In the early 1950s, a man called Philipkutty reclaimed a piece of Vembanad Lake from the backwaters and turned it into a farm. The island sits two metres below lake level, held in by dykes, surrounded by the quiet water. His great-grandson’s wife Anu now runs it as one of the most celebrated homestays in India. The grandmother still cooks.
There is no road to Philipkutty’s Farm. There is a road to the bank opposite the farm, where the land ends and the backwater begins, and then there is a vallam — a traditional country boat — that takes you and your luggage across the wide channel to the island. The crossing takes a few minutes. In those minutes, something shifts. The sounds of ordinary life — traffic, conversation, the background noise of Kerala’s busy interior — give way to the sound of water and birds, and you arrive at a place that has been, in a very literal sense, built from the lake itself.
The island was reclaimed from the backwaters of Vembanad Lake in the early 1950s by the late husband’s grandfather — the patriarch after whom the farm is named: Philipkutty. The reclamation was an act of agricultural ambition typical of its era in Kerala, when the fertile land beneath the backwaters was brought under cultivation through systems of dykes and pumps. The farm sits two metres below lake level, held in by earthen embankments, its fields of coconut, banana, fruit, and vegetables irrigated by the same water system that keeps them from flooding. It is organic, sustainable farming on land that was once the bottom of a lake.
The homestay was conceived by Vinod Mathew — Philipkutty’s grandson — as a way to share the extraordinary character of this place with the world. He thought carefully about what it should be: not a hotel, not a resort, but a hosted family stay where guests would live as part of the life of the farm, cared for by the family, fed from the island’s own fields, and given the privacy of their own waterfront villa. He died before the vision was fully realised. His wife Anu continues it, with the help of his mother Aniamma — known to everyone as Mummy — and their two children, Philip and Anya.
“The homestay concept, and the vision behind our approach to welcoming and hosting our guests,” Anu writes on the farm’s website, “is entirely due to the inspirational thinking of my late husband, Vinod. I now strive to keep that vision alive.”
The Island
Philipkutty’s Farm occupies approximately 35 acres of this reclaimed island, within a much larger 750-acre island on Vembanad Lake near Kumarakom, in the Kottayam district of Kerala. The working farm produces coconut, banana, seasonal fruits, and vegetables using sustainable and organic methods. The coconut grove and the backwater channels that thread through the property give it the particular quality of the Kerala backwaters — the filtered, green light, the sound of water, the sight of herons standing absolutely still in the shallows, the slow procession of houseboats on the lake beyond the dyke.
The farm is two metres below lake level, which means the embankment dyke is, at certain points, the only thing between the fields and the water. Walking along the outer dyke — the path on which the villas are set — is to walk on the boundary between the reclaimed and the unconquered, with the lake on one side and the farm on the other. At dawn, the light on the water is something guests consistently describe as the thing they remember most.
The Villas
There are seven waterfront villas, set in a line along the outer dyke, each facing the backwaters, each completely independent of the others and of the family residence. The privacy is genuine — this is not a homestay where your room adjoins the family kitchen. The family lives separately, on the other side of the farm, and comes to the guests rather than the other way around.
The first villa was designed by Karl Damschen, a Swiss architect, and is open-plan: a traditionally styled bungalow with beautifully carved doors and windows — some antique, collected over years — three doors opening to the outside, and sufficient space for two guests with an extra bed available. It is antique-filled, warm in character, and carries the particular quality of a space designed by someone who understood the backwater aesthetic from first principles.
The remaining villas were designed by Thomas Dominic, a Kochi-based architect of considerable reputation, in the same spirit but with a different configuration: a separate bedroom, living room, and sit-out facing the peaceful, palm-fringed waterfront. Each villa has 18 windows and 8 doors — openings that are not decorative but functional, designed to capture the backwater breeze and flood the interior with the farm’s particular quality of light. Rustic clay tile floors. Wooden ceilings. Traditional red-oxide verandah. Ceiling fans. Air conditioning available. Refrigerator, electric kettle, and tea and coffee provisions in every villa.
All windows are netted. There is a generator for power backup. There is no television in the villas — there is, instead, the backwater, the farm, and the thatched pavilion on stilts overlooking both, where meals are served under the mango tree.
Aniamma’s Kitchen
The food at Philipkutty’s Farm has its own devoted following among guests who have returned to Kerala specifically to eat Aniamma’s cooking. Mummy — Vinod’s mother, Anu’s mother-in-law — has been cooking for guests since the homestay began and shows no sign of reducing her involvement. She cooks traditional Kerala cuisine: fish from the Vembanad Lake, vegetables from the farm’s own garden, the rice preparations and curries of Syrian Christian Kerala, the particular flavour of coconut-based cooking from a region where coconut trees line every edge of the property.
Meals are served at a large round table with a lazy susan at the centre — guests eating together, family present, the communal format that Vinod intended from the beginning. The breakfast and dinner are included, made from fresh farm produce and the daily catch. No alcohol is served, but guests may bring their own beer and wine. Fresh drinking water is provided throughout — plastic bottles are not used.
Cooking classes with Anu — who has developed a dedicated Cookery Holiday programme of four-day, fully immersive Kerala culinary experiences — are available for guests who want to take Aniamma’s recipes home with them. The cookery holiday has become, over the years, a programme in its own right, attracting guests who come specifically for the kitchen education and stay for the backwaters.
