Enteveedu
Extended weekend or just bored with daily routine OR sick of driving during office hours in Bangalore.plan for a getaway immediately.
Well I have always liked Kerala, I have been to backwaters, allepey, munnar earlier. This time we planned for Wayanad and intended for a home stay and what an experience it was at Enteveedu…let me share some more details
Booking the place
Me and my wife decided that this time around let’s plan for a homestay as we had never tried it earlier. After seeing the website https://enteveedu.co.in/ and talking to Mrs. Seetha over the phone, we were very sure about the place. I have a 2 year old daughter and I wanted a place were she can run and play around like crazy.
Mrs. Seetha is the owner of the place, a graceful, charming and a wonderul hostess. We exchanged a couple of emails for stay dates confirmation. One has to pay some advance amount via internet transfer. Mrs. Seetha can provide the details over email to you. A Cottage costed us Rs. 2500. For lunch/ dinner you have to pay Rs.150 per person. Humm looks like a little on the higher side but its worth it.
For latest tarrifs you can check out the website though. It is advised you call you around 2 weeks in advance, most of my friends tried later but in vain.
Journey
Enteveedu is around 300kms from Bangalore. The best route is from Bangalore-> Mysore->Gundalpet ->Sultan Bathery -> Beenachi(1.5 km from Sultan Bathery to Beenachi) -> take right turn to -> Nadavayal -> Punchavayal road. Then take Panamaram road. After punchavayal make sure u go a bit slower just 250 mt(from punchavayal its jus 2 min) right side the first gate is enteveedu.You can see a concrete path. From Bathery to the homestay is 20 km.
Well once you are at Sultan Bathery I must admit I had to ask for directions a couple of times, I guess its all right and I didn’t find any problems whatsoever. Driving across villages is quite an experience, you barely see a human soul sometimes. Nadavayal and Punchavayal are villages you find on the way. Keep in mind Panamaam and you won’t get lost.
The home stay and food
Enteveedu ( https://enteveedu.co.in/) means my own home, is managed by Mrs. Seetha who truly believes in " atithi devo bhava".
The place is serene and is a self sustained estate, it has coffee, jackfruit, vanilla, pepper, coconut plantations. There are 2 cottages when we were around, Mrs. Seetha however has plans to add more. One can also stay in 3 of the rooms that she has in the home but I guess the cottage has its own charm.
The estate has a badminton court, hammock( I used it a lot), lots of toys for kids, a machaan small garden, a place to sit and have your evening tea which has a aquarium, carrom game . Paddy field was the highlight, you can step down from the home stay, walk in paddy fields, play, take pictures of sunset.
The package includes your stay and breakfast. For lunch and dinner you have to pay extra. The food was the best part. Mrs. Seetha prepares the nicest Kerala food. The fish, prawns, chicken, iddiappams.I barely remember the names but every dish was tasty. Highly recommend the Kerala parothas:-) . The preparations are done in coconut oil, of course we had no reservations about it. You can also tell Mrs. Seetha if you don’t want coconut oil in your food well in advance
Wayanad
We stated for 2 nights in wayanad, the first day we reached around noon and preferred to have a nice lunch and relax and check out Enteveedu and leave the wayanad places to see for next day.
The next morning we set out for pooket late, where we did boating, its an average place.
There is a place called URUVU which is close to Kalpetta( headquarters of wayanad), this place is for small scale cottage industry who do wonders with bamboo, we bought ourselves flower vase, wooden pen, "waterfall sound making" some bamboo creation. Not expensive, for the same stuff you could be paying atleast 5 times extra in malls
Final word
Home stay at its best…wonderful experience of the place and hospitality.