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Host rating
90 %
Last replied
24 Mar 2024
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Details
Description
Greetings!
We are a newly established Coffee Plantation, Homestay [bed and breakfast], and Yoga retreat in the beautiful Western Ghats of Southern India, located 30 minutes from the hill station Madekiri (the largest regional center). The local village of Cherambane is 3km away. Our estate is jointly owned and managed between an Australian family, and an Indian family.
Our main crop is Coffee, but we also grow large amounts of pepper, cardamom, and vanilla. The harvesting season for Coffee is December to March, thus during this time we are very busy picking, drying, and cleaning the coffee. We would LOVE volunteers ESPECIALLY between these months to help out with both the agricultural and house keeping aspects of the estate. At other times of the year there are other estate tasks such as gardening, pruning, and other maintenance tasks associated with growing coffee and pepper in particular.
Our home is beautiful, airy, and light. Its a functional family home for 2 children aged 4 and 8, and their parents. The kids have wonderful energy and would always appreciate extra English lessons, or play mates. We also have 6 happy, friendly, and energetic dogs! They love to go for long walks, and have many balls and frisbees thrown. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, we would also appreciate your help in taking care of the dogs.
We are surrounded by virgin rainforest and coffee plantations (as coffee grows in a rainforest environment, with a lower and upper canopy) it is an excellent base for hiking, mountain biking and sight seeing around Coorg. We have several mountain bikes that can be used for exploring the surrounding areas.
Regular meals are largely Indian, though western tastes can be accommodated with prior notice. If you enjoy cooking, you are more than welcome to share in meal preparation for the family!
Please Note: As this is a family home, and yoga retreat, we do not accept smoking or drinking on the premises. We place great importance on happy, healthy, active lifestyles and hope to attract guests and volunteers of a similar disposition. We have our own estate website which we will share with you, if we find that our match is mutual.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
Farmstay help
Help with Eco Projects
Help around the house
Animal Care
Hospitality/Tourism
Language practice
Teaching
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Unskilled in these areas is OK! (You will learn the skills needed) - Please note that we prefer volunteers who can stay MINIMUM 2-3 weeks, as in this way we can get to know each other and you can fully participate in regular routines and projects. SOME of the help required can be physically demanding - a reasonable level of fitness is required - much of it is outdoors, which can [depending on the time of year] can be hot, dry, wet, and at times uncomfortable. Obviously if you have a physical limitation, such as a bad back, you would be best to either opt for another work-away option, or let us know about it when you make contact with us. We want you to enjoy the experience, so we would like to know that you're fit and healthy when you apply to come to us. Please note that this is a working coffee plantation, so tasks can be dirty, hot and manual [working with your hands!]
Agricultural work
-Coffee picking (December - March)
-Coffee drying (January - April)
-Coffee cleaning (February - April)
-Assisting with pruning (April - May)
-Assisting with manuring (May-August)
-Assisting with weeding (May - November)
-Assisting with planting (September)
-Assisting with domestic garden work (Year round)
Household work
-Assisting with house hold cleaning
-Assisting with kitchen duties
-Periodic maintenance (e.g painting... plumbing if you have the skills... basic repair work)
-Landscaping and light garden work in the immediate vicinity of the house;
DOGS!
-Walking the dogs
-Washing the dogs
-Playing with the dogs, especially throwing balls and frisbees
-Feeding the dogs twice daily
-Replenishing water in the water bowls
-Brushing the dogs
-Loving them, and lots of cuddles
The working day starts at 6:30 am starting with a dog walk! You will have breaks throughout the day, with 3 meals included. The work can be hard at times, and tiring, [even dirty!] though it is enjoyable and possible for both girls, and boys to do! We only ask that you are honest, have a positive attitude, and a good sense of humour.
- You will have one day off a week :)
- You will have a better experience staying for a min. 2 to 3 weeks - to fully share in projects and routines.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Hindi: Fluent
Tamil: Fluent
Accommodation
You will have your own private room at the side of the house, with a separate private bathroom which is equipped with an indian toilet and shower. (You can use the western toilet off the dining room if you prefer) Full bedding with warm blankets for the cooler months are provided, and there are two double beds in the room.
Please understand it is not luxury accommodation, and power cuts in India are a regular occurrence. Have patience, and enjoy candle light dinners :D
What else ...
Our home is 3kms from the nearest village, is very quiet and tranquil, the local roads around the estate are only used by local farmers and others, so are peaceful and pleasant to either walk or cycle along. Regarding work hours, these can be early starts, but the total hours may be spread across the day. Tuesday is "market day" so this will be a "day off" but the other day may be negotiated with us as needs be.
You will need to know that you will not have internet access immediately at our homestay. Our location is quite remote [in terms of 21st century communications technology!]. Internet facilities [internet cafes, etc] can be accessed in Madekiri, which is 30kms from the estate. We generally go to Madekiri minimum of once a week, maybe more. There are also very regular buses within a 1km walk from the estate, to take you to Madekiri - about 30 minutes drive away.
PERHAPS OUR PLACE IS NOT FOR YOU IF YOU CAN'T DO WITHOUT YOUR VIRTUAL SOCIAL NETWORK .... OUR PLACE IS NOT FOR YOUR IF YOU WANT TO EITHER "PARTY" OR HAVE MUCH OF A SOCIAL LIFE ... WE ARE REMOTE.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A WORKING COFFEE ESTATE AND IT ISN'T A RESORT ... THE NATURE OF THE WORK CAN BE BUSY, CAN BE DIRTY, AT TIMES UNCOMFORTABLE AND DEMANDING .... PLEASE DON'T APPLY TO US IF YOU ARE NOT PREPARED FOR SOME HARD WORK ....
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Depends on the amount of work we have at the time - max 25 hour
Feedback (13)
From day 1, Ravi challenged me both mentally and physically, but this was what I was looking for. Potential volunteers should note that the profile does… read more
I appreciate being in contact with Peter before I came there. I also appreciate cosy accomodation and Mamatha's heavenly meals, included coffee and tea.
Working on… read more
Feedback
From day 1, Ravi challenged me both mentally and physically, but this was what I was looking for. Potential volunteers should note that the profile does… read more
I appreciate being in contact with Peter before I came there. I also appreciate cosy accomodation and Mamatha's heavenly meals, included coffee and tea.
Working on… read more
It was our first experience here and we couldn’t have asked for a better stay. We spent two weeks there with Ravi and his lovely family. At the beginning, the work that we had to do seemed a bit hard but we got used to it after… read more
Ravi is a good host and as eager to learn about British culture as I was to know about Indian. The house is nice and spacious and I got my… read more
I was there for 2 and a half weeks in the middle of… read more
