Green Dreams Farmstay

A farmstay near Kushalanagar in Coorg, Karnataka

In Coorg's pleasant environs is a small and cozy family-run farmstay that embodies the principles of Responsible Tourism. The Green Dreams Farmstay is located in Guddehosur, in the plains of Coorg just 5km from Kushalnagar, a town that has been made famouss by the Tivetan settlement here. Green Dreams is set amidst nature's bounty and faces paddy farms from where the rice you eat at the farmstay is procured! Here the buildings are eco-friendly, the food organic and fresh and the nature divine!

Green Dreams offers five cottage-style rooms that are constructed primarily with bamboo. The cottages are eco-friendly and durable with roofs made of canvas-covered, heat and water-resistant eco-boards that are free of the skin-unfriendly asbestos. The dining and kitchen areas are built with eucalyptus logs as support pillars and thick hay-thatched roofs that keep the temperature in the rooms at comfortable levels.

The farmstay only serves vegetarian food, which is made with entirely locally-sourced and organically-grown vegetables and fruits. As mentioned earlier, even the rice comes from a few metres away! Much of the vegetables like mint, palak, methi, knol khol, brinjal, coriander, curry leaves and ajwain leaves come from the organic kitchen garden at the farmstay. The meals pay homage to Coorg, Malnad and Kerala cuisines. Meals include many unique dishes like chutnies made from bitter oranges and the local joni bella or molasses or liquid jaggery.

Guests can spend many hours exploring the property's grounds, the farms and kitchen garden. Guests can also hire bicycles and explore the local villages and towns like Kushalanagar.

At Green Dreams it is all about slow travel. There are no televisions or loud music here. But there's bird call, hammocks and 'easy chairs'—so relax and enjoy the quiet days.

Price: Rs 5,500 per couple

Read more: http://www.greendreamsholiday.in/

Slow Travel

The cottages and common areas at Green Dreams Farmstay have been built with eco-friendly materials like bamboo. Decor items like table lamps, lampshades and bamboo curtains have been sourced from URAVU, a Wayanad-based organisation that promotes handmade, high-quality bamboo products. It follows many Responsible Tourism practices like using a water management technique called Grey Bed that helps recycle waste water. Only biodegradable utensils are used. It grows much of the produce used for cooking in its organic kitchen garden or sources them locally. Rice comes from the paddy fields opposite the farmstay. The farmstay uses solar energy for heating water and as power backup. The homestay promotes slow travel, by offering bicycles on rent and focusing on nature and neighbourhood activities.