Fantastic. Definitely looking forward to staying at Our Native Village again.
Loved the cozy rooms & the quietness of the place. The food was excellent too.
Would have been great to have Beer :)
The natural pool looks interesting! Next time.More
We spent New Year's eve at Our Native Village. The rooms were very convinient & the staff friendly. There was plenty of place for the kids to play around. Since it was new years eve they had set up a dance floor. The DJ could have been better but we had a good time nevertheless. The food was great and they had even set up a bar-be-que. The one thing missing on the menu was Beer which we were told would be available. Overall I would recommend the place for any family for a weekend getaway.
Dear Srikant. So happy that you had a good time with us for the New Years eve celebrations. Hope you enjoyed the Dollu Kunita dance and the final dance with the dancers around the fire! I must confess that 'DJ' kind of music is so against the very grain of our simple village sensibilities and value system. But we did it because of 'popular requests' from guests! I understand that absence of beer is a disappointment - we hope to correct that in the near future. Wish you and your family a Happy new year again and have a great 2014.
I stayed at our native village with my extended family for our December break. We were not able to locate the place though we called the reception for directions. Everyone seemed confused and we found the place by asking people on the road. Once we reached, the service was great and there were lots of activities to take part in. The other thing that ticked us off was the food. For lunch, we were a little taken aback by the quality of food but hoped it would improve by dinner. At dinner, we had the same variety and quality of food that there was for lunch. The food was extremely spicy, not flavorful, vegetables were raw and a limited spread of food. I have never been a picky eater, but I needed to eat something substantial for the night since the lunch had barely sustained me. It is a good idea to bring food with you. I wanted to write this review for foodies. I have no complaints otherwise, but this took a lot out of my experience.
Thank you for taking the time off to write the review on your stay. First I feel sorry that you did not enjoy all aspects of your stay - food being a very important part of an experience in a resort. We always have trouble with 'foodies'. Frankly I am not sure who a foodies is or what they are supposed to be!
In our case, we have had food critics, well known corporate & executive chefs, and journalists who have eaten our food and given us top marks. But that does not matter, as your experience is not what it should have been. I conceded that sometimes our food is spicy, as my Chef emphasizes that South Indian food has to be spicy - I always counsel him that he should reduce the spice element, which he does.
But what is surprising that you use the word 'not flavourful'. All our masalas are made here by my Chef himself, as he believes that most masalas that you get in the market are adulterated. This is a tedious process, but its effects - great flaouvrs in the food - has been appreciated by most guests. Strange that considering you are a 'foodie' you could not appreciate this. But it is also possible that your 'foodie' expertise is for other types of cuisines. i would certainly like to attempt to satisfy your palate in the near future, if you will give us another opportunity.
Now onto your other disappointment - the directions. If you got lost it is a factor of directions - and not the location. For me this is a simple skill of following directions - detailed directions that we gave you from 3 locations of Bangalore, or Google maps - some have this skill, some do not. I am so sorry you had problems in this.
However please don't fault our location. Unless you do not like greenery as far as the eye can see, peace and tranquility, sounds of nature - birds, crickets, chicken, cows..... On the lighter side, now that you know where we are, guess you will not lose your way, and hope I can get another chance to please your palate :-) Cheers
Bullock cart rides...milking cows...cycling in mud..kite flying..pottery...farming...ayurveda.. and many such experiences made our stay at Our Native Village one the best breaks ever. Not to forget Soul of the resort - the boss himself "Mr.CB Ramkumar" - Passional to the core :-).
You & your team have given us one of the best breaks we have ever had and will recommend this experience to everyone around us. Looking forward to staying at Our native village again in the coming days. Wishing you & your team great success.
Thank you for your wishes Tushar. We survive and thrive on warm, encouraging words from well wishers like you. You noticed our passion - I often tell our guests that this is all we have - PASSION!! I am not technically/educationally qualified to run a resort. I do not have the requisite work experience of running a hotel or a resort either. I am not an environmental engineer or an environmental consultant, so am not qualified for the eco aspects of our resort also!! All we have us our passion - and that is our only secret. Thank you again for your support.
