Serving as your personal port in the storm, this hotel and spa is modelled after an Italian villa with its courtyard lounge and fire pit, sculpture garden, outdoor pool and extensive grounds that have been cultivated with the scent and splendour of everything from roses to wisteria.

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Simon Jackson, an Australian designer who made his name catering to expats and local tycoons, did the last renovation in 1993 when the kids were teenagers, changing what had been a Spanish-style villa with a Japanese garden into a neoclassical home, adding some ornate touches and the outdoor pool, but in a "California" palette of creams and yellows.

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