Live the life of a modern-day tea planter at Camellia Hills, a luxurious five-bedroom boutique bungalow hotel near Dickoya, in Sri Lanka’s crisp hill country. From its verdant valley-side perch, views of the mirror-still Castlereagh Reservoir and surrounding tea-wrapped hills are spectacular – drink in the panoramas while relaxing on cushy sofas warmed by an open fire, dining in the semi open air or swimming lengths of the refreshing garden pool.

Castlereagh Reservoir is a mesmerising island-dotted lake surrounded by steeply rising hills planted with impossibly neat rows of vivid green tea, around 18-kilometres from the market town of Hatton. Hidden in amongst this emerald jaw-dropping scenery are century-old tea factories, gushing waterfalls, colonial-era churches and colourful Hindu shrines.