Henwoods Bungalow, Tyford Estate, Kerala

The Henwood Bungalow was built in 1938. The medium peaked roof and the gabled porch with charming multi painted baywindows makes the bungalow a beautiful country house. The north east facing bungalow has inviting interiors which spreads from the long front verandah. The walls are made of cut or dressed granite masoned only at the edges. As you drive in from the south to the eastward facing, cute little bungalow, unique in many ways, the first things that across you is the mirror like flooring in coffee brown shade which has endured human footsteps for more than half a century and lays still without having a scratch for the last sixty five years. As we enter through the front door on the north, there is the morning room and toward south is the living room and bedrooms. A long passage runs across the north –east, separating the front and the rear of the bungalow into two sections. The large spans of glass doors when kept open lets lots of lights and air into the interiors. The view from the living rooms, from where you sip down your morning tea is purely a dramatic one. We can see the sun, rise up, behind the contoured, green dunes, flowing across the full north east on the mountain belts of western Ghats.At the eastern corner of the garden there is an old cypress tree with a unique shape. On the northern corner of the garden there are a group of huge trees that stand shading and enclosing the fringes of compound. The northern boundary rolls down steeply into the valley, where a small brook flows undisturbed with a lulling sound. The bungalow is situated on the edge of a cliff with panoramic view of infinite stretch of meadows and mountains. Two mountains named “ANNAN and THAMPI” (the Tamil word for elder and younger) forms a close back drop on the southern side. The whole setting is as beautiful and scenic as a picture post card.

he cozy interiors are well appointed with fire places is all rooms. The wooden arches of the heavily timbered doors are a marvel to watch. The furniture is abstracts of mid Victorian style. The front Verandahs railed with wood are painted in white in contrast to the red tiled floor. On all four sides of the building there are unplastered granite walls with bay windows. The floors and rails of the ‘L' shaped verandah on the northeast is filled with small flowering plants and creepers. The two bedrooms offered for the guest are large, well maintained and set with convenient furniture and fireplace.