Villa Perle

Villa Perle is built around water. A sixteen-metre pool stretches the length of the garden between frangipani trees, a lotus pond sits beneath stepping stones at the entrance to the living pavilion, and dense tropical greenery closes in around the walls. Set in the countryside outside Candidasa in east Bali, about a kilometre from the coast, it is a place for slow mornings, long swims and very little else.

The house is arranged as three pavilions in a mature tropical garden. Wide verandas furnished with antique planters’ chairs look over the pool, and the living room mixes carved teak sofas with glass doors that open to the garden on both sides. There are two places to eat: a long timber table beside the living area for relaxed family meals, and a separate dining pavilion for something more formal, served from a full kitchen. A raised timber pavilion in the garden is set up for yoga and quiet stretching.

Breakfast is cooked fresh each morning by a warm, attentive team of seven, and lunch and dinner can be arranged at the villa on request. Beyond the gates, a village walk leads through Kastala to the old Bali Aga village of Tenganan, the beach for snorkelling, diving and sailing is close by, and the water palace at Tirta Gangga and the temple at Lempuyang make easy day trips.