The Last House

On the console table in the sitting room at The Last House lies a copy of Geoffrey Bawa: The Complete Works, which is fair, since this is where his houses end. This is the last one he designed, on Mawella Bay seven kilometres west of Tangalle, between the sand and a lagoon. It is a horseshoe of yellow walls and terracotta tiles round a courtyard pool, with frangipani leaning over the lawn and teal doors that fold back onto the garden. Inside, the walls are white and the floors grey polished cement, so the furniture stands out: a black table on turned legs in front of pale blue sofas. In one bathroom a clawfoot bath stands in the middle of the floor under fretwork fanlights, with a cane planter's chair beside it for whoever is waiting their turn.

Recommended for couples who want Bawa at the size of a house, and for a family or friends who take all five bedrooms: by the room the minimum age is ten, but the whole house takes children of any age. Ask for Moonamal, which has its own bath outdoors with a shower over it; a family with older children wants the two Cinnamon Hill rooms upstairs, which share a wraparound balcony. The beach is straight out of the garden. The house keeps surfboards for it, and a croquet set for anyone who would rather stay on the lawn. The hotel arranges trips to watch the turtles nest at Rekawa, and Ayurvedic massage for afterwards. Chef Ananda's dinners, crab curry and mullet with dhal sauce among them, come to timber tables on a pillared veranda over the sea. Some nights it leaves the veranda altogether, for a barbecue by the Indian Ocean.