英德市 Yīngdé shì is the county east of 清远市 Qīngyuǎn shì, and its western countryside, the 英西 Yīngxī country, is a plain of rice fields, villages and tea bushes threaded between hundreds of limestone peaks. A farmstay here is a working farmhouse with a few rooms to let, sitting among the fields with the karst standing over the valley on every side. It is a stay for people who want the landscape at field level rather than from a viewpoint: the peaks are not an attraction you visit but the horizon you wake up to.
The farmsteads of the 英西 country are working places, and the stay is built on that. A typical one is a family house with a handful of simple rooms, a courtyard, a kitchen that cooks what the farm grows, and a few acres of rice paddy, vegetable plot or tea bush around it. The land here is good and the water is plentiful, so the fields are green all year, and the work of the farm goes on around the guests – planting and harvesting, picking tea, feeding the chickens. The hosts are usually the farmers themselves, and they will tell you which lane leads between the peaks and where the light is best in the evening.
The karst is what makes the county particular. 英德 is the home of 英德红茶 Yīngdé hóng chá, Yingde black tea, one of the recognised teas of Guangdong, grown on the slopes where the limestone soil and the warm damp air suit the bush; the 英石 yīng shí, the Yingde stone, is a celebrated garden rock, a weathered limestone that Chinese gardens have prized for centuries. A farmstay in the 英西 country sits between the two: tea on the gentle slopes and stone on every horizon, with the fields in between.
A day here is a slow one. In the morning the mist sits low among the peaks and the fields are wet; through the day you walk or cycle the lanes between the villages, with the karst closing and opening around you; in the late afternoon you climb a small hill for the view over the plain and the peaks in the low light; in the evening you eat the farm’s own vegetables and a chicken from the yard. It is the countryside at its plainest and best, with no programme and nothing arranged, and the whole appeal is the landscape and the quiet. Come in the spring for the flooded fields or the autumn for the harvest.
What the Rooms Are Like
Expect a simple, clean room of fifteen to twenty-five square metres, a firm bed, air conditioning or a good heater depending on the season, and a small en-suite bathroom with a shower. The finish is homely rather than stylish, and the value is in the position and the welcome. Rooms facing the peaks or the fields are the ones to ask for, and the country air is cool at night, so bring a layer. Wi-Fi can be weak, and the farm usually serves dinner if you ask in advance.
Practicalities
Price. A double at an 英西 farmstay runs ¥150 to ¥350 a night in the shoulder season, and more over the October week and Chinese New Year. Rooms with the peak view cost a little more, and meals are often charged separately at a fair rate.
Address. The farmstays are in the villages of the 英西 country in 英德市, east of 清远市, reached by road from 英德 town in about an hour and from 清远市 in about two hours. 英德市 is on the rail line at 英德站 Yīngdé zhàn.
Rooms. Ask for a room facing the fields or the peaks, and confirm whether the bathroom is private and whether the room has heating, because the 英西 winter nights are cold. Check whether dinner is served at the farm, as the villages have few restaurants; and ask the host which lanes and which viewpoints are worth the walk.
Getting there. From 英德站 Yīngdé zhàn, a taxi or a car out into the 英西 country takes about an hour; from 清远市 the drive is about two hours through the hills. A car is the practical way here, because the villages, the peaks and the tea slopes are spread out along the lanes, and the farms have parking.
Where to stay: the farmstays in the villages of the 英西 country in 英德市, reached by road from 英德 town or by taxi from 英德站. Book a room facing the peaks, arrange dinner with the farm, and come for the fields and the karst rather than for comfort.
flowcloud would say that a farmhouse standing in its own fields with a hundred peaks around it, where the guests eat what grew outside the door and the horizon is the whole attraction, is the plainest kind of good travel, and that a landscape works best when you are standing in the middle of it.