Set over two floors on either side of The Pala’s entrance hall are four large guest suites – each comprising an air-conditioned bedroom leading to a study or sitting area that can be screened off with clever sliding doors. This area also converts easily into an extra bedroom for young children. Decorative panels of wooden latticework separate the beds (kings downstairs, twins – that can also be configured as kings – upstairs), from the luxury ensuite bathrooms and dressing areas behind.

From the entrance hall, a bright passageway bordered by ponds leads to the vast ocean-view living room furnished with several large and luxurious sofas. Soaring high above, the tiered ceiling features a fresco of scenes from the Ramayana, and beyond a wall of glass sliding doors is a widely curved balcony comfortably furnished for outdoor living.

A corridor leads to the magnificent master wing, with air-conditioned sitting/TV room and bedroom with walls of sliding glass doors onto a wrap-around balcony and stunning ocean views. The suite includes a dressing room and a large bathroom. A striking timber spiral staircase leads downstairs to the sixth guest suite which can be configured with twins or a king, and opens onto the garden.

The large marble-floored dining room offers two eating areas – a huge teakwood table seating 12 in upholstered armchairs, and a round table seating eight. In front is a terrace with informal seating. Behind is a teakwood-lined bar, butler station and a well-equipped kitchen. (A larger professional kitchen behind the kitchen courtyard has been designed for big events and weddings, and can be used by external caterers).

A hallway off the dining room, with stairs to the upper floor, leads to a guest washroom and a spa room. And reached by a pathway through the garden is a playroom with toys and games, and a TV room with Nintendo Wii.

The gardens provide further places for relaxation. Flanking the pool is a deck with loungers and U-shaped seating and, right at the cliff-edge, a garden bale. An open-sided area below the master bedroom offers semi-alfresco dining for 10 and a bar overlooking a cliff-edge amphitheatre.