Wednesday 25 January 2012

Bamboo Villa, welcome to my home




Bamboo Villa
Tucked among  bamboo groves and etched on life giving water, Bamboo Villa welcomes you for exciting holidays.


Words of welcome

It took me three years to complete my home, Bamboo Villa. Investing smaller sums, bit by bit, I realized my home, my vision for sustainabaility. I do not like a square, box like home. I wish my home to be as free and open as my life. For me both the structure and the design are important. I have opted a design, which my good friend Aneesh visualised for me, an 'A' shaped structure. I humbly state here, just as Simon Valesa stated, "grow your home", I have used bamboo grown in my own land, which I planted 8 years back for reinforcement and related works.

I have tried my best to make use of all part of my home. Yes, my home is not only for my family, but for fishes, frogs, tortoises, water snakes, fruits, plants, bamboo and above all for YOU. I have made a comfortable stay for you with moderate charges. With extended arms with my family i welcome you for great holidays in Bamboo Village, Wayanad.

Your host,
Baburaj Mullathodi


Grow your home


               




                     "Grow your home" - Simon Valesa


Bamboo Villa is a vibrant home, which is so alive, each moment you spend here you could feel the caress of life, and we welcome you for a rejuvenating experience. Be it a splash in the village stream, a caress by the dew laden bamboo leaves, or fishing with your own hands from the Villa pond...Bamboo Villa offers infinite  avenues for entertainment with a free mind.




                                                                           
A green space

Bamboo Villa is a model house for the next century.  a true model of how sustainable a home could be. It is a bamboo reinforced house having 70% bamboo and 30% steel. Its walls, and  roofs are primarily constructed with bamboo. A good example of  classic, oriental architectural design Bamboo Villa  is one of the most admirable models of house construction in India, in which bamboo used as a vital material for construction.


Bamboo garden 

Nature embraces the Villa in all its splendour. from the corridor the vistors could experience the majestic muontains of the western Ghats. Pale blue mountain tops glistening in the orange sun of the morning is a view from the top windows to uplift your day to greater bliss.



Bamboo architecture

The home is constructed on a pond, which is closer to the theme of the house, "life and rejuvenation" Indegineous fishes are bred here . Water is the source of life, and it must be preserved in the most meaningful and scientific manner possible. It is a source of food, an eco system and keeps a bio diversity.A house surrounded by water, Bamboo Villa lives up to the spirit of the idea.The pond is filled with indegineous fishes.  Each drop of rain water is harvested into the pond.



Water...source of life

Bamboo Villa gives more importance to food security, its chief motto. Fresh fish from the pond, vegetables from the garden and water from the cool stream by the garden is used to water the plants.





Food for all

The Villa adheres to the theme of sustainability  by following a strong policy of waste management. The kitchen waste is converted into bio gas, and food waste is fed to the fishes.Other wastes are used for the garden.



 "Life in green"  a wall painting by Benny Kalpetta



                                                                     
                                                                               "Village life" Glass painting





          "Pond view" first floor double room





                                                                      "Mountain view" second floor double room



Inner space


Indoor facilities and outdoor activities for guests

INDOOR FACILITIES

Four bedrooms
Homely food
Ethnic food
Travellers` kitchen
Fishing
Yoga and meditation
Open stream bath
Internet and library

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES 

Trekking
Village walk
Visiting Uravu craft centres
Bamboo garden visit
Interaction with farmers, elders and students
Farm visit (Coffee, tea, pepper, ginger, areca, coconut and rubber plantations)
Village riverside planting program
Cultural activities (for groups)
Visiting tribal hamlets
Wayanad sight seeing

SILVER STREAM TAXI SERVICE AVAILABLE FOR GUESTS                                                             


Bamboo Villa activities

Village visit












  • Farm Visit:- Bamboo, Tea, Coffee, Spices farms and paddy fields.
  • Forest trekking


  •  Visit Uravu and its various craft centres. 
  • Fishing
  • Visitors kitchen


  • Riverside bamboo planting


  • Village ethnic food



Bamboo Villa Videos


Wayanad

Wayanad is the 12th district in Kerala, the southern most state in India, formed in 1980. The folk etymology says that the name 'Wayanad' is the combination of 'Wayal' (Paddy), and 'Naad (land), making it 'The Land of Paddy Field".





There are more than 15 tourist spots in Wayanad. Chembra peak, Banasura sagar, Meenmutty waterfalls, Uravu Thrikkaipetta, Pookot lake,Kuruva island, Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary, Thirunelly temple, Edakkal caves,Pazhassi Tomb & Museum, and Pakshi pathalam are some of the must see hot spots of Wayanad.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Bamboo, the wonder tree



Bamboos are some of the fastest growing plants in the world, as some species have been recorded as growing up to 100cm (39in)  within a 24 hour period due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, South east Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product.






