A dreamy house to rent for a winter break in Galle, Sri Lanka

Since 2008, Charlie and Tweenie Wrey have lived in Sri Lanka. Their house is perched on the crest of a hill, with views across dense vegetation and acres of tea plantation to the Indian Ocean beyond. This is a far cry from the Wiltshire countryside where the couple spent most of their married life, but when their sons left home and a neighbour expressed an interest in buying their farmhouse, they decided they would take a punt and sell up.

Unsure what to do next, Charlie and Tweenie flew to Sri Lanka to visit friends who were living on the south coast. Before long, says Charlie, ‘we blagged our way into running a hotel, which gave us a roof over our heads and time to reflect’. Within months, the pair had fallen in love with the island and started to look for somewhere they could build a house. They eventually settled on eight-and-a-half acres of land in Galle, incorporating a tea plantation, a handful of dilapidated outbuildings and a thick muddle of jungle.

Charlie and Tweenie swiftly erected a small bungalow to live in temporarily and enlisted Sri Lankan architect Sunela Jayewardene to help realise their vision. Building the house was a feat, including three months of rock blasting before they were able to lay the first foundation, and while the location afforded spectacular views, it also meant hauling every last bathroom tap, kitchen pot and lampshade up the precipitous path to the summit. ‘We quickly learnt to stop flexing our muscles and accept that things weren’t going to happen in a nanosecond,’ says Charlie. ‘But that’s part of the charm of living here.’

Within two years, the six-bedroom house was complete. Built in the local architectural vernacular, it has high, vaulted ceilings and a vast, open-sided seating area, designed to accommodate a lofty santol tree with branches that stretch through the roof and up to the sky beyond. Its impressive stature is echoed by an equally towering pair of pillars. ‘It looks fantastic, but take caution,’ warns Charlie. ‘The heavens open, the rains come in and the polished concrete floor becomes a skating rink.’ Treacherous floor aside, it is a comfortable room with plump sofas and pretty printed fabrics. By closing the shutters and rolling down the concealed bata palali rattan blinds, the Wreys are able to keep the worst of the rain out.

The interiors were Tweenie’s domain and almost everything was sourced on the island, from the mattresses to the Thirties steel bathtubs, which once resided in the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. Many of the Indian-style window frames and doors were found in antique shops and reclamation yards in the north of Sri Lanka. This meant the apertures were made to fit the frames, not the other way around. ‘The frames are made of good hard wood so, termites permitting, they will last quite well,’ says Charlie.

Unsurprisingly, the Wreys play host to a constant stream of guests and the house is available to rent, but the clever layout, which splits down an east-west axis, means there is plenty of room for several people to coexist. There is even a massage room and a yoga pavilion. Revenues from the tea estate help to cover the cost of running the house and give the couple ‘a lovely garden for nothing’. The road leading up to the house is lined with pineapple plants and there are countless frangipani trees. ‘It’s a flattering place to be a gardener,’ says Charlie. ‘Everything here grows miraculously quickly.’

The Wreys have happily settled into Sri Lankan life. ‘It’s a jolly attractive lifestyle. You have to learn to change gears and, when you do, it’s amazing how little you can achieve in a day,’ says Charlie. So, the momentous decision to move has proved a success. ‘Some of the biggest decisions you take are the ones you spend the least time thinking about,’ says Charlie. But as Charlie and Tweenie’s house demonstrates, such decisions can also have the best results.

The Wreys’ house, Sisindu T, is available to rent from $1,500 a night; visit sisindu.com