Villa Nishiki

The street wall on Gang Orchid is hung with creeper from parapet to pavement, so the first thing you see of Villa Nishiki is a hedge on its side. Behind it the entry is a corridor lined floor to ceiling in stacked dark timber, lit by one slot of daylight at the far end, and it opens without warning onto twenty metres of water. The pool runs the whole length of the plot with a timber deck and scarlet parasols down one side and lawn and palms down the other; the house sits low along it under deep eaves and slatted timber ceilings. Twelve hundred square metres is a great deal of land this close to Seminyak, and the villa spends it on air and distance rather than on rooms.

Living happens in one long volume of polished dark stone, open on the pool side. A dining table for a dozen runs under a suspended bar of brass rods; a bar counter sits at one end; the designer kitchen behind it has a fluted timber island, a wine fridge and an espresso machine, and the concierge will put a private chef behind it if cooking is not the plan. Outside, a covered lounge with a television and deep sofas takes the afternoon shade, and there is a barbecue for the evenings. Nothing here is far from the water.

Two rooms make this villa unusual for its size. A private gym occupies a glazed pavilion at one end, with a multi-station rig, a treadmill and free weights and garden on two sides; a karaoke and entertainment room sits at the other, all curved velvet in charcoal and purple beneath an iron ring chandelier, with a fluted teal wall and a screen large enough to settle arguments. Both are part of the villa rather than an extra, which is why groups tend to book Villa Nishiki twice.

The five bedrooms are en suite and Japanese in temper: grey stone, pale travertine, recessed light, a teal or mustard runner across white linen. Three have oversized kings, one has twin singles under a painted moon-and-water panel, and the family suite holds two queens with its own lounge and a patio door. One room keeps a raised tatami-style platform behind shoji screens with a red maple painted across the wall behind it. The bathrooms run to five and a half, several with sunken tubs — one set under a round porthole window with a carved leaf grille — and outdoor showers open to planting. Housekeeping comes daily, staff handle the dishes, and parking is inside the gate.

Villa Nishiki is built for a group that wants to stay in rather than go out, and to do it properly: laps before breakfast, the gym while the rest of the house wakes, a chef at the island bench and the karaoke room going long after the pool lights have come on. Seminyak is ten minutes away whenever anyone remembers to leave.