Kulathamackal കുളത്താമക്കൽ
Pampady · Kottayam · Kerala

Kulathamackal

Farm & homestay on land the family has kept since 1890

A rambutan orchard that has sent fresh fruit to Kerala's markets since 2010, and the old family house beside it, which is slowly becoming a place for guests.

Kulathamackal Rambuttan ThottamFresh rambutan, wholesale and retail, June to AugustSee the orchard → Kulathamackal TharavaduFarm stay opening late 2027 · a house of 1890What's coming →
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Two girls laughing under a rambutan tree heavy with fruit A single rambutan held in an open palm Sandhya and Kurian seated beneath a fruiting rambutan tree
c. 1890the tharavaduChandy Chandy, called Kochupappan, builds a house at the head of the paddy field. A pond and a mango tree in front give it its name. Five generations have lived here since.
2010the orchardKurian and Sandhya plant rambutan. The fruit goes to wholesalers and hypermarkets across Kerala.
2027the farm stayMangosteen, nutmeg, pepper, coconut, arecanut, a mixed fruit garden and coffee go in around the house; vegetables and fish in the ponds follow. Guests come when it is ready.
Kulathamackal Rambuttan Thottam

Fresh rambutan, picked to order, from the heart of central Kerala

Kulathamackal Rambuttan Thottam is lovingly owned and operated by Kurian Chandy and Sandhya. Since 2010, sustainable farming has been at the core of everything we do, and it shows in the quality and freshness of every basket.

We supply premium rambutan to trusted wholesalers and hypermarkets, and we sell to families who come to the gate. Fruit is picked the morning it is dispatched. In 2020 the orchard was chosen as a model village farm under the Government of India’s Soil Health Card programme.

In season June to August WhatsApp the orchard on +91 96057 23000 for availability, wholesale quantities and prices. Farm visits during harvest are welcome by appointment.
Kurian Chandy and Sandhya in the rambutan orchard
Kurian and Sandhya in the orchard.
A year at Kulathamackal

What the farm is doing, month by month

Today the rambutan is the only crop in fruit. Everything else went into the ground this year, or is about to, and is being grown on for the farm stay, so this chart will fill in over the coming years.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Rambutan harvest
Mangosteenplanted 2026
Nutmegplanted 2026
Pepperplanted 2026
Coconut & arecanutplanted 2026
Mixed fruit gardenplanted mid-2026 · durian, longan, abiu, avocado, mango, guava and more
Coffeeplanting late 2026planned · on the way
Vegetable gardenon the wayplanned · on the way
Fish in the pondson the wayplanned · on the way
Monsoon
Rambutan, in fruit and for sale Young plantings, growing; first crop some years away on the way — planned for the next season South-west and north-east monsoon
In the news

The orchard on television

Asianet Kissan Krishi Deepam at the orchardTelevision feature on the rambutan farm, 2016 Rambutan and papaya intercropping, part 1Haritham local news, 2011 Rambutan and papaya intercropping, part 2Haritham local news, 2011 Chosen as a model village farmSoil Health Card programme, Government of India, 2020
Mariya and Rebecca in front of the tharavadu verandah
Mariya and Rebecca in front of the house.
Opening late 2027

Kulathamackal Tharavadu, a farm stay in the making

One family on this land since 1890; more than 135 years.

The tharavadu is the family home of 1890, rebuilt on the same ground in 2000; five generations have lived on this spot. One more renovation, planned within the year, will add what guests need. We are readying it, and the three and a half acres around it, for people who want to wake up on a working farm in Kerala. The land is being planted and the facilities are being built. We plan to welcome the first guests in late 2027.

  • Walks through rambutan, mangosteen, nutmeg, pepper and coffee plantings, and a mixed fruit garden of durian, longan, abiu, avocado, mango and guava
  • A vegetable garden and fish in the ponds, so that the kitchen draws on the farm
  • An open-air pavilion for meals and long evenings
  • Two perennial ponds, fed by the farm's own rainwater
  • Harvest days in season, June to August
Tharavadu തറവാട്

In Kerala, the ancestral family home, and the family line itself. The word carries both meanings at once. Kulathamackal itself means “by the pond and the mango tree”: കുളം kulam, the pond, and മാവ് mavu, the mango, that stood before the house.

Tell me when you open
The tharavadu from the lawn
The house from the lawntiled roof, wooden verandah, coconut in front
Women of the family in Kerala saris around an Onam pookalam in the hall
Onam in the hallthe pookalam laid before the old ara
Luca, a cream and ginger Persian cat, on the lawn
Lucathe house cat, who will inspect your luggage
Family

Six generations, one road out of Kuravilangad

The family is a branch of the Kollamparampil family of Pampady, of the Pakalomattom line, which left Kuravilangad around 1830. Chandy and Mariam, the founders, came to Pampady; their eldest son Chandy built Kollamparampil Thazhe; and his eldest son built Kulathamackal, where the family has lived ever since.

Along the way the family helped found Marthamariam Cheriyapally, Pampady East, in 1914, gave the land on which M.G.D.M. Hospital, Kangazha, was built in 1963, and led the work that turned the Chennampally–Kangazha cart track into a proper road.

