7 Bedroom Villa in T​angalle

Our aims were simple; we wanted to build a big, beautiful, comfortable, family house with a pool on the best undeveloped beach in Sri Lanka. We found secret Mahawella 'big beach' with its golden sands and fishing boats, safe swimming and peace and decided we had found it. 
 
We finished building Thalassa Beach House in July 2008.It was designed by an experienced Sri Lankan architect, Amila de Mel, who had a great cv, which included Geoffrey Bawa team work and study in the UK and USA. It is located just outside Tangalle. 
 
It grew to 85OO square feet on two floors of covered space. There are seven double beds, which all have sea views, and seven en suite bathrooms, a huge sitting room with a piano, two outside sitting rooms, a big dining room, a pool in the inner courtyard, a massage temple, a great kitchen, a study with satellite TV, internet, DVDs and books and games and spacious staff quarters. 
 
We have used only Sri Lankan materials, furniture and fittings throughout the house, and were delighted to discover how luxurious these are, and often stunningly designed too. There are luxurious 10 inch mattresses, mosquito nets and fans in every room and stunning use of colored polished concrete in the bathrooms and elsewhere. The furniture is a mix of state of the art - a vast stainless steel chandelier and barbecue - and genuine eclectic antiques. The Burmese teak floors in the two biggest downstairs bedrooms, the study and sitting room are recycled from a defunct ballroom in Nuwara Eliya, and the walkway has pillars from a collapsed South Indian temple. Dutch and old Brit antique chests and planters’ chairs sit side by side with modern white sofas and Chinese cabinets. There are Sri Lankan and other pictures everywhere. 
 
There are really three gardens. The seaside garden is often windy and has 25 palm trees and a one-minute walk from the house to the beach. There are hammocks and loungers and built in benches along the front of the house and a croquet set and badminton net. The courtyard garden contains both pool and massage pavilion and is sheltered and the bougainvillea and hibiscus thrive here. The back garden is defined by the graveled driveway and the family dogs, cats and hens live out here too. Big shady trees abound in all of them. 
 
Our staff 
Our greatest asset is our family staff. Nandi is the smiling resourceful housekeeper who runs everything for us and we have known her personally for nearly 20 years. We trust her completely and she works very hard to ensure that all our visitors are relaxed and happy. She is also a great cook and brought in Dia - ace ironer and curry cook - from her home village near Kalutara, after years of working in Saudi Arabia. Rukman is a young man of 27, who runs errands and maintains pool and house; he is bright and speaks good English. Mr Laksman is the night watchman who also waters the garden and does odd jobs. 
 
Additionally, Tekla often comes in to help out, when the house is very full and busy and is a good Italian cook. She lives along the beach about three minutes away, so we also often employ her brother Rajika and brother in law Samanta to drive us locally in tuk-tuks. Nandi has a list of about eight drivers with vans for longer expeditions or the airport runs - our favourite is Gamini, who is a great naturalist and Sri Lankan enthusiast.

• Coffee maker • Fridge • Freezer • Hob • Kettle • Oven • Toaster • Iron • Towels supplied • BBQ • Pool furniture • Pool shower • Garden • Terrace • Private Cook/Chef Available • Maid/Housekeeping Included • Laundry Service • Babysitting Services Available • Spa & Beauty Treatments Available • Airport Transfers Available

Watersports are available at the Dickwella Village Resort where they have snorkelling, boogie boards, windsurfing, diving etc. Whale watching is a great fun from Mirissa Harbour, you will see giant rays, dolphins, turtles and lots of pygmy blue whales which are about 6O feet long. It’s a beautiful three hour trip in a good big wooden boat. There are several wildlife reserves not far away. Elephants, leopards and birds can be viewed at Yala, elephants and monkeys in abundance at Uda Walawe and bird life, small animals and a few elephants at Bundala. Kalamatiya lagoon and bird sanctuary is about half an hour from Thalassa. Eating out locally is fun. You can walk down our beach to the left to Manuela at Surya Garden and have Italian food. At the Amanwella hotel you can eat at the beach restaurant. At the house we have a cricket bat, balls, volley ball net, footballs, pool toys, croquet and badminton racquets, hammocks and loungers.

• Nearest Airport : Airport at 200 kilometers distance;
• Travel Info: • Supermarket/Shop: 15 kms • Restaurant/Pub: 5 kms • Beach: 0.1 km • Golf Club: 45 kms • A car is recommended