A house built around a kitchen, on my own terms
After ten years running a guesthouse, I'm starting over — smaller, slower, and entirely mine. A kitchen, café and bakery on the ground floor. Quiet rooms upstairs for people who stay a while. Phase one is the land and foundation: USD 150,000, raised as gifts to my own Nepali company.
Why I'm building this
For ten years I ran a guesthouse with my family. I loved a lot of it — the guests, the routine, feeding people well. What I didn't love was having less say than I wanted over how things were done: which flour we bought, what went on the beds, who was around and doing what while guests were there. Small things individually. They added up.
So I know what I want now, because I've had a decade to figure it out. Food cooked from what's grown locally. A bakery that actually smells like a bakery before 7am. Sheets and towels I'd be fine sleeping in myself. Nothing I can't stand behind, because there's no one left to blame it on but me.
Sedi is where it happens: a working village about 350 metres up from the Phewa lakeside road. Close enough to walk to the market, quiet enough that evenings actually feel like evenings — gardens, school kids, dogs asleep in the road.
I want a house where people stay long enough to learn the neighbours' names — and where the kitchen is the first room you feel.
The plan
Ground floor: A kitchen-led restaurant, café and bakery, opening onto a terrace that works as the house's living room — first coffee in the morning, last one at sunset.
Upstairs: Rooms built for staying a month, not a night — proper desks, real storage, monthly rates that reward long stays. Organic textiles, honest soap, the kind of small details that tell you someone cared. Room counts and rates get published once the building does.
Where things stand
Five people have given so far — USD 2,700 (received as €2,500) toward a USD 150,000 target for phase one, due by mid-2027.
That's early. There's no land secured yet, nothing to photograph beyond the village itself. What's real right now is the plan, and five names on the Founding Wall.
One detail worth knowing: once the land is bought, it becomes collateral for construction financing. Banks will lend against land they can see, not against a plan on paper. So a gift toward the land does two things at once — it buys the ground, and it opens the loan that builds on top of it.
- Land Survey and offer in progress in Sedi
- Nepal company Private limited company, 100% Maya, incorporating in Pokhara
- Bank account Company account, opens the path for verified gifts
- Build & open Kitchen-first ground floor, rooms above
Give toward the land
If you want this house to exist, a gift moves the land and foundation forward. Early supporters get a place on the Founding Wall — names remembered inside the finished guesthouse.
Email me first — I never publish banking details on this site. Email hello@maya-guesthouse.np with the subject "Phase One Gift" and I'll reply personally with verified details. Card checkout appears here once the company account is verified.
A gift is a gift: voluntary, non-refundable, no equity, no guaranteed return. Tax treatment depends on your country — ask your advisor. This is my commercial project, owned 100% through my Nepal Pvt Ltd. If I ever offer hospitality credits, written terms come first.
Thank you, whether you give or just write to say you're following along. I'll post updates here as the land gets closer.
— Maya
FAQ
Can I book a room now?
Not yet — rooms open once the house is built. I'll announce it here.
Is a gift an investment?
No. It's a gift to the business, not shares or a financial return, and not tax-deductible charity. Any future stay credit would come as separate, published terms.
What does phase one money fund?
Land and foundation in Sedi, company registration, and the bank account that lets me receive gifts cleanly.
Where exactly is Sedi?
About 350 metres from the Phewa lakeside road. Exact address publishes once the land is secured.