Sri Lanka’s cosmopolitan, multicultural past figures richly in the history of this latest property, Tamarind Hill on the outskirts of Galle – a city whose strongly Dutch character belies its history as an ancient global entrepot, a meeting-place for Arabs, Chinese, Greeks, Persians and South Indians, and identified by Victorian scholars with the Biblical port of Tarshish. Tamarind Hill was built by a Sinhalese landowner, Don Johannes Amarasiri, whose European forename reflected common practice among Sri Lankan aristocrats of this era. The mansion later became the official residence of the Representative of the Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company, the famous ‘P&O Line’. Later still, Tamarind Hill became a judge’s residence, at which time the punkahs in the drawing-room were installed.

Tamarind Hill has 10 rooms and 2 suites, replete with twenty-first-century facilities that never obtrude on the traditional elegance and charm of your surroundings. The food and drink is modern rather than traditional, and of the finest quality.