Villa Tigana

The name arrives before the house does: a small rusted-metal plaque on the cream boundary wall, three palm trees cut into an arch above the lettering. Behind it a carved timber door sits under its own pitched roof, and the lane noise of Pererenan drops away the moment it closes. What you see first is the roof. Tall bamboo columns lift a shingled A-frame high over the living pavilion and out across the deck, so the whole ground floor sits in dappled shade with the pool alongside. Bougainvillea spills over the walls, palms lean in from the corners, and the plan turns inward around the water rather than out towards the street.

The living room steps down from the deck into a deep L-shaped sofa in cream linen, gathered around a low glass and rattan table. A rough stone-clad arch is built into the back wall to frame the 55-inch television, an oversized rattan pendant hangs above, and a sound system runs through the space. The entire pool-side wall slides away, so the lounge and the deck become one room. Behind it the kitchen runs in pale timber under a white stone worktop, with a built-in oven, a breakfast bar of rattan-backed stools and a hanging egg chair in the corner. Six cane chairs surround the dining table beneath woven pendants, and a spiral staircase in timber and black steel climbs from beside it.

Two king bedrooms sit on the ground floor, each with a double-height ceiling, a macrame wall hanging above the bed, a timber-slat screen to the wardrobe and glass doors onto the pool deck. Upstairs the master is something else again, tucked under a woven bamboo vault with an arched picture window over the water and its own lounge of sofa, coffee table and console desk; the television turns on its mount to face either the bed or the sitting area, and doors open to a private terrace framed in bamboo and netting. All three bathrooms are ensuite and tiled floor to ceiling in petrol-green zellige, with cast-stone basins on floating shelves, bamboo ladder towel rails, freestanding oval tubs in two of them and twin rain showers upstairs.

The pool takes an L-shape around the deck, tiled in a green and teal check that turns almost jade in full sun, and a raised circular hot tub is set into the boards at one end, usually scattered with frangipani. A knotted rope net is strung above the water to lie out on, white loungers line the timber, and an outdoor shower is tucked into the planting. In the evening the bamboo columns are uplit and the whole courtyard glows. Staff clean daily, the pool and garden are tended two or three times a week, and the concierge handles transfers, a private cook, massages and anything else the stay calls for.

Villa Tigana suits two or three couples, or a family who want the beach close without giving up a quiet courtyard to come back to. Swim, climb into the hot tub as the columns light up, then take the spiral stair to a bedroom that feels like a treehouse with a bathtub.