Nelliyampathy

It derived its name from the gooseberry trees, (Nelli in Malayalam), that are found abundantly in the area.

The verdant hill ranges can be viewed at the height of 467 Metres to 1572 Metres, which is blessed with a vast array of flora and fauna.

Situated right adjacent to the Prambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary and the Project tiger zone, its truly an enchanting place.

History of Nelliyampathy

The history of this quint town dates back to the 1800s when Arthur Hall planted the first tea block at kottangady near Kailas estate. British planters leased land from Cochin and Kollangode Raj, and turned them into coffee, tea, orange & spice plantations. It was known that more than 10,000 acers of land in Nelliyampathy was connected by railway track to transport the plantation produce. This is at a time when there was no motarisable road to Nelliyampathy and the train parts were carried manually by human labour and assembled in Nelliyampathy. The oranges from Nelliyampathy were so delicious that they were shipped directly to the Queen of England.

Fun Fact

Back in the 1800 there where only 6 liquor stores in Kerala and one was located in Padagiri Nelliyampathy. That shows the high British population and cultural influence brought in to Nelliyampathy.

History of Kailas Estate

Post independence these British plantations were auctioned by Kerala government to Indians. Kailas Estate was a part of Kollangode Raj which was leased to the British for cardamom plantation. After the Independence the 75 acer Kailas estate was sold to Indians and in the 1973, came into the hands of our family. Kailas Estate was the cardamom division of the Pullala & Rosary Estate Group which used to consist of 6 estates with a total planted area of 1784 acers in Nelliyampathy.

Because of the labour-intensive harvesting and maintenance requirement of cardamom we are converting the estate to high shade speciality arabica estate. Currently estate has 4 blocks which accounts to a total area of 68 acers. The bulk of the estate lies along the slopes of the Kailas Mountain.

Distance

Cochin airport : 119km (3 hours)

Coimbatore airport : 117km (3 hours)

Thrissur : 77km (2 hours)

Palakkad : 53km (1 hours 45 minutes)

Physiography

Elevation : 1532 feet - 5157 feet

Temperature : 15° C - 28° C

Forest type : Dark evergreen and semi evergreen

Total area : 573 sq meters