The Lanterns is one of those places that I think as a family we will always talk about and look forward to hopefully staying at again in the future.

The only negative - we would've liked to stay longer.

The villa offers perfect tranquility and privacy and is immaculate in all respects. There is a level of attention to detail and comfort that the majority of home stays just don't have - fresh flowers in the rooms and on statues around the pool, beautiful fixtures and furnishings.

The pool, and areas for relaxing around it, are great - sun loungers, sala and a poolside table for eating at, if it's not too hot.

If that wasn't enough - then, as many reviews attest to, there is Khun Sa. She really is the icing on the cake and did everything she could to make our stay as enjoyable as possible. She welcomed us as if we had always know her and were arriving back home. She was extremely attentive yet discrete, preparing fresh amazing food, bringing us a coffee by the pool, and our children cold water or juice, and helping guide us and arranging a couple of things accordingly.

As others have done, we'd recommend eating dinner at home at least once. On the day we arrived, Khun Sa had prepared a wonderful lunch and for another day, we worked out a dinner menu with her that catered for both Adults spicy needs, as well as something not spicy for our children. Her and her cousin (I think), spent most of the day preparing something that was nothing short of a feast. There was some leftovers which served us well for a poolside lunch next day and as it appeared a little short, without asking, Khun Sa made some additional spring rolls.

The villa is almost equidistant to the two lovely beaches and certainly in walking distance even when hot, although we struggled to find the shortcut to Bangtao across the rough ground mentioned in the house guidebook. We were waved away from what we thought was the right direction but it was a holiday, so perhaps that was why? We took a tuktuk a couple of times and both drivers knew the location.

Fiona was very responsive and arranged the airport transfer which was very smooth. Khun Sa fixed up a couple of massages for us which we had in the sala, both of which were fabulous, even if our kids were noisy during it!

Oh, one other negative - the wonderful breakfasts prepared fresh every day, incl. an array of fresh tropical fruit and smoothies, are rather large!

We were very sad to leave and can only highly recommend The Lanterns.