Beneath a spreading banyan tree, Joseph smiles an infectious smile. “Follow me,” he says. We trip through herbs waist-high, the air infused with the scent of thyme and lemongrass which he picks and twists and holds to my nose; through the beds of organic vegetables that supply Botanica, one of One&Only Reethi Rah’s restaurants which is set among these verdant gardens; and to a greenhouse filled with 1,500 varieties of orchid, like a pocket of Kew Gardens adrift in the Indian Ocean.

Joseph Ranjith, Botanica’s manager, loves this spot with a radiance that catches hold of you. “This is a magical place,” he says. “Truly magical.” He plants a mango tree for those guests who return time after time—many as often as three times a year—their names inscribed on signs. “Our favourite place on earth,” reads one.

What is it about some places that makes us feel so instantly at home? In his book The Architecture of Happiness, Alain de Botton describes the home as being not just a physical sanctu-ary, but a psychological one. A place where those who return remember who they are.

Our homes do not have to offer us permanent occupancy or store our clothes to merit the name,” he writes. “To speak of home in relation to a building is simply to recognise its harmony with our own prized internal song. Home can be an airport or a library, a garden or a motorway diner.”

Today, ‘home’ does not have to be confined to the address where your online shopping is delivered. If home is truly where the heart is, then in this age of the global nomad—when we can live, work and travel anywhere—our hearts have expanded, stretched like elastic to encompass the entire world.

So then home is wherever you feel you belong. A place you look forward to living in, for however long that may be. An oasis of calm and comfort and order in an increasingly chaotic, frenetic world, where the rest of life falls away and you can be your best and truest self, surrounded by the people you love.

At One&Only Reethi Rah’s beach club, the DJ’s upbeat soundtrack is accompanied by the sound of children laughing. And no wonder—because holidays are where your loved ones are at their best. Not bogged down in humdrum, time-pressed everyday lives; but easy-breezy, with time to share together, to have adventures, to ask questions and listen properly to the answers. To go snorkelling with turtles, to fall off paddleboards laughing into water of unbelievable blue, to ride bikes together along safe, sandy tracks beneath a canopy of palms and fragrant frangipani.

Architects and interior designers understand well how import-ant our surroundings are to our wellbeing. Jean-Michel Gathy, when designing One&Only Reethi Rah’s 122 villas, said his aim was to make each guest feel like a king. Certainly they are palatial, set privately on the beach, or over the water on stilts; and yet there’s an all-embracing warmth about them.

Each is a serene retreat, a soothing space that beckons. The marble floor, cooling and calming underfoot. The sunken bathtub positioned in front of the picture window looking out across the private pool to the sea. Cotton sheets, exquisitely fine, against hot skin, on a bed dressed to each individual’s preferences (chosen from not just pillow menus but mattress menus, too), just as we would elect at our more permanent homes, so that sleep comes easily.

The attention to detail, to material, form and function, is extraordinary. Innovations delight: under-bed lighting when you get up in the night; the make-up fridge hidden behind a backlit mirror in the apothecary-like dressing table, hand-made in woods and leathers; treats left at turn-down which are exactly to your taste—no coincidence. Just as we become the best versions of ourselves on holiday, so these are the ultimate homes as we would wish them to be. If only our own homes were so uncluttered, so fine tuned!

For a long time guests have been asking if they might own them for themselves. To this end, the resort brand has launched a collection of One&Only Private Homes with locations around the world. Owning or renting a Private Home extends the feeling-athome experience yet further, while tapping into all those superlative facilities: sensational restaurants, fun and games on tap, world-leading wellness experiences and tailor-made treatments to nourish the soul, to restore, rebalance, reinvigorate. And, vitally, allows the homeowners to belong to a community. This is what stays with you: the overriding feeling of belonging that you get from a One&Only resort.

Because, in the end, it is the people who really make a place a home. The other guests: so many like-minded souls. The team members whose smiles convey sweet natures. Yes, they are intuitive and faultless, with remarkable attention to detail—but also relaxed enough to hang out and chat, if chatting is what you seek. They greet you by name, right from the moment you arrive, like an old friend.

When it is time—too soon—to board the yacht to leave, a gathering of friendly faces at the dock wave across the increasing stretch of blue between us. It’s a final reminder that no matter how long you are away, your return—your homecoming—will always be welcomed with open arms. And I wave back, until we are out of sight, my heart full.

A One&Only Story