I’d driven past the house on the hill ever since I was a kid and wondered about it. What it’s like to stare out the windows looking over the ocean, or to walk through the olive orchard surrounding it. Even staring from the passing road far beneath, the villa always looked so beautiful.

When Patricia booked our getaway anniversary and weekend escape from Melbourne I had no idea she, by chance, would choose the house I grew up dreaming about: San Remo’s House On The Hill, an old villa recently renovated into a beautiful getaway for two. It’s hard to explain how the property and its view makes you feel when you arrive, driving through the orchard and seeing the ocean and fields stretching off to the horizon.

It’s even harder to explain the beauty of the architecture, how the house – originally designed by a painter ­– frames the landscape with its windows.