In Kerala’s Vagamon, This Renovated Tea Estate Welcomes Travellers Seeking More Than Just Views

What happens when a forgotten estate becomes a canvas for connection? 

Four crumbling walls stand tall amidst lush tea gardens that stretch as far as the eye can see. Plain, flowing strips of khadi gently sway in the wind. A babble of chatter echoes through the hills. It feels like life has returned to these walls. This is Chai Vagamon, an experience curated to bring people from different walks of life together. A space to share and connect, inviting people not to merely observe but to truly belong. 

But it wasn’t always this way.

Before Chai, this part of the Vagamon estate was a ghost of its past. Locals passed by without a glance. The old factory walls stood hollow and forgotten, collecting moss and memories no one remembered. Tourists came for the hills, clicked photos, and left. No one stayed. No one asked who lived behind those green fields.

Then something shifted.

What if travel felt like coming home?

“When I first walked in, I saw a random mix of people, kids, older people, local tea pluckers, foreign tourists and other travellers. They were all engaged in different activities around the space. It was not like a typical event where a stage has been set up, it felt natural to simply walk in and join,” said Roshni Changalath, a doctor who had attended the inaugural event at Chai Vagamon in February.

That first gathering unfolded like a story being told over sips of tea. There were craft workshops lined with a hint of sustainability, art installations that started long conversations and talks from entrepreneurs and initiatives that are a step beyond ordinary, from chocolatiers to adventure riders specialising in difficult terrains, bamboo craft and ayurveda-based cosmetics. With these intimate events that host around 20 to 30 people at once, this experience is a brew of belonging, steeped in community, heritage, art and innovation, the four ingredients that give Chai its soul.

You come for the hills. You stay for the people.

Chai is set up in a 1500-acre tea plantation owned by SVPL Group in a hill station called Vagamon in Kerala, where life goes as slow as the mist that rolls in. The backdrop itself makes you stop and take a breath. Meadows painted green with tea gardens run smoothly along the horizon, interrupted only by spurts of waterfalls and patches of tall pine forests. 

"Usually people go to Vagamon for the tea or the climate, but Chai Vagamon lets you enjoy nature differently,” shares Krishnakumar, an entrepreneur who attended one of the events. “It gives you a glimpse into the lives of the people here and shows how simple, sustainable living can be.”

The gatherings embrace the harmony of nature, culture and connection, be it impromptu breakfast walks, stargazing and sharing stories around a fire, losing track of time in a block-printing workshop, or feasting on local cuisine through lovingly prepared meals that blend with both tradition and imagination. 

Everything at ‘Chai’ is stitched with intention, from biodegradable plates and reusable cutlery to plastic-free decor and organic, locally sourced meals. Even the food tells a story, sometimes of the region's favourite vegetables, of age-old recipes, and sometimes of a dreamer’s new venture. But the most extraordinary thing about Chai is its gentle unravelling of boundaries.

Locals as hosts, not bystanders

In most tourist towns, locals are bystanders to the show. Here, they are the co-creators. Meals are hosted in neighbouring homes, mainly of tea pluckers, where dishes are made from what grows around them. These windows into everyday life are what experiential travel is all about. These interactions are uncommon in a tourist town like Vagamon, where the locals don't usually interact with and spend time with travellers.

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“In every part of the event, there was a thoughtful and local touch,” says Keshav Narayanan, an administrator of a heritage tourism organisation. “In a place like Vagamon, where colonial pasts still linger quietly, it was refreshing to see locals and visitors shedding their inhibitions and sharing a table.”  Conversations over shared meals turn into sparks of collaboration.

“It was a mix of people I would otherwise not have met at all,” Roshni reflects. “Even inquisitive locals joined in. Though we had little in common, it was easy to blend in, even for an introvert like me.” Differences slowly dissolved into bonds of shared laughs and stories. After visiting a local home, one guest was moved to buy the family their first set of beds. These acts of care were not directed; it was the pure magic of heartfelt connection and generosity.

Sustainable tourism 

Just like Chai gently prods its visitors to slow down, it opens up windows of opportunity and exposure for the people living around. For the local women who’ve never stepped beyond the estate’s borders, Chai brings the world to their doorstep—not as tourists but as kindred spirits. Young, local kids gleam with their eyes wide as an artist, famous for using light as a colour in the palette, took a painting class.

It pokes and prods the perspectives of both tourists and locals and leaves its impact in quiet, unassuming ways. It stays true to the antonym CHAI, which stands for Community, Heritage, Art and Innovation. It sustains heritage through classes that explain age-old weaving techniques and highlight traditional cultural performances such as the Kathakali. It celebrates the skills and stories that have quietly endured the march of machines. More than anything, it sustains hope that tourism can be an act of healing, not harm.

What Lakshmi Menon is doing here is bigger than tourism

The brain behind this thoughtful tapestry is Lakshmi Menon, a philanthropist internationally recognised for her Chekkutty dolls initiative. 

In many ways, Chai Vagamon is just one chapter in Lakshmi’s ongoing story of turning loss and limitation into community-driven renewal. During the 2018 Kerala floods, she co-created the now-iconic Chekutty dolls — handmade figures crafted from damaged Chendamangalam sarees—that became symbols of resilience and helped revive local weaving livelihoods. During the pandemic, her ‘Shayya’ initiative transformed tailoring waste from PPE into bedrolls for COVID care centres, simultaneously addressing waste and employment. 

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And with ‘CoVeed’, she mobilised people to create paper homes filled with essentials for those in need—showing how small acts, when rooted in care, can carry profound impact. Whether it’s flood-ravaged cloth or a forgotten estate, Lakshmi’s genius lies in reimagining what’s left behind into something that brings people together.

Her gift for finding beauty in unconventional spaces and her meticulous attention to detail are evident in every nook and corner of Chai Vagamon. One such corner decorated in strips of kora cloth, a kind of raw, unbleached khadi, was “Loom for Connection,” a QR code gallery that opened access to hidden narratives and videos about unfamiliar subjects spanning different genres, from art to music. 

At ‘Chai’, every gathering is intentionally woven, like a handloom sari. Artists don’t just come to display, they come to share. Chefs don’t just serve, they co-create. Storytellers, designers, architects and all participants, in fact, end up having their own role to play. Chai Vagamon is hosting its next event called BRANCH, a catalyst collective of dreamers, doers and changemakers from the 12th to 15th of June. 

In a world where travel has become about ‘instagrammable’ backdrops and chasing bucket lists, Chai Vagamon takes a different route. It invites you to slow down, listen with your heart and connect with your smile. Not just with a place, but with the people that give it its soul. Chai is not just a destination, it's a feeling, a friendly nod to return to what matters and to look back and the forgotten. The most beautiful part is that through Chai, both visitors and locals find something rare, a shared sense of home.

Edited by Leila Badyari; All images courtesy Lakshmi Menon