Next, we got a boat to Koh Samui and stayed in a gorgeous beach villa.
My wife and I recently spent a week in Umbria, Italy, in a gorgeous restored villa not far from Lake Trasimeno.
Try the brand new Hotel Amzei, a gorgeous neoclassical villa renovated to within an inch of its life, which has doubles for well under £100".
As a favor, she arranged for me to go on a tasting tour of the winery, a gorgeous Italianate villa on Napa's main drag, and then a week later to have an "informational session" about potential writing jobs with her friend who oversaw copy for one of the winery's labels.
Conveniently, new restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts, some in gorgeous colonial villas, have sprung up over the past year as the government has allowed more private enterprise.
Close by, neatly pressed into a gorgeous French colonial villa is the Hanoi Social Club, which manages to combine offering tasty veggie burgers with bamboo chips (£3.80), fragrant cups of tea, and music nights (and Saturday morning music breakfasts) with comfy seats and relaxing corners that promise an inviting morning-through-to-night vibe.
And it's simply gorgeous: a medley of villas scattered across three wide hills sloping downwards to an out-ofsight shoreline.
La Villa is a gorgeous 17th-century palazzo 30 minutes from Asti; lofty double rooms cost from £160 (00 39 0141 793 890; lavillahotel.net).net
Locally-run boutique hotel Sawah Indah Villa is absolutely gorgeous (check out the tiling in the bathrooms), and offers tours to Mount Agung.
