My husband and I usually prefer to go to a resort or an outdoor place on our birthdays or wedding day as we got tired of routine cake cuttings and parties
We looked out for places for one day visit and happened to see a video on Life at Prakasham farm stay owned by the famous versatile actor Prakash Raj, he has two more resorts, Prakasham by the sea in Chennai and Prakasham by the river in Mysore, I thought what a wise way to invest, this farm stay was apparently started by him during Covid time.
We booked a room and sent money through Whatsapp message, there is no provision for online booking
We started off in the morning at 9 am in our car, the resort was around 60 km from our house at Kammadhanam in Veljerla , Shadnagar
As it is a national highway the roads were very good and we made good time, after Shadnagar we turned left onto Kammadhanam cross roads from where the resort was only 6 km,
It was situated beyond the Kammadhanam reserve forest where the Nehru Zoological park is rumored to be shifting in future
We came to the entrance gate, both sides of which statues of two peacocks welcomed us, security cleared us quickly and took us to the reception area, we parked our car near our room which was very convenient
The check in time was after 12 noon and we reached half an hour early but were allowed to check into the room, the Zen Den which was actually a container room, it was furnished with a queen bed and AC, there were clean pillow covers and bed sheets with a chair,
I found that the wash room was not very clean, it had some fallen leaves and remnants of some insect carcasses, there were 2 water bottles kept along with soap and towel , there was no television and the wifi is provided only at the restaurant area ,walls were shaded and looked like mud walls
There was an interesting instruction sheet placed on a small desk and few Egyptian wall mounted pictures ,I really wished I could have met the manager to tell him that it is bear with us and not bare with us ,my childhood Wren and Martin knowledge refuses to leave my brain ,LOL!
What I particularly liked was that we had a private porch outside our room, it had a mini pond and had steps built around it, I made full use of it while we were there
We then went out to look around the resort which is a luxury homestay built by artisans of Pondicherry, I could see the artistic touch everywhere including the rooms, sitting areas and the gardens
We found hundreds of mango trees and flowering plants mostly hibiscus in varying colors, I truly wished that I had come when the trees had mangos
We also could see that resort had ongoing organic farming with lot of long and lush beds of green leafy vegetables, there were sapota , pomegranate and lemon trees, the ambiance was totally serene and peaceful .
The accommodation provided were of different types ranging from luxurious rooms to simple village type of rooms where lot of family members can gather for destination functions
It is also pet friendly, has plenty of green lawns for these little ones to romp around
There was a large swimming pool which is said to be cleaned regularly with natural salts and not chlorine, I found interesting designs on the changing rooms, it had many sitting areas scattered around it
We found a large pond filled with pretty lotus flowers, there were plenty of spaces created to simply sit and be quiet, I thought it was perfect to escape into oneself and introspect
There we saw the Executive pond room perched on the Ponderer’s room, it offered a private mini-terrace that opens up to breath taking views of the serene pond. Any one staying in those rooms would surely be woken up early by the beautiful tweets of the birds.
There was an open air solar amphi-theatre with a projector which could be used for musical nights, birthday parties or any other occasions and an indoor auditorium which was multi levelled and had large blocks of stones arranged on the floor in a natural way ,it could accommodate up to 150-200 people
I found a huge ceiling fan whirling away busily, as I cannot tolerate anyone wasting either water or electricity, I alerted a worker going by ,he blithely said the switch for that fan was not working , Alas!
We saw Arna & Alba two private cottages which had attached bathrooms open to the sky, there were sit-outs and were surrounded by plants and trees
Austra we found was a unique unit of four independent rooms, two were on the ground floor and two on the first floor, these provided both privacy and togetherness for people who come as couples or as family members
Austra had a common sit-out area with a beautiful view, here one could sit and play games or sit alone and read a book savouring a hot cup of coffee or tea
We also saw 4 cute Zen rooms the Jade, Azure, Arki and Ivy, each was in a repurposed shipping container, they had an indoor sitting space, an open-air bathroom, air-conditioned bedroom with an extended window-ledge space fitted with an extra queen size mattress to be used as a sitting area or extra sleeping space when kids accompany a family
There was a cheaper option the Hive rooms, which were two-tiered structures, the lower room featured a ceiling adorned with aesthetically embedded mud pots arranged in a honeycomb fashion and had an open bathroom and mango tree views and the upper room had forest vistas,
I liked the village house the best, it had a rural charm, it’s architecture reminded us of a rural housing and community living.
