Thanyamundra, Thailand

What is it? An organic resort set on the edge of Khao Sok National Park - a rainforest that's older than the Amazon - in Thailand's Surat Thani province, two hours' drive, and about 160 million years, from Phuket airport.

What's the story? It was built as the personal retreat of a European millionaire, who decided to open it up to guests last year. He still appears occasionally at weekends but the seven suites and two bedrooms, as well as the magnificent 50-metre swimming pool (below) and an excellent fitness centre, are now available to Joe Public.

More description, please. Well, the staff will tell you that you've checked into a 'hidden heaven' and Thanyamundra certainly has a spiritual quality (the owner is Buddhist and the two golden-teak villas are decorated with thangkas, or traditional embroidered silk wall hangings, so it's rather like being in a tropical Tibet) but it's also distinctly Lost World. The setting - karst cliffs above, rainforest below, atmospheric morning mists - feels a lot closer to Jurassic Park than Ocean Park. You could easily persuade yourself that the peacocks shrieking among the groves of the organic farm (above far right) are pterodactyls wheeling overhead.

Organic farm? The site was originally three farms, which the owner bought and amalgamated. All the produce you'll eat (or cook - the chef gives classes) is organic, including the chickens, several of which had just been dispatched by a clouded leopard prior to this writer's visit.

So nature's pretty red in tooth and claw? That's one of the attractions. Khao Sok is huge (740 square kilometres) and pristine. Almost the first thing you'll hear inside are apparently wailing birds: those would be the gibbons. The crushed vegetation? Elephants. Gliding lizards, flying monkeys, flickering chameleons - you'll see them all in the first hour. Thanyamundra guests can explore with park rangers trained by naturalist Thom Henley, who's trying to persuade locals that poaching isn't the way forward. A word of warning: if you don't like leeches, avoid the rainy season.

But I'm an urbanite! Fine. Enjoy your Nespresso coffee, Wi-fi, flat-screen television, DVDs, massages and civilised conversation with other guests.