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Old world comfort The Heritage Ayurvedic Resort

It has 24 guest rooms, a multi-cuisine restaurant, a bar and a conference hall – all air conditioned, though. There’s a will-do swimming pool, a health club, children’s play area and an open-air stage for cultural programmes. The 250-year-old palace is just two hours from Cochin, Calicut and Coimbatore airports. The Bharatapuzha river formed the boundary of the kingdom. The dynasty collapsed and the stronghold changed hands to Thiruponithura Kovilagam (“Big House”) and was later purchased by a Muslim family. Proof for this is on the board outside. The Leena Hospitality Group bought the bastion in 1996, invested in renovation and opened it as a Heritage Ayurvedic Resort. So, where’s the royalty? Without as much as a twitch of the laugh muscles, the manager (who lives in the compound) declares, “I am George Paul the VI, the monarch of all I survey. The river you see there runs to my pleasure.” It’s going to be a fun weekend!

A royal inspection of the place is in order. George quickly sheds his crown and sceptre to become the palace guide. “We’ve retained the original structure, the shell is the same,” he says. “We added rooms and modern facilities.” The half-open oottapura (eating area), for example, is part of the main building. “We chopped off the upper part of the fencing in front, covered the oottapura in glass and air-conditioned it.” Whether you sit inside or on the lawns, you get to be on the riverbank.

A lot of the palace artefacts are gone but what remains is worth a close look. The wooden panel of Ganesha is one. “They had small doors,” George informs us. “We removed them when we enlarged the doorways and put them up as panels. We have done that in the main hall too.” The main hall additionally has a period-looking grain storage box. All the furniture in the guest rooms are replicas of the comfortable ones the king and his queen(s) must have used. The triangular piece outside the health centre has ‘1,089’ carved on it – in the Malayalam calendar. Quick calculation reveals it is 100 years old. From the outside the building breathes the architecture of the nobility. Steps lead to the river, obviously the bathing place for the residents. There is enough space for a leisurely walk around and as it happened, for an evening of food, drinks, karaoke music and dancing (jumping really) to popular Tamil film music.

“We have five acres facing the river,” His Highness divulges future strategy. “Will convert it into an Ayurvedic Village with a herbal and organic garden, a treatment centre, 15 eco-friendly cottages, a yoga hall and a hermitage where everyone will wear kavi vastram.” Fine, as long as they are proper clothes. “All of them will be built with locally available material.” Hire a vehicle to catch sight of the Malampuzha river project (has a winch) or make a quick visit to the Guruvayoor temple (sari, please!). Ride an auto for a bumpy trip to local weaving and pottery-making centres. After nightfall, walk to nearby temples to see the scores of oil lamps flickering in the calm breeze. But there are a couple of not–to-be –missed spots that George rightly labels as “our USP”. The first is the Kerala Kalamandalam Arts Academy, the famed Institute of Performing Arts. Its beautiful Koothambalam with its hipped roof attracts architecture students from Chennai and beyond, its cool interiors invite dance students for competitions and cultural events. A small exhibition of dolls adds to local arts info.

The second is the 104-year old Ayurvedic Centre, within a two km radius. Go there for a check-up and medication or have a 45-minute massage in the Ayurveda Treatment Centre at the palace. For a very reasonable fee you get to lie down on a smooth wooden platform while expert hands massage hot oil into every muscle and bone, wiping away eons of computer-induced aches.

When you patronise the palace a heritage building gets preserved. And the owners will fight illegal sand miners to save the dying river. If your money helps this happen it’s a weekend well spent.

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