Signum Resort, Bandhavgarh

Turn off the Umaria–Bandhavgarh road, away from the highway and its noise, and sixteen acres open out around you – lawns running down to a pond, a kitchen garden, and forest holding it all in. A no-plastic property near Bandhavgarh National Park, close enough that the wilderness feels present and far enough that the quiet holds.

Days here take the shape you give them: a safari into the reserve or a morning spent looking for birds, a long lunch under the trees, an afternoon that goes no further than your own balcony or plunge pool. By evening the lawns become somewhere to gather – for a wedding, a celebration, or nothing more than the end of a good day.