Vivenda dos Palhacos is a one hundred year old, carefully renovated house set on a very quiet cul-de-sac in the village of Majorda in South Goa. The longest beach, with the most beautiful sand in Goa, is about a kilometer away.

Vivenda dos Palhacos has three quite different atmospheres. At the front of the house, is a modest Portuguese Mansion, built in 1929. It has a hall, two large bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, a sitting room leading out to a veranda and a large dining room to seat twenty.

The older Hindoo house, behind, is made from thick rammed earth walls with three double bedrooms all with ensuite bathrooms. All bedrooms have fans as well as air-conditioners. The latter are not usually required until March or April.

At the back of the house is the main garden with a 12m swimming pool, private dining and sun bathing areas and a self-contained cottage.

The rooms are named after the places in Bengal and Tamil Nadu. They all have fans, air-conditioners and en-suite bathrooms. They don't have TV's or phones. Though either of those can be easily rustled up for children or major sporting events.

Room types
Konnagar
Konnagar, the Portuguese master bedroom has a four-poster bed and its own balcony. The large bathroom next door has a shower and a cast iron bath tub saved from the Royal Bombay Yacht Club.

Alipore
Alipore has a window seat that is either a love seat or prayer spot, overlooking the next door coconut plantation. So if you hear a small explosion overhead every now and then, it is more likely to be a coconut hitting the tiles than a missile. It has a simple teak antique double bed and a long, narrow ensuite bathroom hidden between the two houses.

Madras
In the older, Hindoo part of the house is Madras - a large double room with French doors leading out to the garden from its open-air bathroom.

Ballygunge
Ballygunge has two large single beds in it that can be pushed together. With a distinctly Gujarati bathroom.

Ooty
Ooty with its private entrance from the courtyard, has a built-in double bed and sitting area and a mirrored ensuite secret bathroom.

The Chummery
The Chummery is a self-contained, air-conditioned cottage with a bathroom, small kitchen and two verandas.

Chanpara
Chanpara is a huge tent, with twin beds, rugs and old camping furniture, including a Thunder Box and an early version of a mini-bar. It has a private entrance and young garden of its own, in a coconut plantation by the pool. It is fully plumbed and air-conditioned.

The  food is best described as eclectic. Signature meals include a Goan Feast, complete with suckling pig and continental favourites like Iced Gazpachio topped with Lobster, drizzled in Paprika oil. Excellent steaks on caramelised onions with Masala mashed potato and an exceptionally gooey chocolate mousse, which many children have been known to eat for breakfast.

Continental breakfast is complimentary. Lovely first growth teas from Darjeeling and fresh organic coffees from the South of India. Fresh fruit and fruit juices & the ubiquitous buttertoast or butter home made mango marmalade toast.

Picnic and Alfresco lunches can be arranged on the beach or by the pool. Cocktail eats, snacks and children?s meals will be served at all times. Dinner has to be booked by breakfast at the latest.

Drinks
The wine list will have twin purposes

• To quench the sometimes-unquenchable thirst of those who favour quantity over quality.
• To tickle the taste buds and memories of those who prefer quality to quantity.

Hayward's 5000 strong beer will be served with compliments to anyone beating the record, The Ladies? record is currently six bottles, and the Men?s, eight. Both, needless to say, are held by Australians.

The range of Services offered to the Guests include

• Baby-sitting
• Bicycles to rent
• Laundry & Hair dryer
• Airport pick-up at Rs 550 per car
• Sight seeing and shopping tours from Rs 1,800 a day
• Around three-quarters-of-the-clock food and drink
• Complimentary wifi broadband
• A television and DVD player in the sitting room
• A  very sophisticated 24 hour, native English speaking concierge service
• Picnics and parties planned
• Weddings arranged, though not necessarily in the desi sense of the word.
• The spas at The Grand Hyatt and Leela are both excellent and almost next door

There are number of activities conducted for the guests. They include

• Electronic clay pigeon shooting
• Karting - ten minutes away
• Fishing in local rivers as well as the sea
• Scuba diving courses
• Backgammon, Chess, Liar Dice & cards
• A variety of board games
• Reading books that are printed in India are very good value
• Bicycling - A guided tour of the old part of Panjim sounds interesting.
• Various water sports
• Horse riding on the beach
• Yoga Courses
• Ayurvedic treatments
• Bird watching.
• A National Park visit
• The floating Casino
• Tennis, Squash, Badminton, Billiards and Pool at local hotels and Boules chez nous
• Water fall and river trips
• The cinema. Everyone should see one Bollywood Movie. A billion people can't be wrong.
• Elephant rides, elephant baths, spice farms, river trips et al
• A rave party - if you happen to be lunatic about raving
• The night market up in the north run by authentic, but rather old hippies
• There is an excellent arts centre to visit. There is often something to be seen at The Kala Academy.
• There are also a vast number of wonderful old churches, temples, forts and mansions to visit
• Shopping - excellent jewelers in particular who can clean or mend old jewelry and make new designs before delivering them to you at the house.

By Air
Vivenda Dos Palhacos is less than half an hour's drive south of Goa's airport at Dabolim. Goa is a fifty-minute flight from Bombay and Bangalore. There are frequent flights on a variety of India's excellent new private domestic airlines connecting Goa with India's main tourist cities including Jaipur and Agra. The flight from Delhi is under two hours and Calcutta is two and a half hours away.

By Rail
Vivenda Dos Palhacos is twenty minutes from the main station in Margao. The daily overnight train to and from Bombay, The KonKan Express, is recommended in one direction if you are feeling adventurous. We would be happy to suggest places to stay and things to do in Bombay for a couple of nights at the beginning or end of your trip. Or further afield if you would like to combine a relaxing week in Goa, with a more rigorous trip elsewhere in the sub-continent.

By Road
The easiest way of finding Vivenda Dos Palhacos is to head for the Majorda Beach Resort. When you get there, turn around and come back to the junction of Beach Street and the main road, where there is a large poster for the Majorda Beach Resort "Where the fun never sets!". At this junction, with your back to the Majorda Beach Resort, go straight on and take the tiny little first lane on your left, opposite a sign for a little shop on your right called 'Nel's Creations'. They are 300 metres down that lane, on your left. They are five minutes from the Grand Hyatt and Kennilworth Hotels at Utorda.