He found a serene field in Lindula, located in the highlands, ideal for his dream-farm which was known to the native folks as ‘Amurtha Kandha’ which turns into English as, ‘The Hill of Elixir’.
It was the British Colonial era. Small island nation of British-Ceylon was known to the world as one of the top three Coffee manufacturers on the face of Earth. A young Scottish gentlemen named J.F. Macduff, with dreams of becoming a planter, seeking his fortunes embarked on a ship that would set sail from the gloomy British Isles to the golden shores of Ceylon. He found a serene field in Lindula, located in the highlands, ideal for his dream-farm which was known to the native folks as ‘Amurtha Kandha’ which turns into English as, ‘The Hill of Elixir’. It could be assumed that the local folks has given this name based on the nutritional, healing properties found in its flora, springs of water, and even in the atmosphere & soil.
Macduff built his Estate over 200 acres in this area and initially planted Coffee, and later converted to Tea nearly 120 years ago from now, probably just after the disaster known as the ‘Coffee Rust’. Macduff Estate was among the few pioneers, to step into this new era of Ceylon Tea, with Seedlings from China. Macduff Estate prospered well into the next century and subsequently split into several blocks.
