My India House
For an inexpensive holiday in Kovalam in the Southern Indian State of Kerala - "God's Own Country" - why not consider staying in my lovely home just about 800m from the warm, blue Arabian Sea. The address is: LARA Bhavanam, Vaikkokulam Road, Avaduthura, KOVALAM PO, Trivandrum 695527, Kerala, South India. If you want to check the precise location on any of the mapping websites it is : N : 08.23.48 and E : 76.58.69
Most people in the UK and Europe will be reassessing their spending in the current financial crisis but will not wish to forgo an annual holiday - that everyone deserves.
My lovely house provides that opportunity at very low prices...and airfares are generally only around £350 - £450 return from the UK but more expensive around Christmas. Airlines going to Trivandrum currently are Qatar, Gulf, Emirates, Ethiad, Sri Lankan, Kingfisher, Oman and Kuwait from various UK.
The person who sorts my flights out is Philip Abraham, a native of Kerala but living and working in GB. He produces a Keralan newspaper as well as a travel agency. Contact him - mentioning me - on www.keralalink.co.uk.
Another good place to source tickets is: www.ticketstoindia.co.uk and it even worthwhile looking at : www.kayak.com
The house has been a great success with visitors from the UK, Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, France and Germany as well as so many people from different countries in the world popping in for breakfast.
It has white and deep pink marble floors throughout. There is 1 twin bedroom on the ground floor and 3 on the first floor, each has its own shower, wash basin and toilet attached, as well as a central ceiling fan, a a table top fan, bedside reading lamps and several 2 pin electric sockets . Also, there is a detached cottage with a double bed, shower and toilet.
There is a dining hall with hand wash basin with a large open plan kitchen. We also have cable TV with many channels including sports, film and general interest channels.
We have a mobile telephone in the house (+91 96 33 44 42 41 ) but no landline. We also have WiFi internet connection (from September to March each year) . The nearest phone booth to make international calls is 150m away.
You can make calls TO Indian land lines and mobiles for just 1p per minute by dialling 0844 720 2082and then following the instructions
It is situated in its own grounds off a quiet road and is 800m from the beach. There are coconut, banana and papaya trees that fruit as well as chilli bushes & other plants.
Our road is a steep downhill one from the main Beach Road. At night, there are gate lights as well as illumination over the whole garden.
A non resident housekeeper (KUMARI pronounced KOO MAR REE) arrives each morning at about 8.30am to prepare breakfast and also do the cleaning and your washing....but please remember that water is a scarce commodity in India and I would not expect you to have clothes washed every day.
The donation I ask for is R600/- (c£8.50) per room per night and this will include breakfast (Please note that the rate may vary slightly with the current volatility of the £). In addition, an equal portion of the weekly salary of the housekeeper has to be paid…she gets R800/- a week so if there are 4 people staying, then it is a contribution of just R200/-.
Requests and enquiries for bookings for the season 2011/12 are beginning to come in and rooms are generally available but there is likely to be no rooms available from mid February to early March.
If you would like to make use of the house, then just contact me as soon as possible. The best time to visit Kerala is from September to April, although several people have been during the Summer months and enjoyed it - less tourists!!! I can advise you on flights and also arrange for a taxi to collect you from Trivandrum Airport some 16kms away.
Kerala is a wonderfully diverse State with wonderful people (speaking an unpronounceable language of Malayalam), has an excellent climate, the sea is like being in a lovely warm bath and the food is just so tasty .. and you can even take a cookery course there. The following photo was taken at a buffet in one of the good hotels - excellent food for just R199/- (= £2.80)
If you, your family or friends are interested, please use the feedback form at the foot of the homepage to contact me.
Here are some comments from recent guests :
Just a quick note to say thanks for the use of your house. We ended up using it as more of a base, before going to Thekaddy, to visit Periyar/elephant wildlife reserves, the houseboat cruise on the backwaters (the high point of the trip) and Ponmundi in the Western Ghats. Very different from every other Christmas I've experienced, so thanks again RP
We had an amazing trip to India! We absolutely loved it. Kumari looked after us very well and helped us to arrange all our trips with a wonderful driver called Vinod. She cooked us lovely breakfasts and invited us to her house one night for dinner which we really enjoyed. We thought the restaurants in Kovalam were really good and loved the thali's that we sometimes had for lunch in Trivandrum and other places we visited.
The places we visited were amazing & India was everything we had hoped for & much more. Thank you for letting us use your home. We will never forget our trip. JH
All fine thanks – a great time was had by all and Kumari was fantastic. When you speak to her next please pass on our sincere thanks again.
We did most things in our short time though – a trip to Varkalla, Trivandrum, temples, beach, swimming, train ride, the elephant sanctuary, Neyyar Dam, scooter hire… etc so didn’t have time to lay around. KA
We are safely at home, but it is really big change! The holiday in India was really beautiful. My children want to come back to India sometime:-). Thank you very much by your invitation, it was very nice and I am glad, that we had this opportunity. RS
