Villa Atas Awan

Two antique Javanese timber houses, carved, columned and more than a century old, stand face to face across a long turquoise pool at Villa Atas Awan, rebuilt on former rice fields in the green hills of Payangan, north-west of Ubud. Inside, polished hardwood floors, soaring timber roofs and open balconies make it feel less like a holiday rental and more like staying in a rural manor house.

The ground floors are almost entirely open, with deep sofas in indigo and red, rattan loungers and long wooden dining tables looking straight onto the water, while a timber bridge links the two living areas over the pool. Each house has its own open kitchen, so a big group can spread out comfortably, and beyond the pool a rounded infinity edge, wide lawns and a carved garden gate lead out into palms, frangipani and flowering beds.

Upstairs, the bedrooms sit beneath the high roofs, with four-poster beds draped in white, private terraces and views over the treetops and fields; the bathrooms have rain showers and deep stone or terrazzo tubs, some beside walls of glass. The air is cool up here at night, so only some rooms need air conditioning. Breakfast is included, staff take care of housekeeping and security, and the cafés, galleries and markets of central Ubud are around twenty minutes’ drive through village roads and rice terraces.