Baby and Rani felt immediately like family at their most inviting and comfortable plantation home. I was travelling alone and wanted to stay in their tent room which turned out to be perfect for me and the beautiful red bathroom with a tree in the shower under open skies couldn't be better. One thing that stood out besides the fabulous... More

Spent three nights here. Had an amazing room with private balcony. Baby Mathew organized wonderful activities for us. Lucky to be there when temple festival in full swing - incredible dancing and elephants wearing gold. Had a walk to rock pool - not easy under foot but worth the effort. Also saw elephant at work, moving enormous tree trunk down... More

We absolutely loved our stay with Baby and Rani, they made us feel so welcome. Rani is the best cook in the whole of India. We had 3 fantastic meals a day and in between little snacks or freshly squeezed lime juice. My husband was happy because Baby kept a supply of beers in the fridge. We met some interesting... More

A very special place to stay where the host, Baby Matthew, and his charming wife, Rani, make you feel most welcome. A plantation bungalow style house built by Baby Matthew's father gives spacious and comfortable accommodation. We enjoyed the stimulation of like-minded travellers around the long dining table. Rani is an amazing cook and creates a varied repertoire of delicious... More

We had a wonderful stay at the Vanilla County Plantation. We were greetedwith a warm welcome when we finally made it to them in the evening. To make better use of the great place make sure you get there in afternoon! We got served a home cooked meal and then had the chance to sit together with all the other... More

We stayed with Baby Mathew and Rani last week on what has been a wonderful tour round Kerala. Vanilla County was definitely the highlight. It was my birthday and Baby and Rani pulled out all the stops, cake, balloons, flowers. The house was full and mealtimes were a real pleasure not just for the wonderful food but also for the... More

Vanilla County is a wonderful retreat from the hot and busy areas of Kerala. The food is exceptionally good and there is an extensive library to read up on the wild life of Kerela. We had an interesting tour of the spice and wood species on the rubber plantation and afterwards lounged in the hammocks in the leafy garden.

We stayed with Baby Matthew and Rani last October and would thoroughly recommend this homestay to anyone visiting Kerala. Learning about how the plantations work was just wonderful. We even got to see a working elephant in action. Maju gave us a fantastic tour of the plantation and we got to go to a toddy shop, an absolute must do.... More

A rustic homestead with a beautiful garden on a spice and rubber plantation. We were greeted on arrival by the host Babi Mathew, who showed us around and made us tea. We had a twin room on the ground floor, which was somewhat dark but cool and clean. His wife took us for an interesting walk around the spice garden,... More