Spices Farm Stay (Palakkad - Kerala) | My Travelogue - Indian Travel Blogger, Heritage enthusiast & UNESCO hunter!

There's something more special about Home stays when compared to hotels or resorts. Its something like resorts, but more personal and with more specialized food that's most probably has local flavours and don't cost so much as resorts!!! So yeah, its a very good option. One such fantastic home stay was here at Palakkad in Kerala called Spices.

Located close to a small village called Alanallur near Mannarkad, the homestay is located within a huge estate. The actual ancestral house of the owner, Mr.Sunil is also within the premises, close to the entrance of a rubber plantation of 60 acres with about 2500 trees. By close, I mean, close when compared to the actual size of the premises. Its needs quite a walk which is easier done by a drive!!!

The ancestral home, by itself has a heritage of its own, and its almost 150 years old. Its a very traditional Kerala styled home with lots of wooden structures, wooden flooring, inbuilt wooden stair cases etc etc etc.

Another building with 5 rooms and a common kitchen & dining hall comprises of the home stay section! To go with the name Spices, the names of the individual names are named after various spices - Pepper, Cardomom, Clove etc. Its in 2 floors and tastefully made. 2 rooms and the common kitchen & dining are in the ground floor. 1st floor has 3 more rooms.

Each room has attached bathroom which is sun lit!!! A major portion of bathroom roof is made of glass and guess what, it was raining when I was there, and to see the droplets of water falling on u, yet not getting wet, is indeed an incredible feeling.

The interiors of the rooms are very Vintage French inspired with all whites & off-whites - the cot, the cabinet, side table, all of it. The rooms have both air conditioning & fans, but with the super cool Kerala climate and in the middle of so much greenery, I didn't need either!

The first floor has a huge balcony which is a perfect for a party. To make things easier, Sunil has come up with an innovative idea! A pulley with a basket attached that can bring in stuff from the kitchen below to this balcony - easy service!!!

A corner cabinet, a small study area with a super comfortable sofa, a traditional family swing set in the common area comprise the first floor. A huge french window are both in the ground & first floor. Plans are in to open up a barbecue just outside. 2nd floor is an open terrace with a perfect view.

The dining hall has a spacious 12 seater table. There's a television also in the common space. Just outside, on the portico, are wooden park benches which makes a comfortable reading area. I was sitting there in the night, all by myself (with Sunil's dog occasionally checking on me!), switching off the portico light, in complete darkness, looking out at the greenery (that was completely black)... By 7.30 it was pitch black and was filled with glowing fireflies, atleast 50 of them!!! That was absolute peace...

Traditional, authentic Kerala food is cooked by the inhouse cook, as you want it - sugarless, eggless, meatless, full meat - as you want! A walk around this property is indeed a long walk.

Apart from the rubber, there are several plants incl, teak, pepper, jackfruit, vanilla, several flower yielding plants etc. There are a couple of water bodies within this area.

And more than anything or anyone, you know what's the highlight of the stay - Sunil's father Mr.Prabhakara Panicker. You should have a chat with him. His old world charm, his stories from the past, about Burmese partition, his first motorcycle ride, his trekking experiences, his stint with gliding & flying, about his cousins in Army and Commando forces - you can never get bored when he talks!!!
Coming back soon with the places I saw around this homestay and that includes... shhhh...... Silent Valley too!!! Watch the space.

FOR RESERVATIONS:
Prices begin at Rs.1500
E-Mail proprietor at sonu.prabhakar@gmail.com

P.S: I was invited by the hotel for review purpose, however the opinions are my own and this post does not to advertise the product/service.