Villa No. 9

Villa No. 9 is the gentlest introduction to what a residence here is. The two bedrooms sit either side of a central living and dining space that opens straight onto the deck, and the 11-metre pool runs along it with tropical planting dropping away to the Andaman past the rail. It is built for a smaller family or a group of friends, and the scale is domestic in the way the larger residences are not.

Live-in staff are optional here rather than assumed, which is the other thing that makes it the entry point: you can run it as a large villa, or you can have the cook come and take every meal on the deck — a barbecue by the pool, or dinner properly laid in the dining room. It sleeps 4 adults.