that all precise descriptions of things genuinely seen are accurate. This is not a single-crop plantation or a decorative kitchen garden. It is an attempt to model the diversity and complexity of a natural forest ecosystem in an agricultural context: fruit trees at the canopy level, smaller fruit and spice crops in the mid-storey, ground-level herbs and vegetables beneath, and honeybees in the orchard.
The farm grows turmeric — whose flowering Hemanshu’s guests describe as one of the most beautiful sights of their stay. It grows pulses, which can be harvested by participating guests during the right season. It grows the seasonal vegetables and herbs that go directly into the kitchen. The fragrance of the herbs in the morning, combined with the view of the forested hills beyond, is described in multiple guest reviews as the thing that makes them book a return visit before they have left.
Farm tours — led by Hemanshu himself, who gives first-hand information on organic and sustainable farming with the knowledge of someone who actually does it — are one of the most consistently praised experiences at Forest Side Farm.
The Rooms
There are three bedrooms in total: a one-bedroom cottage and a two-bedroom suite with a living room, together accommodating a maximum of six guests. Both units are mountain-facing — a deliberate positioning that gives guests panoramic views of the forested green hills and the Kumaon mountain range from their windows and from the upper deck dining and leisure area, which commands a panoramic sweep of the fields in front and the mountains in the distance.
The rooms are clean, spacious, and aesthetically designed within the slow-living philosophy of the farm: comfortable without being ostentatious, connected to the landscape without sacrificing the practical. Limited mobile data connectivity is honest about the tradeoff. You come here to be present in the farm, not to be present in your phone — and the farm is interesting enough to make the tradeoff feel like a gift rather than a deprivation.
The Kitchen and the Table
The food at Forest Side Farm has its own following, and it is the most eclectic repertoire of any farmstay on this list: Kumaoni thali, wood-fired pizza, baked goods from the in-house cafe, slow-cooked chicken handi prepared over wood fire in an earthen pot for four to five hours, peanuts by the bonfire, and the daily gup-shup session that Hemanshu hosts before dinner as the social glue of the stay.
The wood-fired pizza appearing in the middle of a working Kumaon farm is the detail that consistently produces a reaction of surprised delight in guests. It is the signal of a kitchen that takes pleasure in doing things well regardless of whether the setting seems to call for it. The chicken handi slow-cooked for five hours is the signal of a kitchen that understands time as an ingredient.
Harish — the team leader and chef — receives consistent, specific, warm mentions in guest reviews for both his culinary skills and his courteous service. He is the second name, after Hemanshu, that guests come home repeating.
Guests are encouraged to bring their own alcohol — the farm provides the peanuts, the bonfire, and the company.
What to See and Experience
The jungle walk with Hemanshu is the centrepiece activity: a two-hour guided walk through the forest adjacent to the farm, across the edge of the Corbett Reserve Forest, with Hemanshu explaining what is living in the trees and what the forest means to the farming community that lives alongside it. This is not a packaged wildlife experience. It is a walk led by a farmer who knows his local forest and shares it with the generosity of someone who finds it endlessly interesting.
Birdwatching from the farm itself is exceptional — the forest edge is one of the most productive birding habitats in the Kumaon region, and Forest Side Farm’s position at the junction of farmland and reserve forest gives guests access to both habitat types without leaving the property. The farm has been specifically cited as ideal for nature lovers and those who want to encounter wildlife and birds in their natural setting.
A tour of Kotabagh village — led through some of the lesser-known and more picturesque spots in the surrounding countryside — is available for guests who want to understand the place they are in beyond the farm’s boundaries. Bread-baking classes at the farm’s cafe are available for those who want a therapeutic, hands-on activity. Bonfire evenings in the winter months complete the sensory picture.