We(me , my hubby and my 18 months old baby boy) reached native village after 7 hrs of travel from chennai.They greeted us with a garland and fresh orange juice....As I was guided to our room I simply fell in love with the architecture....the stairs , the hallway ...Our room was very spacious with long french windows and good ventilation....I loved the way the room was designed,the brick wall ,the lighting and every little detail.I just wish the balcony was a little big bigger.We had a nice bath in the hot water and went down for lunch...gosh the restaurant atmosphere was sooo peaceful and i felt right at home...the food was so delicious not the
kind you kind u get in run of the mill hotels...very fresh, very tasty ...simply loved it...The chef and the waiters (who were locals) were so friendly ,casual and polite ...had a good time talking with them..They specially cooked food for my baby boy, that really impressed us since this is the first trip for my boy...After lunch i just picked one of the books they had and settled in a corner of the restaurent gosh it was soo peaceful...I wud say this is the perfect place if you want to treat your soul...I did nothing the 1st day ,was just staring the farm..reading ..n enjoying the rustic beauty...the next day tried pottery ...it was so much fun...Wish i had tried garland making and rangoli ..we then tried our hand in the ativity centre where they had all kinds of games...after dinner was just lying on the floor n was gazing the stars and the moon with the chill wind blowing on my face..wow that was complete bliss...it was soul searching journey for me....havnt felt this way in a long time....
The staff were so friendly and i felt right at home..made a couple of friends.. went out for cycling during evening in the grass lands.. it was like another world...alos we tried bullock cart ride with our boy ..that was so much fun hahahha....Afer cycling i was so tired and tried the full body massage at their spa ..gosh they were awesome ..two people massaged(shymala and elizabeth) me in a rhythm and it was so professional....wow just enjoyed it ....my boy enjoyed to the core running all around the place and chasing dogs , hens cow....the last day we tried bonfire in the middle of the farm with the coir bed to lie and gaze the stars..I would always always remember the days spent here...luv the place...I wud specially thank Ravi,Poornima, suresh, manju for making our vacation extra special..Also wud like to appreciate the owner \designer for the whole concept.
Note: I wanted to mention one thing , when we went into the grasslands during late evening there were a bunch of drunk guys who parked their bike across the road blocking our way so we called ravi and he immediately sent help and brought us back safe..so i would say it is best that you take somebody if you want to go there late evening or return before it gets dark...Other than that I wud say anybody who wants to treat their soul and take a true break from the monotonous routine n life ..go there and stay n enjoy..IT WAS A COMPLETE BLISS ....we sure will visit them again....
-sharmi and natraj
Thank you so much for your review Sharmila. Sorry about the group who trouble you outside our premises - it was an aberration, which we have anyway brought to the notice of the local police. I am so happy that you enjoyed your stay, particularly as this was the first trip for your son. It is not everyone who notices and appreciates our architecture. Guests often don't realise that every brick that we used for our construction were hand made bricks, made using the soil from our land - soil that was dug out for the foundation. the bricks were then sun dried only, not even fired in a brick kiln - so you can see that the amount of energy used for the architecture was so minimal! Also so happy that you went through all our experiences and enjoyed all of them. Our staff still talk about you and your family!
It was a weekend trip..My parents , wife & kids....This time we want to try something really different..The choice was Our Native Village...As the name suggests , we really had a feel of our home town...We reached there by 12pm...While checking in we were given a list of things which we can try in the course of our stay...I must say that with great enthusiasm & excitement , the kids & even my parents tried most of them....The activities really took us to our own childhood...We did kite flying....played Gilli Danda...in place of using Gun for shooting , we used catapult..The most exciting thing was tyre racing...( After coming back i was forced to remove the tyre of the old bicycle!!!).. Evening we went for a short bullock cart ride..( Thanks to His Highness Basavanna..The Bullock)...Once we were back we watched kabadi match with a cup of tea & boiled peanuts....There was yakshagana performance before Dinner...The next day started with a nature walk followed by some pottery making( the items which we "tried" making is a part of our showcase now...)It was a complete village experience rather a journey into our childhood...The rooms were cozy enough & the best part was there was no TV in the rooms....The food was excellent( Homely) and the staff was very courteous .....Overall one of the best places in the outskirts of Bangalore for a weekend...We sincerely acknowledge the efforts put by Mr Ramkumar & Team ....Thanks & Best Wishes...
Thank you for your review Manoj. I am glad your caught he essence of what we are trying to do- to take you to the past and reminisce! We often feel that what is in the past is what is precious, which is the case with village activities. Our kids these days are growing up on electronic games, Face Book and cell phone games. They have no clue about the simple village games, which I am so glad you all enjoyed. It is so flattering to see that you now 'own' an old cycle tyre for your kids to race around with! God bless you all.
