El Cortijo, Marbella Club

El Cortijo means "the farmstead", and the villa wears the name lightly. It sits at the very heart of Marbella Club, a short walk through the gardens to the beach, and feels like a country house that has been loved for generations. There are terracotta floors underfoot and rough timber beams overhead. Rattan, linen and warm earth tones fill the rooms, and a wood-burning fireplace anchors the open-plan living room.

Most of the living, though, happens outside. The walled garden is planted with fruit trees and climbing bougainvillea around a heated pool. Shaded verandas, furnished with deep wicker seating, are made for long lunches, and an outdoor fireplace carries the evening well past dark.

All three bedrooms have king beds, one of them a carved four-poster with a woven straw headboard. Among the four bathrooms are a clawfoot tub, a pedestal bath and a jet bath beneath tall white louvred windows. A pretty green-cabinet kitchen looks after breakfasts and late suppers, and the hotel’s ten restaurants and bars take care of the rest.

A dedicated Villa Host runs the house, and the whole of Marbella Club is yours: the Thalasso Spa, the Beach Club, the Kids Club and the gardens of Finca Ana María. For families who want the privacy of a home and the ease of a great hotel, El Cortijo is hard to better.