The Western Ghats offers some of the best circuits for cycling and we are lucky enough to have the most exciting cycling trails available close to Beaumont Plantation Retreat, Chellarkovil in Thekkady. Cycling in Thekkady has been a very interesting holiday experience for many who have been to our place; the tracks are mostly green close to nature through the country side, check dams, border belts and through different plantation. We primarily have three main cycling routes close to us. The Border Track, Cardamom track and Country side track. All three are very much distinct from the other. Just more than riding through these wonderful trail, we ensure you see and experience something differ

It has been some time that we decided, a Visit to Cumbam from Thekkady .There is an element of excitement visiting Cumbam because we have been seeing Cumbam valley every day from our viewpoint at Beaumont Plantation Retreat. Cumbam is valley consist of mostly large farmlands of paddy, vegetables, grape vineyards, Mango and pomegranate farms. Just twenty kilometers downhill is Cumbam, we drive past Thekkady, cross the border and move to Tamil Nadu. As we reach the downhill, there is a drastic change in the climate, the temperature rose just more than thirty degree Celsius, we literally started to sweat. The roads are very much straight and well tarred. We If looked carefully we could see thes

We are talking about the amazing views of the plains of the Cumbam valley in Tamil Nadu from Beaumont Plantation Retreat in Chellarkovil Thekkady. Beaumont is a small seven room guest house located atop the hill almost on a cliff close to the clouds. Along with these views, one could spot the Aruvikuzhi waterfalls from Beaumont Plantation Retreat. Beaumont could be listed among the properties that have the most amazing views in Thekkady. The photographs stand testimony for the statement “The property with the Best View in Thekkady ” At Chellarkovil, there runs a border belt road, which is a really nice place for hikes and local village experiences. Along with these views comes the freshness

The highland of Kerala within the Western Ghats is home to cash crops like Coffee, Pepper, Cardamom and Tea. It is the weather that acts as a catalyst for the growth of these cash crops, of which Idukki is the most prominent hill district, the top producer of these crops. The coffee used to help in financial stability for the farmers. Even though there was a drop in prices of Coffee, its slowly gained back in due course of time. We mostly have four different categories of coffee in Idukki considering the climate and the soil. They are Arabica, Robusta, CXR, and Mettu Kappi. Of these Arabica and Robust is more favorite for farmers because of its quality and taste. CXR is a hybrid developed fr

This time am back with a story about something that we citizens of Idukki see every day. Yes it the “Mechil Pullu” that you often see in Whestern Ghats. At least for me these long grasses were just unwanted weeds that we hurt you when touched or rubbed when walking through them. It was our gardner “Jose chettan” who altogether gave us a very different perspective about these long grasses. Ancestors of Idukki have their lot of stories about these “Mechil” Grasses, stories about how these long grasses helped them to cover up rooftops preventing them from rains, fogs and mist. Lot of the men here used to find a good source of income selling these Elephant grasses. Long before tiled and concrete

Thekkady is one of the most loved destinations to many who visit Kerala. For most of them it is just a one night stay during which they visit the Periyar National Park and do the common boat ride through the park reservoir, lot of them go for the Elephant ride and Spice plantation tours, and some of them visit the local theatres to witness Kalaripayattu and Kathakali art performances. Here is a brief idea about the top things to do in Thekkady. Like most people have a misconception the Periyar National Park is not about just a boat ride of 1.5 hours along with 70 others, where the most luckiest would get to see a small herd of Elephant and never a tiger 😉 Tigers don’t come to the banks for

It was very recent we thought of painting the rack where we used to keep all our books. I myself did the whole painting and while was taking off the books to empty the rack, I thought I should write a blog post about how we got this small library developed from just a bundle of few books. The first book we had hear at Beaumont was a book one of our guests forgot to take back. We contact her and informed that she missed to take her book, for which she told us that she intentionally left it back as she had finished the book and told us to keep it with us.. We kept it here in the front desk for some time, until the day when one of our guests asked for that book to read. She stayed with us for t

Idukki as you know if known for its hill cultivations and spices, most of these cultivations were ventured by people who came to Idukki from the districts of Kottayam and Allapuzha. Men ventured into the forests paving way for agriculture. The initial days were very turbulent and harsh, most of them used to stay in tree huts. It was Yam, Tapioca were the initial crops cultivated, mostly required for the survival. Even the government encouraged people to move to the hills as there was limited land in the plains. As years passed by these lands occupied by the Men were given to them in paper, what we call as “Pattayam” in the local language of Malayalam. Then came up the trend of Sugar cane cul

As most people have heard, the hill district of Idukki is famous for its cardamom and pepper cultivations. These spices, especially Cardamom have brought in a state of financial stability for the planters and farmers here. Unlike other cultivations, cardamom very much depended on personal care of the plant. Farmers say, even a touch on the plant will bring in more yield. The more you care and protect the plant, the more it yields the crop. The reason why cardamom plantations came into prominence is because of the fungal attacks on other cash crops had to suffer. Cardamom as a crop has never put down a farmer, there have been many instances where there have been drastic price fluctuations, bu

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear about Jackfruit is a moment of nostalgia, or I glance back to my childhood, the day when Jackfruit preparations when a common sight at my home kitchen. Around seventy years back when my grandfather got into the hills of Idukki to settle down here and start agriculture, it was the Jackfruits and Tapioca that was all there to eat. I still remember him telling us about the distinct goodness of this wonder fruit. Jack fruit trees were everywhere in Idukki; it was never a rare tree. Since it was abundantly available, we never cared about this fruit or the goodness of it. It always like that, you never know the value of something that you already h

It was an afternoon during the Monsoon month of June that me and Josin plan to head to Ramakkalmedu, a quaint hamlet in the Western Ghats of Kerala. Ramakkalmedu is just another seventeen Kilometers from our place, Beaumont Plantation Retreat. Just before we reached Ramakkkalmedu, we could see the tall windmills atop the mountains adjacent to Ramakkalmedu. We availed a five rupee ticket just before we headed to the giant statue of Kuruvan and Kuruthi along with their son. Kuruvan and Kuruthi were the aborigines of Idukki district. As we reached top close to the statue of Kuruvan and Kuruthi, we could have panoramic views of the valley of Tamil Nadu until the horizon. The constant, steady win

It was here in this part of the Western Ghats in Idukki, Kerala where the first wild cardamom plants were found in India, which was later reintroduced as a cash crop. Cardamom often referred to as the queen of spice is grown widely by planters in Idukki. Its cultivation is very popular that even small households have their share of farming, though on a smaller scale. In olden days the yield was harvested and was sold to local traders who took them to larger traders or exporters, who eventually exported it around the world. It was some years back the Spices Board of India introduced the Cardamom auction center at Puttady, a few kilometers from our place. At Puttady, the cardamom auctioning ce