Rooms were clustered around a courtyard and simulated a simple village home set up, the roof had a woven design with the sun drawing a pretty intricate tapestry design on the floor and the walls
There were very catchy quotes written around the gardens which I really liked
Our stomachs probably feeling neglected began to growl loudly and we realized it was time for lunch, there were sign boards leading to the open air restaurant which was partly covered to sit in case it rained ,timings of the restaurant was displayed on a board
Lunch was a buffet with salad ,there were rotis ,2 veg curries ,2 non veg curries, biryani rice ,white rice ,dhal , sambhar and curd with papad ,food was not spicy and was good and filling
The wash basins were interestingly made from huge drums, this was the specialty I noticed in the resort, things sold in seconds sales probably were very skillfully used to decorate the premises in a very artistic manner, the whole impact was stunning
All the living spaces were built in such a way that they were surrounded by trees with meandering paths on both sides of which flowering plants stood guard of honor , urlis were arranged in plenty of places and were filled with flowers and some had small plants ,even the rest rooms were done decoratively
After lunch my hubby wanted to relax and have a siesta while I sat on the steps of our porch, pondering over my non- existent worries, chilling with old melodies and occasionally reading my book, basically I was enjoying my elusive me time
At 4 pm I woke up my husband to go out for tea as the resort was strictly a no room service zone ,we found out that the trickling taps had dried up ,we caught hold of a staff member and found to our surprise that a can of water had been placed on our doorstep , he said the water sump motor had failed and it may take some time to get water in the wash room, I asked him if there was a well where I could draw some water from ,my long suffering hubby glared at me for joking at such a crucial time
We tried to find if the manager was available but it being a Saturday we couldn’t contact him, the team of workers were all from Orissa, they were so efficient and humble that we decided to bear with the inconvenience
We had hot tea at the restaurant with some crispy pakoda and again strolled around, I felt that the resort was very well planned and an artistic hand was surely behind all the adornments surprisingly only around 10 to 12 staff members could be seen along with few helpers who were sweeping and cleaning the premises, there were staff quarters and workshops maybe for minor repairs
The resort abounded with trees, flowering plants and expansive lawns and I wondered whether it was intentionally not spruced up and spic and span, maybe the rustic look was being enforced by the owners, to me the resort was like a lazy beautiful bride who refused to dress up elaborately when guests turn up to see her for a match
A large group with kids would enjoy happily in the resort because children had plenty of play areas with slides, swings and a trampoline with a cute little low leveled tree house to keep them occupied, I saw a small kid refusing to get down from the tree house and wanted to sleep there for the night, finally its mother coaxed her to step down saying bears would come to give it company in the night
The adults could enjoy tennis, cricket and table tennis, bike around and basically chill out on hammocks laid here and there
There was an artificial wall adjoining the restaurant
We eventually saw a macchan and went up to experience the sun set ,it was in two levels with readymade frames to celebrate special occasions like birthdays
There were chairs to sit and relax ,we spent almost 2 hours there , the only jarring sound which marred the peaceful silence was emanating from the huge wind mill near the machhan
Sitting at that height we felt as if we were literally on top of the mango trees, as the sun started to set we suddenly heard the screeching of peacocks, my hubby has an eye for them but I always miss sighting the pretty creatures, they were plenty all around us and were having probably an important zoom meeting with one another, I presumed that they were guests from the adjoining forest reserve area.
Under the macchan , there was a room quaintly named the burrow, it was well furnished though a little small
The restaurant area had an adjoining library which contained few books in different languages, on the walls hung framed pictures of various actors
We wanted to play carom but there was no striker and the snooker table had the cue missing and some of the covers were torn, so balls fell out when we played, there was a cute meditating frog
In no time we were called to another restaurant by the pond for hot Chinese starters, there was a bar counter with very catchy quotes and there were multiple sitting areas
On the day we went there were very few guests so there was no hurrying up or queuing up involved, we sat and slowly savored the food items, we could see the bright stars in the sky and an occasional flight slowly flying by
There was a sand pit arranged for a bon fire, it was not lit as we had only 4 or 5 groups that day
By now the lights were getting switched on and the whole resort was lit up albeit discretely, even the swimming pool was alight, Dinner was at in the main restaurant and was again hot and delicious, spices were just optimal though we couldn’t appreciate the non- vegetarian items as it was a Saturday a vegetarian day for us
We had a fitful sleep and went for a morning walk, there was an area marked private and we presumed it must be the holiday home of Mr Prakash Raj who occasionally comes here
There was a wooden ship very apt for photo opportunity, I went up the steps to see the deck and found it filled with rain water
We returned to our room to have a refreshing bath and found to our horror that there was no running water still in the wash room, on enquiring we came to know that the water sump was yet to be repaired, our instantaneous reaction was to immediately check out and go home but the resort workers brought buckets of piping hot water and cold water, the peaceful environment in the resort and services of the humble workers cooled our tempers which in other circumstances would have erupted out like a volcano
We packed and got ready to check out which is at 10 am and went for the breakfast there were hot idli , vada , upma and omelets , there was a live counter serving dosa , we had hot coffee , checked out by 9.30 am and left the resort
Though there was some inconvenience in the basic amenities, the calm mahol, tasty food and peaceful stay in the tasteful green resort charged our batteries and deleted the tension and toxicity, we came back home refreshed in mind and body, while we were driving back home my husband asked me jokingly whether I would like to come back to the resort ,I said of course I would, this time in a bigger group with family and friends and fully enjoy all the facilities in the resort
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