| Spice Village curling around a misty ridge 2,000 ft high in the Periyar fastness, we found an arborarium, one man's personal forest,
with fruit trees, rare herbs and a profusion of flowering plants. And
here, we set out to build a resort. A village, produced whole, using
mountain spirit and tribal wisdom as building material. Your cottage is
brick and log, the roof thatched with the same elephant grass used in
tribal huts, woven in the same traditional techniques.The comforts of a
modern hotel exist, but they never intrude. Modern plumbing, comfortable
beds and hot showers find their place, but in a setting stripped down to
its natural essence. Hewn stone replaces shag carpets. Birdsong takes
the place of television. |
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At Spice Village, its easy to think that you're in
the middle of wild nature. Not so. These trees were born out of one
man's passion. His name was A. W. Woods. An Anglo-Indian, he worked for
the Government of the British Raj in the 1930s. Woods was a remarkable
man, nearly illiterate, given charge of the forests solely on the basis
of his passion for nature and his love and understanding of the local
Ooralie culture. Woods also had the greenest of thumbs. And on the
grounds surrounding his home (now the Woodhouse Bar), he created a
remarkable arborarium. You can still take a deck chair out to his
verandah, sip (what else?) a gin-and-tonic and say hello to its
denizens. |
| A kingfisher dives low out of a clear blue sky,
hunting vainly for its fish lunch. Bees hum around teak trees, and
Colombian coffee bushes. Guinea fowls and ducks chatter about (amazingly
tame, because they're used to guests.) Bamboos burst in tilting spires.
Cascades of trumpet flowers, pepper vines and honeysuckle wash down the
hillsides. And everywhere, the structures of Spice Village peep out of
the woods, as if growing naturally from the surroundings. |
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Accommodation
52 individual, tribal-styled thatch-roof cottages with verandahs (with,
we hasten to add, modern plumbing, solar-powered hot water and
contemporary furnishings). |
| Standard Villas: these are suite
accommodations, with living rooms, a bedroom and a private garden,
complete with your own park bench. |
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Deluxe Villas: cozy huts tucked away between
fruit trees, herb beds and 50 year-old timbers from the arborarium laid
down by A. W. Woods. |
| A typical guest room. No pile carpets, no television,
just silence, simplicity and plain comfort.There is little space at
Spice Village for opulence. And none at all for pretentiousness. |
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On the table is a selection of the Spices that give
the Village its name (you'll get some to take home as a little gift from
us). Each cottage overlooks its own patch of green, covered with
individually labelled bushes and trees, labelled with their names.The
group of Fern palms are prehistoric relics, with relatives only in
Africa and Australia. One such Fern palm(Cycas circinalis) on Spice
Village grounds. |
| At Spice Village, our understanding came first and
foremost from the tribal people of the Cardamom Hills. Over millennia,
they had perfected a gentle codependence, an almost spiritual harmony
with the works of nature, All we needed to do was uncover these ancient
wisdoms and put them to work. The self sustaining fish pond was the
first. It was created with the Village itself, an excavation left over
from construction. In most cases it would have been paved over and
forgotten. We found it filling up naturally with groundwater. At Spice
Village (as indeed at most cgh properties), nature herself provides the
protection. |
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Neem and lemon grass oils are marvelous,
biodegradable pesticides, and the sprayer you'll hear most afternoons is
actually helping the ecology, not harming it. Little clay pots dotted
about the grounds provide natural mosquito control, as does the camphor
burner in your room and the incenser we use in the afternoons. It burns
Black Damur, a powerful tree resin that insects hate.. Even the strings
of aloe vera plants hanging from the thatch serve a purpose, keeping
flying pests away from the dining areas.The life of Spice Village is
inextricably tied to the hill culture. For the tribals, this is not a
hotel, but a source of employment, a place where they can get better
rates for their spice harvest. They are also the mainstay of our organic
garden, putting spanking fresh produce on the table each day. |
| Pack a picnic lunch at the hotel, take one of our
naturalists in tow, and you're ready for an adventurous and instructive
day at the Periyar reserve.We've got treks, ranging from a leisurely
half-day stroll, to an overnight jungle halt where you can experience
the rain forest up close and personal.You can visit a tribal village,
for a first-hand experience of a way of life that's fast vanishing from
the modern world. Today, these indigenous peoples still carry on their
age old practices of herding and bee-keeping in perfect harmony with the
environment. A Spice,Tea plantation is a pleasant days outing from the
hotel, to learn how spices cultivated and Tea bushes picked. Depending
on the season, there are other adventures activities like fishing and
river rafting too. |
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Mealtimes at Spice Village are an unhurried affair.
In fact, we urge you to dawdle. Eat too quickly, and you miss the subtle
nuances that spices take on when they're absolutely fresh. Rush through
your meal and you give yourself no chance to enjoy the amiable
atmosphere that's common to all our dining areas.There are three of
these. Choose from the rustic wooden tables in the dining hall proper,
or take a heaped plate out to the long verandah and enjoy your meal al
fresco, watching the kingfishers flit around the swimming pool. The
warmth of a century ago: the historic Tiffin Room has beautiful old
furniture that we resurrected from a 100 year old restaurant, in the
area. Besides these. literally, is the historic Tiffin Room, where light
snacks are served all day. The rosewood chairs and tables here are
restored antiques, from a 100-year old restaurant in the next valley
that sadly closed its doors in 1995. |
Spice Village's popular cookery classes for guests
are also conducted here, most evenings, and you can pick up some tips
while chef Velayuthan unveils a few (but only a few) of his
secrets.Lunch is an unhurried affair at the long verandah. You can enjoy
a fine tribal fish curry al fresco, accompanied with some ayurvedic
herbal water (great for the digestion) or a nice cold beer (ditto),
surrounded by tropical lushness and spice- scented breezes wafting in
from the forests.
We focus on Kerala cuisine, with an emphasis on the flavours created by
fresh spices.
Chef Velayuthan might also serve up some of his special
tribal-influenced curries.
A fine selection of continental/western style dishes is also on offer. |
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A W Woods' former residence is an appropriate spot
for a long, ruminating evening, with a scotch-and-water to assist the
thought processes. Woods himself was a great patron of the spirits
during his sojourn here, so we believe he would have approved. One side
of the bar is given over to Billiards and memories. Rare hunting
photographs jostle for space with conservation documents and pictures of
royalty. Staring at the walls can be almost as much fun as playing. |
Facilities
Swimming pool. Badminton. Billiards at the Woodhouse Bar.
Tennis.
Ayurveda.
Yoga and meditation center.
The bullock cart ride here is a rehabilitation programme we've started
along with the local authorities for just this purpose. |
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Spice Village and the Periyar area in general, offer
an amazing diversity of rare flora.One of our Naturalists will be happy
to guide you personally about as you explore it all. From top left,
clockwise: a fern palm, Dendrobium, Crotalaria and the flowers of the
pagoda tree. |
| Spice offers a holiday for the inner you as well.
With healing and rejuvenation therapies combining ayurvedic massage and
yoga.We've got qualified ayurvedic doctors who'll guide you through a
regimen of massages and herbal baths guaranteed to give you new verve
and vigour.An air of mental peace and inner harmony is a necessary part
of the therapeutic process. The massage and therapy rooms overlook a
lush, yet secluded garden, fostering calm and filling the room with
aromatic scents. |
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