A family stay near Manali where the kids can actually run around
Persimmon Farmstead Shanag is a family-run orchard farmstay near Manali with open lawns, stone cottages and wooden chalets that give kids and dogs room to run. Our home kitchen cooks plain plates for fussy eaters, and Old Manali and Mall Road sit a short drive away, so you get quiet mornings and easy day-outings both.
Most Manali hotels put you in a corridor of rooms with a lift and a lobby, and by evening the children are climbing the walls. We built the opposite of that.
Persimmon Farmstead Shanag sits about 4-5 km north of Manali town, on open orchard lawns near Bahang, on the road up toward Old Manali and Solang. There is grass to run on, apple trees to look up into, a bonfire most clear nights, and a kitchen that will make a plain paratha for a five-year-old who has decided today is a no-vegetables day.
It is the sort of place where your dog comes too, where nobody minds a toddler's tantrum at breakfast, and where you can drive down to the Mall Road or Hadimba temple for the afternoon and be back before dark.
Lawns, not corridors
Open orchard lawns at the Shanag home mean kids have somewhere to actually be. Stone cottages and wooden chalets sit around the grass, so you can watch them from a chair with your tea.
A kitchen for fussy eaters
Our home kitchen is a small family kitchen, not a hotel buffet. That is the point: tell us the morning before and we will cook simple plain plates, curd rice, plain dal, an omelette, for the child who won't touch a menu.
Pets are family here
Both our homes are genuinely pet-friendly, no forms, no extra hush-hush. Bring the dog. Ours have grown up on these lawns and will happily show yours where the good smells are.
Close to the sights, far from the horns
Old Manali cafes, Hadimba, the Mall Road and Manu Temple are all a short drive down. You sleep in orchard quiet and still do the day-trips families come to Manali for.
Why a farmstay works better than a hotel with young kids
The maths of a family holiday is simple: children need to move, and parents need ten minutes to drink a hot cup of tea while they do. A room-on-a-corridor hotel gives you neither. Our Shanag home is built around a lawn, with the stone cottages and chalets set back from it, so a two-year-old can toddle in circles while you sit within arm's reach and actually rest.
The orchard is the other half of it. In spring the apple trees flower; by September and October there are apples on the branch, which is a small miracle to a city child who has only ever seen them in a plastic tray. We are higher and a touch closer to the snow line here than at our Badgran home, so on cold-weather mornings the frost on the grass is its own entertainment before breakfast is even served.
The kitchen, and the fussy-eater problem
We should be honest about what our kitchen is, because it is the thing families worry about most. It is a small family kitchen, the same one we cook our own meals in. It is not a hotel kitchen with a standing buffet and a chef for every cuisine. What that means in practice is better than a buffet for a family: we cook to order, and we cook plainly when you ask us to.
Tell us the night before, or at breakfast, that your child eats only plain things and we will sort it out. The usual list we cook for kids who have gone off everything:
- Plain parathas, or aloo paratha with curd, no chilli
- Steamed rice with plain yellow dal, or curd rice
- A simple omelette or boiled eggs and toast
- Warm milk, and no, we will not sneak vegetables into it
- Plain Maggi, the great neutral ground of every Himalayan childhood
For the grown-ups there is proper Himachali home food when you want it, siddu (a steamed stuffed bread we serve with ghee and chutney), rajma-chawal, seasonal saag. Food is the thing our guests write home about, and it started with two of us wanting to feed people the way our families fed us.
One of us grew up with a mother who could tell from across the room which child wasn't eating and why. We cook a bit like that. If a plate comes back full, we notice, and we quietly figure out what that kid will actually eat.
— The hosts
Day-trips that work with small legs and short attention spans
Being near Manali rather than deep in the hills means you can do a real day-out and still get home for a nap. Hadimba Temple, set among tall deodars, is about a 15-20 minute drive down and is an easy, shaded walk kids manage well. The Mall Road is close by for the ice-cream-and-woollens circuit. Old Manali's cafes are a short drive up the road, gentler than the main-town crush.
For a bigger day, Solang Valley is roughly 30-40 minutes further up, where older children can try the ropeway or a zorb ball; a cable-car ride runs a few hundred rupees a head, and small activities are usually a few hundred rupees each, paid on the spot. In winter the snow point shifts with the snowfall, so ask us the morning of and we will tell you where the snow actually is that week rather than sending you on a wild goose chase. Our travel desk sorts a car and driver so nobody is white-knuckling a hill road with kids in the back.
Rooms, honestly, for a family
The Shanag rooms are our Chalet Rooms and Stone Cottages. They are cosy and characterful rather than large, which we would rather say plainly than have you arrive expecting a suite. For a couple with one or two small children they work well; for a bigger family or a group of cousins, we will put you across two rooms close together so the whole tribe is on the same patch of lawn. Both homes give you 24x7 hot water, which is the thing that actually matters when there is a cold, muddy child to bathe at the end of a snow day.
Message us on WhatsApp with your dates, how many adults and children, ages if you like, and whether the dog is coming, and we will tell you honestly which rooms fit and hold them for you. There is no online payment and no price on the site; we confirm everything with you directly first.
Where to stay
The Shanag HousePersimmon Farmstead Shanag
The high boutique hotel — wooden chalets and stone cottages on open orchard lawns.
Explore this home
The FarmsteadPersimmon Farmstead
The flagship boutique hotel — orchard rows, a family kitchen, and the morning sun.
Explore this homeGood to know
Is Persimmon Farmstead good for families with young children?
Yes. Our Shanag home is built around open orchard lawns where kids can run safely, the rooms sit around the grass so you can keep an eye on them, and our home kitchen cooks plain, simple food for fussy eaters. It is a short drive from Manali's main sights, so day-trips are easy.
Can the kitchen make food for a fussy child?
Yes. Ours is a small family kitchen, so we cook to order rather than run a fixed buffet. Tell us the night before or at breakfast and we will make plain parathas, dal-rice, curd rice, omelettes, warm milk or Maggi, whatever your child will actually eat, without chilli.
Are pets allowed if we are travelling as a family?
Yes, both our homes are genuinely pet-friendly at no fuss. Bring your dog along with the kids. Our own dogs have grown up on these lawns, so yours will be in good company. Just let us know on WhatsApp when you book so we set the right room aside.
How far is the family stay from Old Manali and the Mall Road?
Our Shanag home is about 4-5 km north of Manali town near Bahang, on the road toward Old Manali and Solang. Old Manali's cafes are a short drive up, and Hadimba Temple and the Mall Road are roughly 15-20 minutes down, close enough for an afternoon out and back before dark.
Tell us your dates. We'll confirm, personally.
You send a request, a real host confirms it by WhatsApp — usually within a few hours.