What to See and Experience
The farm walk — with Anu as guide through the coconut grove, the vegetable garden, the working dyke system — is the foundational experience of a stay at Philipkutty’s. Understanding how the land was reclaimed, how the farm is kept alive by the dykes, how the organic farming operates within a system two metres below the lake, is to understand the most extraordinary piece of agricultural engineering in everyday use.
Bird boat rides in the early morning are available — the backwaters around Vembanad Lake support a remarkable diversity of bird species, particularly in the cooler months, and the flat-bottomed vallam allows access to the shallow channels where herons, kingfishers, and a wide variety of waders congregate. The Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is approximately 5 kilometres away.
Sunset cruises on the lake, in the family’s fishing boat, are the day’s closing ritual and are consistently cited in reviews as one of the most beautiful hours of any Kerala journey. The light on Vembanad at dusk, with the coconut palms reflected in the water and the houseboats moving slowly across the far shore, is the image that guests carry home.
Canoeing through the narrow backwater channels between the farm and the surrounding village, fishing, and simply sitting at the jetty pavilion watching the lake — these are the activities that time expands to accommodate at Philipkutty’s. Ayurvedic massage sessions can be arranged. Cycling tours into the surrounding villages are available. The Vaikom Temple, one of the most important Shiva temples in Kerala, is a short drive from the landing. The Kumarakom Lake Resort and the broader Kumarakom-Alappuzha backwater circuit are accessible for those who want to explore beyond the island.
Why It Stays With You
A guest described the experience this way: you are met at the landing area by a traditional fishing boat and transported across the backwater to an island of peace and harmony. Then you are warmly greeted by Anu and Aniamma. That is the complete description of what Philipkutty’s Farm is — the boat, the water, the two women waiting on the other side.
Vinod Mathew had the vision to build something here that honoured what the island was — not a resort on a scenic location, but a homestay on a working farm, in a family that had been on this land for three generations, where the food came from the fields and the cooking was done by the grandmother who had always cooked. Anu has kept that vision intact through the considerable difficulty of doing so alone. Philip and Anya are growing up on the same island their great-great-grandfather reclaimed from the lake.
The story of Philipkutty’s Farm is, in the end, the story of a family staying put — on an island they built from water, in a part of Kerala that has changed enormously around them, holding to the things that cannot be replaced once they are gone.
Plan Your Visit
Address: Philipkutty’s Farm, Ambika Market P.O., Vechoor, Kottayam District, Kerala Website: philipkuttysfarm.com Instagram: @philipkuttysfarm Booking: Direct via website (Reservation page) · Also bookable via i-escape.com and international agents
Host: Anu Mathew (host, cookery teacher) Family: Aniamma (Mummy — cooking, family matriarch) · Philip and Anya (second generation) Vision: The late Vinod Mathew (conceived and built the homestay)
The Island: 35-acre working organic farm on a reclaimed island in Vembanad Lake · Farm sits 2 metres below lake level · Coconut, banana, fruit, vegetable production · Sustainable/organic farming throughout
Villas: 7 waterfront villas — all independent, all facing the backwaters, all separate from the family residence — Villa 1: Open-plan, designed by Swiss architect Karl Damschen — antique-filled, traditionally styled, open-plan bungalow — Villas 2–7: Separate bedroom, living room and sit-out, designed by Thomas Dominic (Kochi). All with 18 windows, 8 doors, clay tile floors, wooden ceilings, AC, ceiling fans, refrigerator, electric kettle, Wi-Fi
Meals: Breakfast and dinner included · Traditional Kerala cuisine · Aniamma’s kitchen · Farm-fresh and lake-fresh ingredients · Communal dining (round table, lazy susan) · Guests may bring own beer and wine · Cooking classes and Cookery Holiday with Anu available
Activities: Farm walks (guided by Anu) · Morning bird boat ride · Sunset cruise on Vembanad Lake · Canoeing · Fishing · Cycling in surrounding villages · Ayurvedic massage · Cookery demonstrations and classes
Check-in: 2:00 PM · Check-out: 11:00 AM Note: No television in villas · Waterfront and canals not fenced — supervision needed for young children
Getting There — The farm is accessible by road to the landing point, then by vallam (country boat) across the backwater channel to the island. The boat crossing is included. — Kochi (Cochin) International Airport: approximately 75 km — around 1.5 to 2 hours by road. Taxis readily available and transfers can be pre-arranged. — Kottayam Railway Station: approximately 20 km — around 40 minutes by road. — Alappuzha (Alleppey): approximately 27 km — around 45 minutes by road. — Kochi city: approximately 65 km — around 1.5 hours. — Cherthala (nearest hospital and services): approximately 9 km. — The property can also be accessed by houseboat if pre-arranged at the time of booking. — Detailed directions provided on booking confirmation — coordinate boat arrival time with Anu.
Nearby — Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary: 5 km · Vaikom Temple: 15 km · Alappuzha (Alleppey): 27 km · Kottayam: 20 km · Kochi: 65 km · Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary: 170 km · Munnar: 190 km
Best Time to Visit: October to February for the best weather, birdwatching, and the most pleasant backwater experience · December to January for migrant birds and the coolest temperatures · March to May for quieter weeks before the monsoon · Monsoon (June–September) for the dramatic green of the backwaters at their fullest — the farm in the rains is beautiful, though lake crossings can be rougher
