To Let

Situated in hill-stationesque surroundings in Nelliampathi, Kerala, Anju and Tony George’s typical southern, neo-modern bungalow is set in a coffee and cardamom plantation in the middle of a bird-watcher’s paradise. Called the Whistling Thrush Bungalow, this plantation home has been with the couple for the last 30 years. ‘‘We were always entertaining friends at home and just decided to take it a step further a year ago,’’ says Tony.

Frequented mostly by bird lovers and well-heeled travellers, this quiet bungalow offers an opportunity to imbibe a plantation’s sights and sounds along with home cooked meals, a drive to an abandoned church and, if you are very fortunate, the chance to watch the Great Indian Hornbill taking flight—a once in a lifetime experience.

Sitla Estate, situated eight hours from Delhi in the midst of orchards, Kumaoni oak and pine forests, is the rambling 100-year-old colonial home of Vikram Maira. The place has everything that makes for an ideal home stay.

Best experienced when you taste the first spoonful of mulberry crumble from the Estate’s “experimental kitchen” (the mulberry comes from the tree behind the dining room). Here the toast’s crispness can only compete with the tartness of the plum jam and the jam will remind you of an aunt, the smell of sugary pulp, grass, cricket, picking flowers, picnics and midnight feasts. Lunch at the Estate is usually out in a meadow of white daisies. And could very well consist of home-grown lauki, dal and kaddu; but at 7,000 feet and after a two-hour trek, it tastes like ambrosia.

Then you tarry a while over coffee and a book under the gnarled branches of the century-old plum tree and allow your eyes to feast as the snows of Nanda Devi do a full frontal on this sprawling estate.

Apart from the scenic salvation, Maira’s ancient plum tree is witness to some unforgettable conversations and authentic bonding sessions.

Ajay Maira and Pavane Mann have been lovers of the great outdoors for as long as they can remember. Both have perfectly conventional, brick and mortar Dilliwallah homes to cater to their urban necessities. Yet they make the base camp 28 km upstream from Rishikesh, on the banks of the Ganga, their home for more than half the year. Here they welcome you to come and share their way of living. This means sleeping in a tent next to a silver river in the Garhwal Himalayas. And river rafting, trekking, playing beach volleyball, swimming or just eating wholesome food around a bonfire at night. Mann cannot distinguish the ‘types’ who visit them. “Everyone from school kids to corporates to diplomats have stayed with us.”

Tulasidasam, Sindu Nayar’s home, a heritage property in the village of Pallipad in Alapuzha, Kerala, provides an opportunity to enjoy traditional Nair hospitality in a 200-year-old tharavadu, with its elaborate woodwork and an open central courtyard. Pallipad being at the centre of Kerala’s rice bowl, traditional methods of cultivation like nadeel are still practised here, just as they were centuries ago. Walk around the village and among the paddy fields, and watch sunsets through a canopy of tropical green.