If you imagine a dream villa on a secluded beach, the chances are that your mind will immediately leap south to the coves of Tangalle, or the clear waters between Galle and Matara. Its unlikely, at any rate, that images of Wadduwa would spring immediately to mind. But for British couple Brendan and Bernadette O Donnel it was Wadduwa with its secluded lick of blonde sand, swaying palms and proximity to Colombo, that presented itself as the perfect location for the ultimate ‘barefoot beach villa.’

The London based architect and designer spent four years creating this personal paradise and the thought and effort, lavished on every detail of the property is apparent from the moment you enter the villas, wonderfully secluded world.

As you drive through the non descript gates, you enter something like a tropical maze and a solid wall of drooping cannas, ruby red ginger and hanging hibiscus guides you to a central walauwa, that seems to have sprung improbably out of the surrounding lotus ponds.

Inside, bespoke roofing tiles crafted in kerala, cool makrana marble floors and hanging Moroccan chandeliers make it abundantly clear that Reef represents a striking departure from the uniform tropical chic of the expat enclaves further south.

While much of the furnishing and craftsmanship is Indian, the house — with its high ceilings and intricate fretwork is absolutely Sri Lankan, and the result is a seamless fusion — a mughul-raj-walauwa that manages to take beach architecture beyond the sometimes cloying influence of Geoffrey Bawa.

Of course there is more to a hotel than architecture and design. But at The Reef the property’s design is so inextricably entwined with the experience that more than the cake crumb soft sand at the beach, or sparkling swimming pool — the property’s principle attraction — is the chance to be surrounded by such an aesthetically pleasing selection of objects.

Lounging on antique arm chairs and staring out onto a cerulean sea, or sitting on the hand crafted cushions of the suite’s bronze swings, waiting for another gently fizzing lime soda, simple things are the essence of the luxuriously laid back Reef.

What makes the property really stand out however is that as a result of this commitment to fabulous furniture, and distinctive spaces, The Reef offers arguably the most spacious, extravagant and fabulously furnished suites in the vicinity of Colombo.

Each room is enormous, encompassing vast living spaces, dressing rooms and bath rooms that vie to be the best in the island.

The rooms’ ancient Calcutta beds are themselves minor sculptures, and each is topped by perhaps the only working antique pankawas in Sri Lanka — a gentle tug will send air circulating through the room, but of course these venerable contraptions are complemented by perfect climate control.

Old world charm

Despite the emphasis on period pieces The Reef, unlike some other top end villas, does not eschew modern conveniences and you’ll find state of the art sound systems, and flat screen televisions, tucked discreetly into Dutch almirahs and broad band sockets somehow sequestered in custom made teak desks….

While the rooms themselves offer quite exceptionally refined luxury, the bathrooms are a special achievement featuring both indoor and intensely tropical outdoor showers, venetian glass mirrors and quite literally monolithic bath tubs. Each tub was hewn from a single enormous lump of granite and transported like the building blocks of the pyramids on a series of rollers to its final resting place…

The mindboggling labour involved in shipping each half tonne tub from the quarries of South India to the beaches of Sri Lanka is reflective of the painstaking effort that has clearly gone into every aspect of the villa. And its only lying in the cool granite egg of a tub at night, drowning in a tsunami of foam, that you will understand that all this effort was emphatically worth it.

It is the beauty of the villas’ various objects that allows it to stand at such close proximity to Colombo and yet provide such a complete escape. The swaying palm trees, and constant crash of the ocean, drive thoughts of Colombo’s chaos from one’s mind and the villa’s intensely aesthetic surroundings will allow one to forget that the humdrum and depressingly utilitarian world outside even exists, for a while at least.