My 3 bed room villa "First House" is situated between the historical Mihintale Rock Temple and the Kanadarawa water tank and ancient Stone Bridge 6 A.D. It’s just over a mile from Mihintale’s ancient temple and only 15 minutes driving distance from the Sacred City of Anuradhapura, but in total tranquility, far away from the crowds and traffic noises. Set in a 0.75 acres garden, the villa is a mix of traditional charm and modern comforts. The villa was designed by my brother Rohan Gajanayaka, a special feature is a naturally ventilated veranda, allowing all rooms to benefit from fresh air breezes. The "First House" is fully staffed, my villa managers caring for you are my brother Rohan and my mother. I am Nuwan, speaking perfectly well understandable English and Italian. Our ambition is to ensure you enjoy a wonderful time in a family atmosphere right in the historical heartland of Sri Lanka. We are also proud to be exceptional good and experienced cooks for local and western cuisine, so we will prepare all your meals and shop for you, if you wish. All dietary requirements and preferences can be catered for.

I am Nuwan Gajanayaka and since 2003 I have been working as a tourist guide lecturer, approved by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board and running a home based travel agency on own Lanka Excursions Holidays. I started to work as a local guide in Mihintale in 1999. From then on I was fascinated by my job more and more, day by day, because I could meet guests from different parts of the world and learn more about different cultures with different mentalities and much different ideas. This motivated me to continue this work and to be involved in the tourism sector. When working as a guide in Mihintale, I also met travellers who decided to visit other destinations with me and asked me to arrange whole tour itineraries and accomodations. Apart from normal classic tours and beach relaxation, I always like to show unknown parts of the country and daily life in Sri Lanka, what most tourists are missing when travelling in our country. So this is how I started my work as a guide and tour operator step by step. Still I was eager to expand my activities. Those days I started my dream project, which was to open my own guest house. So I worked hard years and years to reach that target

Mihintale is the place where Monk Mahinda and his delegates introduced Buddhism in Sri Lanka by preaching it to King Dewanam Piya Thissa in 236 B.C. This happened on a Full Moon Day which is called Poson Poya. Monk Mahinda explained or "blessed" the "Chulla Hatti Padopama Suthra" to King Dewanam Piya Thissa, afterwards King Thissa himself decided to convert to Buddhism. But before blessing the Suthra, Monk Mahinda did not forget to test the king's intellectuality, because there had been a language understanding problem those days. So monk Mahinda pointed to a Mango tree and he asked the king some questions about it, a kind of ancient IQ test. It is the world's first test of this kind recorded in historical chronicles. Afterwards King Thissa built the temple. So since that day Mihintale has been inhabited by Buddhist monks. At certain times more than 2000 Buddhist monks lived in this area. So it was really a well-organized temple. Today, we can see plenty of ruins from the original temple. During the 8th and 9th century Sri Lanka was attacked several times by merceneries of South Indian dynasties called Pandyas and Cholas.