Sri Lanka’s cosmopolitan, multicultural past figures rich in the history of this newest property, Tamarind Hill on the outskirts of Galle – a city whose strongly Dutch character belies its history as an ancient global entrepot, a meeting-place for Arabs, Chinese, Greeks, Persians and South Indians, and identified by Victorian scholars with the Biblical port of Tarshish. Tamarind Hill was built as official residence of the Representative of the Peninsular and Orient Steam Navigation Company, the famous ‘P&O Line’, around whose sailings all social and commercial life in British-era Galle revolved – a tall flagpole on the front lawn is a relic of those self-important days. Later still, Tamarind Hill became a judge’s residence, at which time the punkahs in the drawing-room were installed. Tamarind Hill has 11 rooms and 2 suites, replete with twenty-first-century facilities that never obtrude on the traditional elegance and charm of your surroundings. The food and drink is modern rather than traditional, and of the finest quality