About a Homestay

One of the many fascinating experiences for visitors to Kerala is without doubt the Home Stays. These are literally home away from home, allowing you to get close with the host family and the community that lives in an area. A Homestay combines the comfort and distinction of a boutique hotel with the personal hospitality, informality and local knowledge enjoyed when staying with family friends. A Homestay offers an insight into the culture, traditions, history and everyday life of an Indian family. What’s more, guests get the chance to enjoy authentic Indian food at its very best - home cooked.

 

India is renowned for being incredibly diverse. With literally hundreds of different languages, everything from style of dress to architecture changes from state to state and town to town, a local insight is not just a luxury, it is essential to getting the most out of this extraordinary country. That is what makes a Homestay so ideal for tourists: the sights, smells, tastes and traditions of India are experienced rather than just watched, lived rather than observed. Guests are invited to feel at home and there really is no hospitality like Indian hospitality.

 

 

We focus on Kerala cuisine, with an emphasis on the flavours created by fresh spices.

 

Food is definitely one of the highlights of staying at Manayath Heritage residence. The cuisine is mostly local and cooked by our family. Being a traditional agrarian household, lavish meals are more or less the norm and pretty much a way of life. Meals are served either in the villa or in the family dining room. Self-catering facilities are minimal. The whole family or at least some of us will definitely join with you for the meals. We are glad to cater for any special diets if needed and also provide for vegetarian options too. In fact all meals are discussed with the guests.

 

We also cater for (lunch parties) for non-resident guests but only on a prior arrangement basis. We also offer cooking classes for resident guests who are interested in learning the local cuisine. The cuisine is predominantly Syrian Christian in par with Keralan touch and tradition. Most of our dishes are centered around fish, farm vegetables and fruits, chicken and occasionally other meats, supplemented with rice and rice based local breads like appam, string hoppers, etc. Some of our specialties are mashed tapioca with kerala style fish curry (of course with less chilly!), Home brewed products like Nellikka arishtam (wine prepared with Gooseberry in honey or in jaggery), Passion fruit syrup/squash/wine etc. are always available as an option.

In matters of food, freshness is more important than dressing and presentation. And from the furniture to the towels to the landscaping, our first purpose has been to stay true to the environment, not to provide opulence and gadget-based luxuries. At Manayath Heritage home stay, we have created a variety of ways in which you can get involved. And as you do, we ask you to treat the environment and its extant human cultures with sense and respect.