Gramam Homestay is a great place if you want to be away from the hustle and bustle of Fort Kochi. The cottage is separate from Jos’s house and all located in a coconut grove. Our flight arrived at 4.00a.m. and we were picked up as arranged with Jos by email with no problems. We didn’t realise that the dawn chorus in a coconut grove could be so loud but that is what you get in such a location. Mosquitoes’ can be a problem but as a precaution we put a repellent lotion on each night. The cottage is well equipped with a very large bedroom, bathroom/toilet with a half roof and a kitchen if we wanted to cater for ourselves. Wifi reception in the cottage is not good but was fine at the main house. Jos and his wife supplied a good Kerala breakfast and he arranged a sunset boat ride which was quiet and romantic. We stayed three days and were very happy there.

The only thing to consider is it is about 10km from Fort Kochi and if you should be aware that transport cost will add to your expense, particularly if you return at night time (double charge!) and not all taxi drivers can find the location. Make sure you can direct them if necessary.

Booking our stay via email from England was simple but trying to pay a deposit through paypal was impossible due to Indian government currency restrictions, however to our relief Jos honoured the booking without a deposit.

We would certainly recommend it to our friends and family.

to get the most out of this location, stay put and enjoy! the breakfast is a major plus point and the family friendly and helpful. the sunset trip worth it but the prawn farm visit is less to rave about.
only word of caution is if going into fort cochin for the day to take note of gramam's location/surrounding. its not that easy to find esp in the dark! (after the bridge, its on the lane on the right after the church and temple)
also, be prepared for mosquitos.

We stayed at Gramam homestay for the first 2 nights of our trip to India. We had a stunning family room (travelling with children aged9 and 5) in a coconut grove. The bathroom was an outside room- lovely to shower under the stars! The room was beautifully decorated and clean, and a perfect place to settle in after a long flight. There is a lovely veranda with comfy chairs overlooking the backwater- perfect to watch the local fishermen (and great hammock). This is a quite homestay where you can relax, but it is close enough to Fort Cochin to travel in and sight see. Jos was the perfect host. He also arranged the rest of our India trip for us. He is organised, honest and professional. He arranged the most incredible places for us to stay, a driver for 15 days, and several excursions. All of which were perfect. Highly recommended. We would definitely stay with Jos again and would ask him to organise future trips for us.

We have just returned from a 2 week tour of Kerala which was quite amazing. I had originally contact Jos regarding a stay at Gramman Homestay and having read all the reviews about his organisational capabilities, decided to ask Jos to co-ordinate the logistics of our tour. We had a few problems initially trying to make payment (but I think that was down to the failings of Barclays Bank) but everything else went extremely smoothly. Jos arranged all of our accommodation, transfers and driver. (our driver was Sajeev who was fantastic). Jos' organisation of our tour was faultless and I would recommend him very highly to anyone who is visiting Kerala