Shettihalli Holy Rosary Church, Hasan

The Holy Rosary Church, located in a village of Shettihalli, few kms off Hasan town was a scenic place to be.
If you come post monsoon, the church would be in a submerged state, as it is located in the region of Hemavathy Reservoir. I was totally unaware of this place and Lakshmi Sharath briefed me on its history as follows: “The Holy Rosary church of Shetty Halli was built in 1860s by the Fresh Missionaries but later, when the Hemavati dam was to be built, the entire village had to evacuate. People moved on with their belongings, leaving behind the church”

Because we went in late Summer, water levels w ere pretty low. If we return post monsoon, pay be October, the dam would be full of water and the church will be submerged almost fully.
 
The Shetti Halli Holy Rosary church is in a highly deteriorated state, with its ceilings, windows and most of the structural elements gone. Only few walls and a tower remain, to tell the story… However, with green grass and thick clouds, Holy Rosary church of Shettihalli offered a highly scenic view. The waterbody (hemavathy river) also meant we got to see lot of birds. A bridge passes nearby, which I’m told is a road that will eventually connect to Mysore.
 

Goruru village, village that was birth place of writer Gorur Ramaswamy Iyyengar (Who’s written several books including the popular “Americadalli Goruru” (Kannada) is also believed to be very close

Nearby places: Coorg * Sanskrit village near Shimoga * Hoysala Village Resort* 

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Review: Hoysala Village Resort, Belur Road Hasan

Unlike neighbouring Coorg, the town of Hasan in south central Karnataka doesn’t have large number of resorts and home stays. Hoysala Village Resort is your primary option if you’re looking for luxury stay. Me and a group of Bangalore based bloggers spent a day in this resort and based on what was seen and experienced, this post shares a brief review of the resort. 
Hoysala village Resort is setup in a fairly small campus, about 6-7 acres, but every square inch of it is well designed and utilized. Located about about 6 kms from Hasan town on the Belur road Hoysala village resort has about 34 rooms, 4 of which are called Suites and rest are premium cottages. The rooms are spacious enough for a small family. All rooms include a sit out area while suite includes an additional living room. Suites also feature premium paintings and glassware sourced by management from various places. Some cottages are grouped and called as Vataras, which are ideal for large families who’d like to book 4-6 rooms. (Vatara is Kannada name for a group of houses)

Though cottages are close to each other, lot of greenery around won’t let you realize that. A presidential suite was under construction.

Unlike some of the resorts which are located at vantage points (like a hill station or next to a river or in a forest), Hoysala Village Resort appears to be built from scratch on regular roadside property several years ago.

Hoysala village Resort also incorporates various eco friendly initiatives. Rainwater harvesting is incorporated in all buildings. This was done 7-8 years ago by the then architects, much before the concept of rainwater harvesting gained prominence in India. Food waste from the restaurant is fed to the pigs reared by the employees and the income generated from this goes to employee welfare scheme.

Resort has a water purification unit and by rearing its own set of cows, Hoysala village aims to become self sustainable w.r.t milk in future. (I’m sure milking the cow can also be promoted as a tourist activity, just like Bullock Cart Ride)

The Hoysala village resort campus also houses many fruit laden trees-mango and jackfruits in particular. A tree house is constructed on top of a jackfruit tree. I couldn’t resist plucking a raw mango and tasting it. Besides standard facilities like a pool, campfire, activity centre and ayurvedic massage parlor (Costs between INR 500-700), resort offers cycle rides, bullock cart rides and magic show as added extractions.

Another thing I liked about the Hoysala village was constant chirping of birds. You step out of the room and you’ll be greeted with non-stop birdie sounds. If you have an observatory eye (and optionally equipment like camera/binocular) you can see many birds. Many of them were Minas, but few not-so-common ones were also seen. Photographing them was a challenge as they hide between trees and constantly keep moving. A bird house was also built exclusively for them.

Adjacent to the resort campus are vast agricultural fields, couple of small lakes and a village. An early morning walk around these can give you lot of opportunities in terms of photography as well understanding village life. Friendly villagers willingly offer assistance and information, if they learn that you’re staying at the resort. During our walk, one total stranger even offered us ripe pineapple from his garden, which we politely declined.

The restaurant has standard south Indian menu of veg and non-veg items, with a special counter which cooks local dishes. My wishlist would have included a more traditional banana leaf meals and loads of local items, but that would have posed lot of practical and cultural challenges (having to train foreign tourists on how to each from a banana leaf)

Cost & tariff at Hoysala Village Resort: HVR’s Cottages cost INR 6900 per day (fo  r 2 people, inclusive of meals and taxes) and suite costs INR 8100. One day stay can be a bit expensive by middle class standards, but the Hosyala Village resort offers 3Day 2Night package, which is more tempting and cost effective (the 3D/2N package, which is effectively translates to 48 hours, costs between INR 10999 to INR 14999 depending on season and type of room) (Note: Rates are as available on May 17 and are subject to change)

We spent a few minutes speaking to resort management, who shared with us their future plans for the resort. Management is buying land around the resort to expand the same and give more space to the guests. A lake next to it is being acquired, a conference room with special theme is being built for corporate events and the whole campus will be enhanced to depict rich heritage of Hoysala dynasty. “In next 6 months, there’ll be lot of changes” we’re told.

Management also told us about their vision and future plans. One point of discussion was managing expectations of tourists-European tourists, used to all luxuries, prefer down to earth setup, without much of the modern facilities, while Indian families prefer to have all possible luxuries like TV, refrigerator, AC etc, as they think it is more value for their money.

Hasan is about 180 kms from Bengaluru and Hoysala village resort can be an ideal stop if you’re aiming to cover places of historic importance in and around Hasan. Resort website has more details.

Touristic places nearby: Belur Chennakeshava temple * Halebeedu temple * Shravanabelagola Gomateshwara*  Shettihalli Holy Rosary Church* Hemavati/Gorur dam * Coorg * Chickkamangalooru * Manjrabad fort *

Similar posts: Club Mahindra Kodagu valley resort, Coorg *

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