A weekend at magical Fringe Ford : a beautiful homestay nestled amongst the hills in Wayanad.
It’s one of those magical places you go to and don’t want to come back. At least, I didn’t.
The road to Fringe Ford is a long and winding one. Around 5 kms through coffee plantations to your right and hills to the left. It goes on and on and you start peering around every corner to catch sight of your destination. Except that it’s where you least expect it. Down below, between the clearing of the tall trees, you get a teasing glimpse of a cottage sitting pretty in the centre, surrounded by green all around.
This is Fringe Ford : “Get lost where no one’s gonna know. No Where to rush, but everywhere to go. No stress, no traffic, no road.†Just perfect.
Just you and beautiful lush forest around you, the birds flying around everywhere and the occasional jungle call — are you in paradise?
The name Fringe Ford was given by an Englishman who bought the land and built it into a plantation. After that it changed hands a few times till it was bought by Ahmed, a naturalist, who let the land go back to the forest. The 520 acre property shares its property with the wildlife sanctuaries of Wayanad and Tholpaty. It’s no wonder then that you take a few steps out of the property and you’re into the thick of the jungle already.
The bungalow is low roofed, with Mangalore tiles and cosily done up. The rooms have huge windows that give you a great view of the scenery around. And even the bathrooms have long windows : just in case there’s a wild cat passing by that you don’t want to miss during your daily ablutions :-)
The food : I don’t even want to get started! Short of proposing to the 70ish year old chef, I could have done anything to stay there forever! Delicious curries, biryani, ghee rice, chicken and the most exotic of them all : a local fern that is chopped into a most yummy sabji : I was in culinary paradise! Every meal was looked forward to with great anticipation and I possibly ate about 3 times my usual capacity (which is already quite great :-)!
We walked around quite a bit. Once, when we felt really guilty about binging so much, we even went for a run down the winding road. We went into the forest, spotting birds, insects, wildlife and possible leopard droppings. And at the end of the walk, the green foliage gave way to a gushing waterfall. We had to marvel at nature’s brilliant design. You walk, walk, walk and then suddenly, in the path — there’s a waterfall! Of course, it was hard to resist the cool waters gushing over the rocks and into the path.
The colours of the forest are vivid and beautiful and there’s so much to stop and gaze at that even a 5 km walk can take you a few hours. The way the sun lights up the leaves, the tiny but multi-hued insects on the forest floor, the wild mushrooms celebrating their existence in the world and the trees towering up into the sky. Every little thing elicits wonder and awe — especially here inside the forest where you get a glimpse of the real raw beauty of nature.
There are many other treks : from the easy to the hard. If you’re not feeling lazy enough, the hosts will gladly take you on these walks.
A word of warning: the folks at Fringe Ford spoil you terribly. There’s always tea, nimboo paani and other treats in between meals, as if they weren’t large enough. And then you can also lounge around in the beautiful courtyard, below the mango tree and watch the hills in the distance (sometimes you can see wild animals climbing up and down the slopes), grab two winks or catch up on some reading.
The only creatures I kept a little clear of were the ducks that seemed to be very possessive about their territory and advanced rather dangerously when I ventured near. I scampered out of the way quickly and maintained safe distance thereafter.
I can see you already asking for details, so here they are:
The nearest cities to Fringe Ford are Thalassery (60 km) and Cannore (75 km)
If you’re going by road, from Mysore, you head towards Gundalpet : Sultan Bathery : Meenangadi : Mananthvadi : Talapoya to Fringe Ford. The drive time is around 6 hours from Bangalore.
Email :
santosh@getoffurass.com
bookings@fringeford.com
Do email Santosh for more details / bookings and you can also give him my reference.
The tariff is Rs 2650 per person includes 1 breakfast, 1 lunch, 1 dinner, tea and snacks.
The tariff includes pick-up from Talapoya (Mass nursery). There are no extra charge for guides accompanying on treks in the property. For sight seeing trips outside the property there are minimum charges.
Website: Visit Fringe Ford
When to go: Except during the rainy season. We went in February and the weather was great : clear blue skies, warm days and cool nights. And you can still go during the rains, but you won’t have much to do except eat and watch the rain : which in my book is not a bad option either!
