Villa Leha-Leha takes its name from the Javanese word for peace, day-dreaming, relaxing, or being empty-minded while lying prostrate and gazing at the sky! It’s an appropriate title for this enchanting four bedroom retreat, complete with swimming pool and plunge pools, nestled on the edge of a steep sided valley through which Bali’s sacred Ayung River wends it way on the final stage of its journey to the sea.

The large two-storey living pavilion incorporates two living areas on two different levels. The downstairs open-sided living room is encompassed by fish ponds and a timber deck. A 42-inch, flat screen, multi-channel TV, DVD, CD player and radio stereo system is discretely housed within a wooden cabinet, and there is also a comprehensive collection of videos, books and games. A guest washroom is located downstairs, just off the living room. The upstairs lounge is accessed from the dining room, via a sliding door that leads onto a Palimanan stone staircase. This peaceful lounge is another wonderful, breezy open-air space. Boasting a splendid view of the garden and the river valley extending to the ocean, this is a great area for chilling out and relaxing with a book.

Villa Leha-Leha is equipped with four self-contained bedroom suites, each located in private thatched pavilions and each one linked to its own indoor bathroom and private outdoor shower. Two of the bedrooms boast private plunge pools, and two are supplied with music systems. Each marble-floored, air-conditioned bedroom is furnished with a queen-size four poster canopied bed, a chair, bedside tables and lamps, while bold local artwork adorns the walls.

Dressing areas, with fitted cupboards and walls mirrors, lead into marble bathrooms each complete with twin washbasins, a bathtub, an indoor shower and a toilet hidden behind a teak door. Each bathtub is positioned beside a picture window with doors opening into a small private walled garden. These doors can be opened to create an alfresco bathing experience, and there is also an open-air shower in each of the private gardens. A fifth bedroom (without en-suite bathroom), furnished with up to four extra single beds, is ideal for children.

An all-glass Cathedral window extends from the roof to the ground floor, and separates the upstairs lounge from the air-conditioned work room. This delightful study presents a teak desk with a computer and internet access for the use of the guests. To one side of the work room is an open-air stone terrace surrounded by a balustrade.

The air-conditioned dining room is linked to the downstairs Living Room by two sets of Palimanan stone steps. With a marble floor, and large glass sliding doors on three sides, the room has an open feeling; it is furnished with a dining table for eight, and fitted with a glass-fronted teak cabinet.

The small but well-equipped air-conditioned kitchen is conveniently positioned next to the dining room. It features a marble service counter, marble work tops and teakwood wall cabinets. On the far side of the kitchen is an attractive water court, with large stepping stones across the fish pond.

The beautiful landscaped gardens of Villa Leha-Leha are planted with sweet scented flowering shrubs and tropical trees. The freeform, infinity-edge swimming pool overhangs the river valley and is flanked by a stone pool deck. At one end of the pool are some sunken stone bar stools flanking a pool bar with an attractive ironwood shingle roof.