19 May,2011 08:40 AM IST | | Surekha S
Rustic Holidays' Mamachya Gavala Jaauya Trips helps you revisit a time from your childhood memories with unique home stays in Ratnagiri's picturesque villages
Remember those fun, family vacations as a kid, as you ran amidst green fields, played with domesticated animals, climbed trees to pluck mangoes and watched life in slow motion? Rustic Holidays gives you the opportunity to revisit those memories even as you experience the hospitality and warmth reminiscent of those times, courtesy the local folk in a house in a village in Ratnagiri.
Called Mamachya Gavala Jaauya (Marathi, for let's visit our uncle's village), this initiative helps one to rekindle childhood memories against the picturesque Konkan landscape. The region's lush greenery, coconut trees, beautiful virgin beaches, waterfalls, mountains and stunning valleys make for a memorable experience. Nitin and Shilpa Karkare started Mamachya Gavala Jaauya to give city folk a village like-experience.
In 2004, he took a bunch of school kids to his native village, Tural in Ratnagiri. "They lived with Nitn's parents in his 200 year-old house. During their stay, the kids were involved in several activities including nature walks, animal trails, swimmingu00a0-- they had a great time," explains Ritesh Navrange, who has been associated with Rustic Holidays since its inception.
Since then, taking kids to this part of Ratnagiri has become a regular on their schedule. Two years later, the couple received requests from parents who wanted to join the kids on such trips; soon family batches were started. Rustic Holidays have regular batches for kids and families through April, May and during the Diwali vacations. May end will see a special all ladies batch.
Typically, the stay is for four nights and five days; the beauty of these trips is that one is free to roam the countryside, explore villages, visit the farms, set out on nature trails or take a boat ride through the backwaters of Karjule, which is a few kilometers from the place of stay. "Though we have specific batches, people are free to visit through the year. It is Nitin's house and its doors are always open," says Navrange.
Log on tou00a0www.rusticholidays.co.in;
Call 9867211322 / 9820340332