Album: Paradise Found! Fringe Ford
Thanks for the great recommendation.
I visited Munnar a year ago and loved it.
Kerala truly is blessed in scenic awe and its nice to see it remains that way.
Will take your suggestion and visit Fringe Ford.
Arv
Posted by Arvind | June 9, 2008, 11:12 pmI started writing Recently and opened a blog today.
Would appreciate it if u went thru it and told me what u think,
http://arv-fires.blogspot.com
I enjoy reading your blogs.U write well and share good experiences. Gives one a good idea of what ur talking about
Arv
Posted by Arvind | June 9, 2008, 11:17 pmAwesome, but then its Kerala!
Posted by Priyank | June 10, 2008, 7:06 amI would trade in my hand and foot for a trip like that now. Probably its the summer heat out here talking. And I love the first picture in the post… beautiful.
Posted by Kishore | June 10, 2008, 8:24 pmNice. Seems you had a great time. No luck for me this time on holidays… Huh…
Posted by Vijay Ganesh | June 10, 2008, 10:19 pmNice!! reminded me of my trip to Wayanad an year & half ago…
Posted by Prashanth M | June 10, 2008, 10:36 pmwonderful pictures yet again.…
you should really give a serious thought to writing a ‘coffee table book’ on all your exotic travels.
sometimes i wish i was in your shoes!
sukanya
Posted by Sukanya Bora | June 10, 2008, 11:02 pmFrom where do u find such amazing places?
i have been to kerala twice but missed out on this.
Posted by Nandish | June 10, 2008, 11:56 pm@ Arvind: Kerala is truly God’s own country :) Do visit when you get a chance. Thanks for the nice words. Will drop by!
@ Priyank: true!
@ Kishore: The summer heat out here has been terrible too! thanks!
@ Vijay Ganesh: I did!
@ Prashanth M: time to make another trip? :)
@ Sukanya: thanks! i’ll keep the coffee book in mind. you must promise to buy a copy though ;)
@ Nandish: I keep my eyes and ears open ;)
Posted by Anita | June 11, 2008, 7:08 pmnice.…
Posted by arvindkota | June 13, 2008, 12:49 amwhat a beautiful place !
Posted by Az Azura | June 13, 2008, 8:27 amSounds like a dream.….must visit sometime… thanks for blogging abt this place .… Grt compositions in the photographs … :)
Posted by Anjali | June 13, 2008, 5:49 pm@ arvind, az azura, anjali: thanks! is a lovely place — definitely worth a visit sometime! and thanks anjali!
Posted by Anita | June 13, 2008, 11:41 pmwow! looks fundu! Thank you Anita.
Posted by Blogeswari | June 14, 2008, 1:08 pmHave never been to God’s own country so far. Amused to see them here on your blog :)
Posted by Manasa | June 15, 2008, 8:50 pmI have been to Munnar 14 yrs back it awesome and the photo is mind blowing.
Posted by Sai | June 16, 2008, 11:24 am@ Blogeswari: you’re welcome!
@ Manasa: you should visit sometime! it’s right next door :)
@ Sai: munnar is a lovely place!
Posted by Anita | June 17, 2008, 10:52 amMunnar is a mindblowing place
Posted by Bharat | June 17, 2008, 4:01 pmHey anita.. I have been reading your blog for a while now.. but never got a chance to leave a comment..
Waynad is a wonderful place.. homestays are the best bet in such places.. these places are just wonderful to relax, unwind and go on long walks!
Posted by Moony | June 25, 2008, 6:51 pmHow do you find all these exotic places ?? Thanks for sharing.. Will go there sometime for sure..
Posted by Kaushik Saikia | August 28, 2008, 5:32 pm@ moony: thanks for visiting and commenting this time :-) wayanad is lovely!
@ kaushik: i keep eyes and ears open :-)
Posted by Anita | September 3, 2008, 7:17 pmNice one. We just returned from Fringe Ford after a 3 night stay, and had a lovely time, in the midst of nature.
Posted by Arun | April 30, 2011, 9:01 am