Ban Sairee

Ban Sairee is a teak estate in the old Ayutthaya style, raised on stilts above three acres of lawn and coconut palms at Laem Sor, on Samui’s quiet south coast. Gabled pavilions, two converted rice barns and a beachside sala sit around the grass, and beyond the last palms a calm beach stays swimmable all year, looking out over turquoise water to the small islands offshore.

A twenty-metre infinity pool runs along the lawn towards the sand, with a shallow end for children and sunbeds under umbrellas. Upstairs in the main pavilions, high timber ceilings shelter the living room, a TV room and an indoor dining room, while the wraparound teak balconies catch the sea breeze; the long outdoor table seats twenty for evening barbecues on the lawn. The Sairee Suite has a four-poster king bed, a private sitting area and an indoor-outdoor bathroom, and the two barns stand apart as private hideaways, one known as the Honeymoon Suite.

Days fill easily without leaving the gate: a private tennis court, table tennis, kayaks and badminton on the grass, and a yoga sala beneath the Big Barn. Breakfast is included, a villa manager, chef and housekeepers look after the estate, and in the cool of the morning there is a walk uphill to the hilltop temple of Wat Kao Chedi. Lamai is around thirteen kilometres up the coast.