Villa Belle

As our flight approached USM at the end of March 2019 the same thought kept going through my mind - why had I allowed almost seven years to elapse since our last visit to Koh Samui? In the summer of 2012, self, wife and teenage son had rented two villas at the Conrad Koh Samui - we had had a wonderful time there, albeit the resort (at the south-west corner of the island) was quite a distance from the airport and fairly isolated from everything else on the island. When the opportunity arose to spend four days at Villa Belle I jumped at the chance. The location seemed perfect - within easy reach of the airport, beaches, etc - situated with nobody overlooking you, on a hillside with far-reaching views. So it was with great excitement and anticipation that self, wife, son and son’s friend climbed into an SUV at USM for the short drive to Villa Belle. We were not in anyway disappointed. There is a certain feeling of exclusivity about not only having an entire staffed villa to yourselves, but also having the ability to have your breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared for you without having to set foot outside the property. And therein lies, for us, the unique selling point of the Villa Belle experience - the in-house chef (the wife of the villa manager). All we had to do was thumb through a book of Thai recipes, indicate what we would like to eat, agree a meal time and present ourselves at the appointed hour to enjoy what turned out to be stupendously delicious food - all prepared with ingredients purchased on our behalf by the villa’s manager in local markets, at cost with just a very reasonable USD10 surcharge for his time. Superb food and tremendous value! The accommodation itself was fine, air-conditioned throughout with ceiling fans, and spotlessly clean (thanks to the live-in maid). The four of us preferred to use the two downstairs bedrooms in preference to the upstairs bedroom, despite the latter supposedly being the master bedroom. The small pool provided welcome relief from the heat and humidity, and the sitting area provided many hours of laid-back relaxation time. Through the excellent villa manager we rented a very competitively-priced car for three days; this provided easy access to the local 7-11 store (five minutes away) and the delightful beach (just a couple of minutes further), which proved very difficult to tear ourselves away from. If I am forced to be critical about anything it would be this - the towels were more Holiday Inn standard than Four Seasons; one would expect the latter standard at a property at this price level. To be fair, the villa manager did say he would highlight the matter to the owners of Villa Belle. I also found the need to highlight one safety issue (a potential balcony fall hazard) to the villa manager; I would be both surprised and disappointed if this had not already been addressed. However, overall a superb experience - made all the better by the in-house dining (as good as any restaurant on the island). If you can afford it, do yourself a favour and make a reservation to stay at Villa Belle. A word of warning to the owners of Villa Belle - if ever I can afford to buy my own Koh Samui villa the first thing I will do is steal your chef and triple her wages!