Jamie and Amanda, Seraya Shores, Seraya Berat, East Bali

Jamie is a surfer first and foremost ("these arms are paddling machines" he told me), a big bloke who couldn't possibly be anything but Australian. He studied design, and his ceramics and paintings dot the place. The pair have exquisite taste which the French lap up like thirsty dogs. The whole hotel has a laid back humour to it, if you look closely which is, I think, very Australian.

A year and a half ago or so he married Amanda, then general manager of the upmarket Alila Manggis. More recently, they had Jude. The Alila Manggis, generally very well reiewed, is in Manggis, near Candi Dasa; the village's name means mangosteen. The pair had private rooms at the Alila, an enviable little asset. It is sister to the Alila Ubud, formerly the Chedi. They ferried back and forth between the two places, and seemed to have carved out lives of more or less leisure for themselves.

The photo is of the interior of room 1 which is kind of Jamie & Amanda's bolt hole when they're there, and kind of a room to be rented out when they're not. It was like no hotel room I have ever stayed in. A bookshelf full of books is a great look in any room. Bali