Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Farm Stays
118
Philipkutty's Farm
The Real Coconut Grove
Kerala, India
Staying at Philipkutty's Farm is a luxuriously
exotic yet rustic experience. You'll eat
sumptuous Indian feasts in a thatched-roof
pavilion. You'll sleep in a waterfront villa on
a peaceful backwater island, cooled only by
the breezes off the lake, with bananas,
mangoes, nutmeg, coconut, vanilla, and
pepper growing around you. At the same
time, you'll be poling in simple
vallam
coun-
try boats around the calm silvery waters of
Vembanad Lake with a local farming family
as hosts—Ana and Vinod Mathew, his
mother, Aniamma, and their son, Philip.
You'll walk the raised stone dikes by which
they've reclaimed this 18-hectare (45-acre)
organic farm from the palm-fringed lake,
and eat hearty home-cooked meals with
the family. You can even organize a culi-
nary vacation that includes daily cooking
classes. It's great exposure into the heart
of southern Indian culture.
Aniamma's cooking is one of the main
attractions here. She happily invites guests
into the family's kitchen to watch her and
Anu cook. The Mathews follow a Syrian
Christian diet, featuring a lot of fish, farm
vegetables and fruits, rice, duck, chicken,
rice-based breads (
appams
and
iddis
), and
chutneys. Some of her specialties include
fried
karimeen
(pearlspot fish), fish molee,
grilled freshwater prawns taken from the
farm's own canals, roasted duck, curd cur-
ries, and red-hot Kerala fish curry. And you
simply must try toddy, a unique local liquor
made right on the farm from the fer-
mented sap of coconut trees.
The farm has only five villas, so guests
get a lot of personal attention and interac-
tion from the family if they want it. The
furnishings are gracious antiques, yet the
bathrooms are completely modern. You'll
even have a small refrigerator in your villa
to keep cold drinks handy. Clay-tiled floors
and varnished wooden ceilings give guest
quarters the rustic look of a typical Keralan
backwater bungalow; each villa is ringed
by its own small veranda—its “sit-out”—
painted in a traditional crimson color.
There's no television, no room service, no
in-room phones—but then, those would
only disrupt the homey, tranquil experi-
ence of staying at Philipkutty's Farm.
Puthankayal Island, Pallivathukal, Ambika
Market, Veechor (
&
91/482/927-6529
or
91/482/927-6530; www.philipkuttysfarm.
com).
(
Kochi International Airport (75km/47
miles).
0
Kottayam (20km/12 miles).
