Nitin and Shilpa Karkare are the visionary founders of Rustic Holidays, a charming homestay nestled in the village of Tural, within Sangmeshwar taluka of Ratnagiri District. Located on the Mumbai-Goa Highway, Tural sits at 650 feet above sea level and is surrounded by lush hills and dense forests, which have a variety of birds and animals local to the land like palm civets, barking deer and porcupines. Rustic Holidays is set on the ancestral property of the Karkare family, spanning over 100 acres of farms and greenery. The historic Wada, over 200 years old, has been lovingly maintained with traditional mud flooring and walls of mud and local laterite stone.The homestay, which began in November 2003, celebrates its heritage with the annual Gokulashtami festival in the family’s temple.