This ancient house by the Bulankulame Wewa is believed to be the oldest house in Sri Lanka dating back almost 400 years. The first monsoon showers had started. The dried, cracked bed of the Bulankulame Wewa was filling with browned muddy rain water. It took us awhile to locate the old house, which was hidden amongst the thick vegetation on the opposite side of the tank bund. An old farmer cleaning up the culvert that led to his paddy land directed us. The dusty, parched gravel road winding through Jak and coconut trees led to our destination- the Bulankulame Walauwa, believed to be the oldest residence still in occupation, well over three centuries old. The first glimpse of the Walauwa- a single storied square building with a newly tiled portico and small open verandah was not what one conventionally imagines to be a Walauwa? The recent renovations to its exterior give it the aura of being an upper class rural house not quite the abode of an aristocratic family for several centuries. As first impressions often go, there was more to the house, than met the eye. The house at present is in two sections, crudely divided outside by a barbed wire fence. The renovated part of the rambling structure was occupied by the present generation of the Bulankulame family, while the other part which truly shows what the old house would have looked like, is abandoned and is in a bad state of disrepair at the moment. Two generations ago the entire house was one. Story has it, that centuries ago the whole house spread across several acres in sub units and had seven Meda-Midulas. Only three of this Meda-Midula remains. Two are in the abandoned section. At the door-in the renovated section-we were greeted by grandmother Bulankulame who came to live there in the 1950s, years after she married into the family. The interior of the house was dominated by a Meda- Midula. We were informed that the garden was reduced to half its size to take the new dining room. Around the Meda- Midula the rooms are located- the antique heavy timber doors opening out to a narrow corridor which runs around the garden space. The most interesting thing about the Meda- Midula was the citrus tree laden with dark green oranges- the juice of which we were to enjoy later on that hot afternoon. At the end of the Meda- Midula was the kitchen with its ancient soot-blackened chimneys. A face peeps at us through the gap between the thick old wall and the tiled roof. A monkey creeping along the gap, his tail hanging down the wall the creature observed us with bright curious eyes. He was shooed away by our hostess, who explained that groups of monkeys are quite a problem there. To the right of the kitchen was an attractive thick plank wooden door with a heavy iron handle leading out to a side garden with a well. Through the barbed wire fence we entered the other section. This part of the house really looked its age. Carved granite stone steps with a moonstone at the base led up to th