We arrived mid morning Saturday at Olavipe and were greeted by our Hostess Sumy and her son Anthony. Their property is a heritage home built in the 1880s by Anthony's Great Great Grandfather (Not sure if that's enough Greats). Anthony's father was one of 12 children and he inherited the property. Following his death last year Sumi, and now Anthony are running it for a few months per year as a homestay/guest house.
The Gate House (which has two guest bedrooms)
The main house building
Traditional style meals are served round the large family dining table with our hosts and other visitors. There is a lot of coconut used in Kerala cooking and we're certainly trying some unusual dishes. We've had steamed plantains with fresh grated coconut and honey, dark and white rice boiled in hollow bamboo poles so its squeezed out like rice sausages, all manner of pickles and fruits and fish of course.
Most of the veggie ingredients come from their own land where they farm organically on 40 acres. Their cook makes the most delicious drink with ginger, cinamon and lime which is boiled up with a little sugar then cooled and chilled - so refreshing in these temperatures of 30+ degrees
David and \I had a mini walk round to get our bearings then later in the afternoon Anthony took us (and the couple from Devon) on a tour of the farm. At the moment they only grow enough rice and vegetables for their own use but they grow lots of coconuts for sale.
These tiny pineapples are really delicious
As the farm is on the 'backwaters' there are plenty of waterways and on Sunday evening we'll be going out in a little boat to look at the scenery and watch the sunset. There are plenty of egrets and cormorants around plus we've had several sightings of kingfishers and briefly seen a woodpecker. We also scared a monitor lizard but he moved too quickly to capture him on camera.
Birds - mostly the birds stay high in the canopy of the trees so very difficult to spot/photograph but we hear them all day and night
Butterflies and bugs (so many exotic ones here but they never settle so are a challenge to photograph)
these odd bugs look like bi-wing planes - they're hovering all around the place - I think the only reason I managed to photograph this one is because he appears to be one wing short
The Gate House (which has two guest bedrooms)
The main house building
Traditional style meals are served round the large family dining table with our hosts and other visitors. There is a lot of coconut used in Kerala cooking and we're certainly trying some unusual dishes. We've had steamed plantains with fresh grated coconut and honey, dark and white rice boiled in hollow bamboo poles so its squeezed out like rice sausages, all manner of pickles and fruits and fish of course.
Most of the veggie ingredients come from their own land where they farm organically on 40 acres. Their cook makes the most delicious drink with ginger, cinamon and lime which is boiled up with a little sugar then cooled and chilled - so refreshing in these temperatures of 30+ degrees
David and \I had a mini walk round to get our bearings then later in the afternoon Anthony took us (and the couple from Devon) on a tour of the farm. At the moment they only grow enough rice and vegetables for their own use but they grow lots of coconuts for sale.
These tiny pineapples are really delicious
As the farm is on the 'backwaters' there are plenty of waterways and on Sunday evening we'll be going out in a little boat to look at the scenery and watch the sunset. There are plenty of egrets and cormorants around plus we've had several sightings of kingfishers and briefly seen a woodpecker. We also scared a monitor lizard but he moved too quickly to capture him on camera.
Birds - mostly the birds stay high in the canopy of the trees so very difficult to spot/photograph but we hear them all day and night
Butterflies and bugs (so many exotic ones here but they never settle so are a challenge to photograph)
these odd bugs look like bi-wing planes - they're hovering all around the place - I think the only reason I managed to photograph this one is because he appears to be one wing short
House looks lovely. Is this the first time you've met up with other British tourists?
ReplyDeleteNo there were a couple of Brits at the previous Homestay (at Tranquil Resort where we stayed in the treehouse) We've also had mini conversations with people we've met briefly at breakfast in a couple of places but that's it ... its just us (and our driver, Joshi, when we're on the road) Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteNice Post, We appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteBecome a host on Homevilas and explore life with new culture people.