Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar recently celebrated his 50th birthday at this 10-acre Konkan hideout in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. Flanked by a perennial stream, the six thatched roof cottages built in a traditional machaan style overlook lush plantations thriving with coconuts, spices and banana trees. 

Poised 7,700 feet above ground, illumined by the ghostly pallor of solar lanterns and resonant with the bleating of mountain goats, Goat Village is an inevitable pit stop on your trek to the summit of Nag Tibba in Garhwal, (Uttarakhand).

Harkirat Singh Ahluwalia's family has been engaged in citrus horticulture for the past two generations so starting a home stay in 2006 was an opportunity for them to share the farmer's journey from seed-to-sickle.

The Bankli countryside in Pali district of Rajasthan is known for its ancient temple caves, salt lakes where exotic pelicans and flamingos congregate and the adventures of exploring leopard riddled forests at the edge of rocky foothills. 

Run by a local Kuttanadam family who has graciously opened their reclaimed 1950s property to visitors, Philipkutty's Farm comprises of five idyllic villas roosting on an island in Lake Vembanad, near Kumarakom in Kerala.