The line of the house

  1. Chandy & MariamCome from Kuravilangad to Pampady, about 1830. Chandy becomes manager of the Chennampally family and is given the Kollamparampil plot.
  2. Chandy of Kollamparampil Thazheb. 1837Signs the Pampady Valiyapally agreement in 1879 as one of 72 family heads.
  3. Chandy Chandy, “Kochupappan” & Sosamma1867 – 1944 · Sosamma d. 1939Builds the house at Kizhakkethalakkal, soon known as Kulathamackal, in about 1890. Seventh signatory when Cheriyapally is founded in 1914, and its trustee for many years.

The people of the house

  1. Chandy Kurian, “Kuriachan” & Raheal1907 – 2006 · Raheal 1912 – 1994Kochupappan’s youngest son, who stays on at the tharavadu. With his brothers gives six acres for the Kangazha hospital. President of the Kollamparampil family association; Raheal an early president of the Poothakuzhi women’s samajam.
  2. K. K. Chandy, “Kunjunjachan” & Rebecca Chandy1933 – 2015 · Rebecca 1937 – 1990Teacher at Pampady M.G.M. High School, panchayat member, president of the village library. Their children Reena, Beena and Kurian grow up in the house. His brother Scaria Kurian (1946 – 2023) lives here all his life.
  3. Kurian Chandy & Sandhya JoseKurian, an MBA in finance, is a director of Cacobean Chocolatier, the Kochi-based gourmet chocolate maker, where he has run operations since 2007. Sandhya, a Cost and Management Accountant (ICWAI), is a partner at Kestrel Consulting LLP, Kochi. Farming has been their shared passion: the rambutan orchard they planted in 2010 now supplies wholesalers and hypermarkets across Kerala, and the fields keep growing. The farm stay is their retirement plan, built slowly and properly. Their daughters, Mariya Raheal and Rebecca Elizabeth, carry the names of the two women who kept this house before them.
Chandy Chandy, Kochupappan, who built the house
Chandy Chandy, “Kochupappan”1867 – 1944 · built the house
Pencil portrait of Chandy Kurian, Kuriachan, and Raheal
Chandy Kurian, “Kuriachan” & Raheal1907 – 2006 · 1912 – 1994
K. K. Chandy and Rebecca Chandy as a young couple
K. K. Chandy & Rebecca Chandy1933 – 2015 · 1937 – 1990
Scaria Kurian, smiling
Scaria Kurian1946 – 2023
K. K. Chandy with Kurian, Sandhya and their two young daughters on the lawn
K. K. Chandy with Kurian, Sandhya, Mariya and Rebeccaon the lawn, 2012
Kurian, Sandhya, Reena, Beena and family on the verandah steps
Reena and Beena with their husbands, Alex and Jose, and Kurian and Sandhyaon the verandah steps, 2022
Reena, Kurian and Beena on the verandah
Reena, Kurian and Beenathe three children of K. K. Chandy and Rebecca, on the verandah
Levi, Becky, Raichu and Reeba, the four cousins, in a close selfie
The next generation: Levi, Becky, Raichu and Reebathe four cousins of the house
The extended family on the verandah steps
The family on the verandah stepsyear to be added
The extended family gathered in the hall of the tharavadu
The family in the hallyear to be added
The extended family gathered on the verandah of the tharavadu
The family gathers at the tharavadu for Onam, 2022.
From above

The Tharavadu property, seen from the air

Three and a half acres around the house: the lawn, the old tiled roofs, the ponds, the pavilion and the new plantings in their rows, with the neighbours’ rubber and coconut all around.

Aerial view of the Kulathamackal property with the church of Pampady in the distance
Looking north over the house and lawn, the new plantings to the right.
Sustainability

Run on sun and rain

The farm stay is being built so that it asks as little as possible of the grid and the river.

Solar panels on the car shed roof beside the old tiled house, seen from the air
The solar array on the shed roof, the water tower and the old house.
Solar, day and night

A 10 kW rooftop solar system with battery storage powers the house and the farm. On a sunny day the farm exports to the grid; at night it runs on what it stored.

Every drop of rain kept

Rainwater from the whole property is channelled into two perennial ponds, which carry the farm through the dry months.

Water to the root, not the sky

Drip lines and sprinklers, run by the farm's own controller, water each planting only when the weather and the soil say it is needed.

The old house, kept

The house of 1890 was rebuilt on its own ground in 2000, and we are adapting it rather than building elsewhere, so the farm grows around the home, not the other way round.

Contact

Talk to us

Wholesale enquiries, retail orders, farm visits, or a note to say you'd like to stay one day. WhatsApp is the quickest way to reach us.

WhatsApp Call +91 98957 23000
Phone & WhatsApp+91 98957 23000

Tharavadu, farm stay and general enquiries

+91 96057 23000

Rambuttan Thottam, fruit orders and wholesale

Kulathamackal Tharavadu · house & farm stay

Kulathamackal House, Poothakuzhy PO,
Pampady, Kottayam, Kerala, India – 686521

Get directions →
Kulathamackal Rambuttan Thottam · the orchard

Kumbathanam, Chennampally–Kangazha Road, Pampady – 686521. About 2 km east of the house, a four-minute drive. Fruit collection and harvest visits happen here.

Get directions →
Getting here

Pampady is about 20 km east of Kottayam town and its railway station, and about 95 km from Cochin International Airport, roughly two hours by road. Visits by appointment; please message ahead, especially outside harvest season.