We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Marari Austin Beach Villa and I know that one day, hopefully soon, we will return. So Jasmine, you and the family will be making more pots of delicious Munar tea again - I can assure you a thoroughly superior brew.
We were so well looked by Austine and his lovely family. The Villa is down a lane inaccessible to cars and this means that there is a lovely feeling of seclusion. Don't worry though because someone will help you with your bags.
The accommodation was clean and very spacious, we especially enjoyed having the balcony to ourselves to enjoy the sunset view. Each morning we were served a hearty breakfast at a time of our choosing. I can recommend the evening meals - especially the prawns and the fish - all at very reasonable prices.
The beach is very clean and quiet: it was easy to secure some sun beds for the duration of the stay. This is a lovely place to stay and relax after visiting the more hectic Indian places. Thoroughly recommended, The Williams Family.

The second homestay we've stayed at in Cochin so not loads to go on. Our first was really clean, had strong AC, TV and tea making facilities. Those are the weak points at Austin's – the AC is high up in the room and only seems to kick in in the night which to be fair is when we need it most. No TV or tea making. If we needed water we bought refrigerated bottles at 40p from Austin. They also made us the lovely tea we got in the morning later in the day too if we wanted.

The place was clean enough (and good for Indian standards) but not spotless. Would have benefitted from the lovely big windows being cleaned so you could see the amazing view better from inside the room.

The fast internet which we didn't have at our previous homestay was really welcome and we were able to watch Netflix with the kids in the evening.

Austin and his family are friendly and really lovely (hence the 5 star review) and will do anything for you. When searching around we found we were paying about 1000 rupees per night more for the sea view which none of the surrounding Homestays seemed to have. This included beds on the floor for our two boys (8 and 11). It made a special difference and was well worth it. There was a nice spacious balcony with views of the sea and the homestay garden below and it was really pleasant to sit out at.

Breakfast is brought to the table on the balcony outside your room and consisted of toast with coconut oil, jam, omelette, a pot of chai and a glass of mango juice. Perfect.

Go to Neena next door for lunch and evening meals. It's best to order the food a couple of hours or earlier in the day so they know how much water and fresh fish (straight off the boat) they'll need for you. As Neena is a homestay too there aren't any reviews for it as a cafe unfortunately. We found it a lot better than the places further up the beach which were good, but just not as special and homely. 690 rupees for 5 different vegetable curries, 2 fish curries, rice, bananas and water is the cheapest meal we've had so far in Kerala.

Austin's brother has a modern Tuk Tuk and drove us to Allepey and back for a boat trip (1400 rupees there and back, it's a fair way). He also organised a driver and car for our long trip to the Western Ghats at the end of our stay.

We stayed for 3 nights and wish it had been a day or two longer. We'd highly recommend people to stay at Austin's, especially families. Really hope to be back.