1 Day Outing from Bangalore-DeveraBetta in 'Little England' - KatchuTravels| Daddy and Son Adventures

This trip talks about a 1 day Outing/Getaway from Bangalore. Ideal for a short hike with Kids. Deverabetta is a monolith rock, which has a temple on the top. It’s a peaceful place, surrounded by verdant valleys in Tamil Nadu, 2 hours away from Bangalore.

The Drive to Hosur

“6 am, Hosur Bus Stand” . I finished typing this on the Whatsapp group created between us to explore Bangalore. I would come in my car and Vinay would come in his car. We wanted a small hike/outing with our kids, just meant to be a drive amidst meadows, hoping to see verdant valleys and lakes by the side, as we drove along.

We read a post on Tripoto, that spoke about a “Little England” that existed in Hosur. It was attractive enough to plan a trip, but not so believable in its existence. My pessimism that such a castle (Brett’s Castle) could not exist, kept increasing by every passing minute on the drive. I thrust my phone to people in Hosur, and kept asking them about the castle. Nobody had heard or seen this. One guy suggested I drive past the market (Uzhavar Sandai) and the Railway station, to find old buildings. I tried both but could not find the castle as written on the blog post.

I had a couple of places on my list to explore in Hosur, which had proper Google Maps marks, but Hosur was too crowded and I wanted a dreamy meadow to drive by. So Vinay and I decided to drive to Thalli, a place that was called “Little England”, with no real goal of what to see. We hoped that magically the meadows would show up. The reality of crowded town life, traffic would give way to a green belt, amidst trees, more like a Windows OS wallpaper. The tough part was to keep an eye, on the sides. My son, who was more than willing to help, fell asleep in the front seat, chained by the seatbelt’s grip over him, and the air-conditioning waving a little lullabye, to complete the sleep cycle that got disrupted when he woke up this morning.

Food and Shopping at Thalli

We stopped at a tea shop near Thalli, to properly meet each other and for the kids to know each other. There were 5 of us, including Nikita who had joined us in a triumphant bid to shake off the cobwebs in exploring Karnataka (Psst…We are in Tamil Nadu now). The guy serving tea, told us about a hill called Deverabetta and said there is nothing else around to see. With the increasing heat, that was gaining on us, and failed attempts to see magic on the drive so far, we assured ourselves that it would be okay to try out Deverabetta, after coming 27 kilometres from Hosur to Thalli.

Vinay and Nikita were in a car, and were following my car and I was lunging forward, with furtive glances on Google Maps, eerily feeling that I am being directed to the middle of nowhere. Our next task was to find a place to eat. Having started earlier from Bangalore, Nandu and I had eaten at “Anant Bhavan”, while we were killing time, waiting for Vinay to come. Hosur had a lot of copy cat hotels, mimicking names of popular hotels(Anandan Bhavan and Saravana Bhavan) by intentional spelling mistakes. Vinay had got delayed by a glitch on Zoomcar, so by the time I had finished breakfast, I met him in Hosur. I drove through Thalli town, hoping to find a place to eat, and all I saw was the word “hotel” and it would look like a dirty mechanic shed. The next 2 kilometres were spent in driving slowly to look at either sides, and after a few failed glances, I spotted the bus stand, but I could not stop the car in the narrow lanes, so I had to drive further on. I stopped 500 metres ahead, and walked back to find Kavya Hotel. You could easily miss it, as it lies in a corner behind the bus stand.

Kavya Hotel at Thalli (Little England)

While Vinay, his daughter and Nikita were eating, Nandu and I chose to walk around town observing town. The town had a gaudy layer of bold paints on the walls, that was wearing off, showing the inner red coloured tiles in patches. Tiled Houses had developed their own shape, like dough that is beaten, and it was interesting observing the lack of symmetry in the house. Most houses lent their wall space to be painted, with political symbols and messages. AIADMK seemed to be painting the town red and black all around. On the other walls, that did not have political messages and where the inner bricks, were’nt showing up, there were posters put by local youngsters featuring themselves with congratulatory messages.

Political Party Messages and Paints on Walls- Houses in Thalli

Nandu spotted a couple of interesting toys around the place. He saw a Mario themed broom, a spinning top, a catapult, and a cheaper version of Kinder Joy at 5 rs. By seeing that toy, he wanted to come again on a road trip, just to be able to buy that toy.

Catapults in Thalli

Motu Patlu- The Cheaper Desi Version of Kinder Joy

Super Mario Themed Brooms

The Road to Deverabetta

As we retraced the way back to our parked cars, we looked at the road to get through to Deverabetta. It did not look like a road. One had to pray that no other vehicle came by on that path, and if that was not enough you always had a 2 wheeler parked in the middle of the lane. After wading through this maze, we finally found ourselves on a small lane with grass on either sides, on a mud path with ups and downs. I stopped every 300 metres to check if we were on the right track, whenever I came in contact with a human. In such places, I make it a point to speak to people to get an idea of the place, since Google Maps can make a mess if not properly tracked. There are about 3-4 points where little pathways diverge, and you need human help to know which path to take. Its very easy to be lost in this forest area and go around in circles.

Once you pass the trees on either sides, the road descends down and that’s when you get views of the twin boulder hills, amidst the greens surrounding them, and it looks exciting and surreal to see the first views of the place. From that point, you have to ease your way through the little roads, as the small town approaches before you find the parking spot between the monolith rocks.

Climbing Deverabetta

The steps are fresh from a coat of white paint, and it makes it look magical as you hike up the hill. The white steps against a clear blue sky, makes it feel like Santorini, but it stops there. There are about 200-250 steps on a low incline, which makes it not so tough to climb. I have been to a couple of similar temples (Anjandri Hill in Hampi and Kambadha Yoga Narasimha Temple in Maddur) that have a bigger incline, so this was comparatively easier.

The walk up the steps at Deverabetta

The temple is a small square room that could hold about 15 people, hosting the Malleshwara Swamy as the main deity. There is a water pump for travellers who seek water. The view of the town and the forest from the temple doors is something that I loved soaking in. This place is beautiful and just about right for “me time” to be spent in solitude. Its also a nice hike with kids, and can be combined into a larger trip, if you see Hosur’s rose garden and also drive to the Anchetty forest reserve. At any point, home is about 2 hours away, despite being in a very different environment so close by to Bangalore.

The monstrosity of the boulders was apparent only when I was flying my aerial cam/drone to take a couple of shots. If you are into rock/boulder climbing, this place must be on your list.