Peter and Caroline’s flight arrived in Koh Samui at 10pm last night, after leaving England the evening before, and having a short stopover in Singapore. They were exhausted, and hot, but we all had big welcome hugs at the airport (well, not Peter and I, but who’d want to hug a big, sweaty bloke?). The girls were very excited, after all they’d been looking forward to the moment for 9 months – and they showed no sign of the fact that it was well past a normal bedtime! We walked everybody down the beach to the guest house, and everybody had a cooling dip and a drink, before it was then bedtime for everybody (apart, of course, from Caroline and Sarah who sat up gossiping to the early hours).

The Florist definitely has a ‘split personality’ – from the beach it’s a wonderful wooden building, with a balcony café to catch the breeze, and with a quiet private balcony outside of Peter and Caroline’s suite.

But from the main road, it’s a different thing altogether. After driving down an alleyway through building sites, you then turn into the guest house through the ruined garage (above right). Fancy spending so much money on a beachfront plot, a modern building, and then not bothering to spend a penny on an entranceway?

The guest house has changed a bit since the photographs were taken for the website and brochure. The picture above was taken before the construction of the covered area (below).

Although it’s entirely practical (who wants to sit under an sunshade when it’s raining) it changes the look of it. And because the guest house is quite small, there’s no other space to escape to in the rain, unless it’s your room.