Ecological security

  • conserving forests through timber substitution. bamboos grow more rapidly than trees and start to yield within three or four years of planting. Bamboo plantation establishment requires minimal capital investment and builds upon the inherent plant cultivation skills of local farmers and foresters.
  • Bamboos can be harvested annually and non-destructively.
  • Bamboo functions as an efficient carbon sink.
  • Bamboo is an alternative to non-biodegradable and high energy-embodied materials such as plastic and metals.
  • Bamboo is an alternative to non-biodegradable and high energy-embodied materials such as plastic and metals.
  • Bamboo rejuvenates degraded lands and provides protection against soil erosion..
Livelihood security


  • Bamboo helps in providing livelihood security to rural people by creating employment in planting,primary and secondary processing, construction, craft and the manufacture of several value added products.
  • All parts of the bamboo plant can be used in rural livelihoods and industry- shoots for food, leaves for fodder and branches for making over a thousand traditional products as well as a host
  • of new generation industrial products.

Shelter security
  • Through the provision of safe, secure, durable and affordable housing and community buildings.
  • Bamboo provides pillars, walls, window frames, rafters, room separators, ceilings and roofs. Whole structures can be built bamboo using skills available with local artisans.
Food Security

Through bamboo-based agro-forestry systems, by maintaining the fertility of adjoining agricultural lands, and as a direct food source- for example, edible bamboo shoots Wayanad district, Kerala state, south India.



Bamboo Village

Bamboo village was born in 2006 out of a vision to create a sustainable village with bamboo as a central theme, in Thrikkaippetta,Wayanad, Kerala. The village comprises of 2,000 families, spread in two wards of Meppadi Panchayath.The village consists mostly of agricultural families. After 10 years of concentrated efforts in the field of bamboo, “Uravu Research Centre ” realized that diversification of activities are extremely important in the current, rapidly changing global socio - economic scenario to develop a village into a sustainable one and renamed the village as Bamboo Village.


Community tourism


Bamboo village is one of the tourist spots in Wayanad. It is located at Thrikkaipetta. Around 200 families are living here depending on  bamboo based activities and tourism and the spot is rich in biodiversity and traditional and nontraditional agricultural activities.




Bamboo Village

Bamboo Village was born in 2006 out of a vision to create a sustainable village with bamboo as a central theme, in Thrikkaippetta,Wayanad, Kerala. The village comprises of 2,000 families, spread in two wards of Meppadi Panchayath.The village consists mostly of agricultural families. After 10 years of concentrated efforts in the field of bamboo, “Uravu Research Centre ” realized that diversification of activities are extremely important in the current, rapidly changing global socio - economic scenario to develop a village into a sustainable one and renamed the village as Bamboo Village.

Bamboo village is one of the tourist spots in Wayanad. It is located at Thrikkaipetta. Around 200 families are living here depending on  bamboo based activities and tourism and the spot is rich in biodiversity and traditional and nontraditional agricultural activities.

Bamboo Villa activities

Village visit



  • Farm Visit:- Bamboo, Tea, Coffee, Spices farms and paddy fields.
  • Visit Uravu and its various craft centres.
  • Forest trekking
  • Fishing
  • Visitors kitchen
  • Village ethnic food
  • Riverside bamboo planting

Bamboo

Bamboos are some of the fastest growing plants in the world, as some species have been recorded as growing up to 100cm (39in)  within a 24 hour period due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, South east Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a versatile raw product.


Ecological security

  • conserving forests through timber substitution. bamboos grow more rapidly than trees and start to yield within three or four years of planting. Bamboo plantation establishment requires minimal capital investment and builds upon the inherent plant cultivation skills of local farmers and foresters.
  • Bamboos can be harvested annually and non-destructively.
  • Bamboo functions as an efficient carbon sink.
  • Bamboo is an alternative to non-biodegradable and high energy-embodied materials such as plastic and metals.
  • Bamboo is an alternative to non-biodegradable and high energy-embodied materials such as plastic and metals.
  • Bamboo rejuvenates degraded lands and provides protection against soil erosion..
Livelihood security


  • Bamboo helps in providing livelihood security to rural people by creating employment in planting,primary and secondary processing, construction, craft and the manufacture of several value added products.
  • All parts of the bamboo plant can be used in rural livelihoods and industry- shoots for food, leaves for fodder and branches for making over a thousand traditional products as well as a host
  • of new generation industrial products.

Shelter security
  • Through the provision of safe, secure, durable and affordable housing and community buildings.
  • Bamboo provides pillars, walls, window frames, rafters, room separators, ceilings and roofs. Whole structures can be built bamboo using skills available with local artisans.
Food Security


Through bamboo-based agro-forestry systems, by maintaining the fertility of adjoining agricultural lands, and as a direct food source- for example, edible bamboo shoots Wayanad district, Kerala state, south India.

Wayanad


Wayanad is the 12th district in Kerala, the southern most state in India, formed in 1980. The folk etymology says that the name 'Wayanad' is the combination of 'Wayal' (Paddy), and 'Naad (land), making it 'The Land of Paddy Field".

There are more than 15 tourist spots in Wayanad. Chembra peak, Banasura sagar, Meenmutty waterfalls, Uravu Thrikkaipetta, Pookot lake,Kuruva island, Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary, Thirunelly temple, Edakkal caves,Pazhassi Tomb & Museum, and Pakshi pathalam are some of the must see hot spots of Wayanad.