The cottages

Friday’s Place is a stunning getaway on the Neyyar backwater at Poovar, Southern Kerala. Just four eco-friendly, beautifully crafted teak and mahogany cottages set in an acre of palm garden, secluded, private and quiet.

The “Crusoe” cottages

Near the river bank there are three double bedded “Crusoe” cottages. Each cottage is on its own little island with a natural garden of palm, bougainvillea and tropical fruit trees interplanted with jasmine and flowering shrubs. The cottages are thatched with palm leaf and raised above the ground on granite steddle stones. This ensures exceedingly good ventilation which keeps the cottages remarkably cool. All three cottages have a spacious veranda from which you can glimpse life on the river. Relaxing in your hammock you’ll see old stiched hull boats punted by carrying coconuts, firewood and provisions as they must have done in Solomon’s time.

The logistics of plumbing, with our canals, has dictated that we have a shared bathroom that is a cottage in its own right. Airy, spacious, luxurious with a central copper shower tray capacious for two ensures, an invigorating and refreshing way of removing what India has thrown at you during the day as the water is pumped and filtered directly from our canal system.

View more images of the “Crusoe” cottages by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

The Tsunami house

And if you want something truly different and plush you can stay in our latest and most innovative “Grand Design” the Tsunami house. On two separate floors the entire first floor is occupied by a large yin and yang bathroom while the whole of the upper floor houses a specious , romantic bedroom with a four poster bed. On its own island, the Tsunami House floats in the palm canopies like a ship in the Sargasso. We believe that its unique hydrodynamic shape is a true attempt to address a building method that might be storm surge or tsunami proof.

All our cottages and the Tsunami house are built with great care and a contemporary aesthetic. Well shaded and surrounded by water, temperatures are cooler here and there are surprisingly limited mosquitoes!

View more images of the Tsunami house by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Friday’s people

At Friday’s Place we have a great team of local staff sympathetic to the needs of all.

We are looked after by Jose whom we have known since he was ten and has been helping in the running of Friday’s Place for the past three years.

All our delectable South Indian home-made food is prepared by Rosama and served on our verandah. Her husband Bhaskaran tends the garden.

View more images of the Friday’s Place team by clicking on any of the thumbnails below.

Eco-Friendly living

We have used sustainable hardwood throughout the construction and the palm thatch is renewed annually which provides input into the local economy. We are completely solar powered. With sensible use, the lights, well pump and fans, work well with a small excess of power for music and hair dryers!

Our sewage system is a first in India. Our bio-electric plant ensures clean outfall water with low B.O.D. (Biological Oxygen Demand). Water for washing is pumped and filtered from the canal, clean but occasionally brackish. Drinking water is by Reverse Osmosis Plant which ensures complete safety. We have our modern kitchen but do enjoy cooking outside on open fires (chulas) fuelled by palm waste. It’s good fun and the food tastes better!

This haven is constructed within fifty acres of unkempt palm garden. It is a little wild. We are blessed with indigenous flora and fauna. Three species of Kingfisher, Kites, Honey buzzards, Woodpeckers and a whole gamut of water foul, flit, swoop and wade through our sanctuary. The river and canals are teeming with fish and quite edible crabs.

However this is real India! To be truly eco-friendly we cannot slaughter or squash some of our other visitors. Legged are spiders and palm mice which seem to like our palm thatch roofs. The spiders are harmless unless sat on, and spend their time eating bugs in the roof that might otherwise eat the timber. The mice are pretty but we do our best to discourage them. Legless are snakes. Around our land the Chera is the common species. It resembles a large grass snake and is completely harmless. They eat palm mice and so really are our friends. Coastal Kerala is not really Cobra or Krait country. However, a general awareness is prudent when travelling in India.