Jim Corbett National Park — one of India’s most celebrated tiger reserves, spread across the Shivalik foothills with its extraordinary diversity of wildlife including tigers, elephants, leopards, and over 600 bird species — is an hour away by road. Nainital, the most famous of the Kumaon hill stations, with its crater lake, promenade, and surrounding forested ridges, is also an hour away for those who want a day in the hills.
Why It Stays With You
A guest described Forest Side Farm as a gem. Another said it had become a permanent fixture for their family — a place they return to rather than a place they visit. A third said they thought about it whenever they needed to remember what slow life actually feels like.
Hemanshu Joshi — described by guest after guest as welcoming, knowledgeable, warm, and possessed of the particular quality of someone who genuinely enjoys hosting — is the reason Forest Side Farm is not just a farm with rooms. He is fighting, as one guest notes, all adversities alone and continuing to add more charm to the farm and the farmstay. The gup-shup before dinner. The jungle walk. The earthen pot on the wood fire. The flowering turmeric. The organic food forest that was planted not for guests but because he is a farmer.
The guests came later. They keep coming back.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Kusha Nawad, Village Patalia, P.O. Bijunia Haldu, Block Kotabagh, District Nainital, Uttarakhand — 263159 Phone / WhatsApp: +91 73106 90604 / +91 72478 78000 Website: forestsidefarm.com Instagram: @forestsidefarm Facebook: ForestSideFarmUttarakhand Booking: Direct via website (Contact Us page) · Also on Airbnb (search Forest Side Farm Kotabagh)
Owner: Hemanshu Joshi (farmer, host, jungle walk guide) Chef / Team Leader: Harish Recognition: Condé Nast Traveller Recommended · The Better India featured · TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice · 300+ reviews
Property: 2.5-acre organic food forest · Multi-layer poly-cropping ecosystem · Mountain-facing rooms · Edge of Corbett Reserve Forest · No-chemical farming throughout
Accommodation: 3 bedrooms total — 1-Bedroom Cottage: ₹6,200/night, 2 persons, breakfast included — 2-Bedroom Suite + Living Room: ₹12,400/night, 4 persons, breakfast included Maximum 6 guests at a time. Exclusive use of property possible.
Meals: Breakfast included · Full meals available (additional cost) · Kumaoni thali · Wood-fired pizza · Slow-cooked chicken handi (earthen pot, wood fire, 4–5 hours) · Forest Side Cafe (baked goods) · Guests encouraged to bring own alcohol Experiences: Farm tour (with Hemanshu) · Jungle walk (2 hours, led by Hemanshu) · Birdwatching · Kotabagh village tour · Bread-baking class · Bonfire evenings (winter) · Daily gup-shup session · Harvesting activities (seasonal)
Note: Limited mobile data connectivity. Carry insect repellent. Arrive before dark.
Getting There — From Delhi/NCR: approximately 5 hours by road (280–300 km) via NH9 to Moradabad, then towards Ramnagar / Kotabagh. — Kathgodam Railway Station: approximately 55 km — around 1.5 hours. Regular trains from Delhi Anand Vihar (6–7 hours). — Ramnagar (Jim Corbett gateway): approximately 35–40 km — around 1 hour. — Nainital: approximately 50 km — around 1.5 hours. — Pantnagar Airport: approximately 70 km — around 2 hours. — From Ramnagar, take the road toward Kotabagh. The farm is in Village Patalia — coordinate final directions with Hemanshu on booking, as GPS is not reliable on the last stretch.
Nearby — Jim Corbett National Park (Ramnagar gate): 35–40 km · Nainital: 50 km · Corbett Reserve Forest: adjacent · Kotabagh village: local · Kathgodam: 55 km · Delhi: 280 km (5 hours)
Best Time to Visit: October to June (open year-round) — October to February: bonfire season, cool Kumaon air, best jungle walks, migratory birds — March to May: pre-monsoon warmth, turmeric and flowering plants at their most spectacular — June: lush and green before the monsoon — Monsoon (July–September): the farm is beautiful in the rains but roads can be challenging
