December 24th Thekkady to The Beach at Pollethai

We set out at 9.00am for the journey back to the coast. Bethan had her third Lemony Snickert story tape to listen to and John and I were more than happy to look out of the window at the passing scenery. The journey passed without incident with only a couple of near death experiences involving overtaking buses on hairpin bends!

More tea plantations on the way back to the coast

As we gradually descended the Western Ghats on our way towards the coast the tea plantations were replaced by rubber and pineapple plantations and then finally coconut groves and backwaters. The Beach at Pollethai is actually about 10 km past Alleppy close to the Mararai Beach Resort. Mr Ravishankar, our travel agent, had informed us although the Mararai Beach Resort was full over Christmas he had found “a suitable alternative” for us. We had seen the website http://www.oldcourtyard.com/ and read a couple of very positive reviews on Tripadvisor but the reality far exceeded all our expectations.

The entrance to the property, a stone and whitewashed wall with an arched door, gives little indication of what lies beyond. There is a very spacious open plan reception area behind the wall and then via a small wooden footbridge over a canal, a few minute’s walk away through sandy lawns and palm trees, are the cottages. The resort is still being developed and only about four of the planned eight cottages are currently in operation. We were met by Andy, the English/Cypriot manager who showed us around and made us feel very welcome.

Our cottage

Our cottage is probably the nicest place we have ever stayed. It’s a converted fisherman’s cottage and I’m sure a great deal more luxurious now than it ever was in the past. We have a small entrance room or hall which has doors to both the front door and the door to our terrace. The hall leads to the main room which is large with a lovely high ceiling. This has two beds, a huge wooden wardrobe and a beautiful writing desk. The main room leads to a smaller dressing room and then on to the bathroom.

The bathroom

The Bedroom

From our balcony we overlook a canal and beyond that, through the trees, we can just see the sea. Bethan’s bed was originally in the main room but she decided that she’d rather have to her own room so we moved her bed though to the entrance hall.