I've stayed in a hanok home before in Seoul's Bukchon hanok village and was looking forward to the chance to stay in another traditional home. Hanok Homes are traditional raised wood houses with clay tile roofs. They are built in clusters and narrow alleys and always make for scenic shots of their roof tiles. The first home I stayed in at Bukchon you can call a house as it was small complex. However, this can time the home can be considered a 'villa' as it was a larger complex. (You can read about my stay at Seoul's Bukchon Hanok Village here : http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1310759516/tpod.html ) You enter thru a small wood door in the larger wood gates bringing you into a large compound. To the centre behind a large pond and landscaped garden is the large main home with glass windows. To the rear and sides are several large outbuildings housing more guest rooms. Our guestrooms were in the two outbuildings. I was fortunate to have my own room as the girls had to share, since traditional homes are not big enough to give everyone their own room. My room consisted of a small square room with a floor bed. To the rear was another door leading to a private bathroom which was clean and modern. This was nice as the last hanok home in Bukchon had a shared bathroom. Sleeping was quite comfortable on the padded floor mattress. However, because I had the end room in the building I think something was living and moving around under the house at night which was quite disturbing. In the morning the owner opened the main home and I was able to see the main living room. This was setup with a long floor table while she prepared traditional tea. Normally I dont drink teas but this was quite mild and like english tea. When I asked what it was she explained it was a home brew and that she just named it yellow tea. She then took us on a tour of the house. The original family owner had helped build Gyeongbukgung Palace in Seoul for the King. As a reward the King allowed him to build this home and gave him high quality timber to be used in construction. The home used to have traditional pansori singers entertain. The host would invite singers or sing himself. The divider walls to the side rooms can also be raised to make one large hall. To the left of the main room was a males room made up like throne room. This would be for private small groups or where the host would sit when the dividers were opened. The most interesting part was when she took us up into the small attic. Normally visitors are not allowed here. This houses the private family collection and was somewhat of a museum. There were things that survived the Japanese occupation and before the modern age such as a gramophone and old albums. During Chuseok there will be a traditional singing Pansori Festival and this will be one of the traditional homes that will be a venue. She also explained about a game grandfathers play with their grandsons to teach them the names of all the male descendants. The outside garden she explained was actually built to disguise the well. There was as staircase leading down where they used to get the water. Now it is used as cold storage for kimchi. It is becoming hard to manage the home as with most cultures the young are not interested. They are thinking of asking to Government to take over the house as a heritage home. It has always been in the family since it was built about 150 years ago but only became a guest house four years ago. The film crew also interviewed me for my thoughts on the home. Here is their website but unfortunately its all in Korean. There were Japanese guests staying there so you could try to email them and they may have someone else respond in english. http://cafe.naver.com/hakindang [email protected]