Nova Oasis Berawa 5

The gate off the Berawa lane opens onto water rather than a hallway. Nova Oasis Berawa 5 is built along one side of a walled courtyard, and the pool — narrow, deep, lined in green mosaic that reads almost black in the shade — runs nearly the full length of it beneath a coconut palm and a thicket of banana and heliconia. At the far end a small carved stone figure stands in a tall arched niche with two smaller niches beside it. Opposite, the ground floor of the house opens completely: a wall of black-framed glass folds back under a timber-boarded soffit, so the lounge and the water sit on the same level and share the same afternoon light.

Inside is one long room that reads as three. At the courtyard end a built-in plaster sectional sits a step down from the floor, pale grey cushions running two walls around a fluted timber drum table on a jute rug. Behind it the white plaster wall is cut with arched niches holding green and cream ceramics, the television recessed below them. The galley kitchen follows — dark timber cabinets under white marble, an open shelf of glassware, a stove and oven that will handle more than coffee — and then the dining table, six bouclé chairs under a wide rattan dome, beside an arched timber door and the stair.

The stair climbs to the single bedroom, which has the whole upper floor to itself. The king sits on a white plaster platform against a wall lined with a slim timber ledge, and plaster niches are sunk in beside the pillows for a book and a phone. Two rattan teardrop pendants hang low on either side. A black-framed picture window runs the length of one wall at treetop height, and the pandanus outside does most of the work of a curtain. An open alcove holds lit timber shelves, a hanging rail and the safe; through an arch, the en-suite has a long carved stone trough basin, a round black-framed mirror and a walk-in shower tiled floor to ceiling in herringbone stone.

There is no washing machine here, which turns out to matter: laundry goes to the concierge and comes back folded, and after a week of Canggu dust that arrangement earns its keep. Breakfast works the same way, ordered the night before and carried out to the daybed alcove rather than the dining table. Staff clean daily, a welcome drink is waiting, and a scooter can be at the gate by morning — the sensible way to cover the three minutes to Finns Beach Club. With one bedroom, two guests and a plunge pool you can cross in four strokes, this suits a couple who want Berawa on foot and a gate that shuts behind them.

Nova Oasis Berawa 5 is a small villa that does not behave like one: the courtyard doubles the floor plan, the pool takes the whole side of it, and the bedroom has a storey to itself. Two people, a gate that shuts, and Berawa’s coffee queue four minutes away on foot.