Lily Pool Villa

A throwback to the houses the first planters built, and better than most of them ever were. Whitewashed mud walls two feet thick, a high ceiling of stained timber, terracotta floors, cane-and-rosewood seating and a four-poster with lace at it. There is a proper living room and a separate en-suite bedroom, and the bathroom is the best on the estate below the Heritage: a large tub, a twin-shower cubicle and twin basins, with big windows onto its own open-to-sky court.

The water is what sets this villa apart, and there is more of it here than anywhere else. A heated lap pool and a lily pond run side by side down the length of the deck, separated by a low kerb, with granite stepping stones laid across the pond and lanterns standing in it. At the end of the run there is a thatched gazebo with a daybed under it, which is where the afternoon goes. Beyond that the ground drops into paddy and coffee with nothing between you and it — the opposite of the Heritage's walled courtyard, and the right choice if you would rather be in the plantation than sheltered from it. There are 6 of them.