Hotel Des Cascades by Rose Baring

Moving back from the sea and up into the mountains, the Hotel des Cascades at Imouzzer des Ida Outanane is the beloved creation of Jamal Atbir, a soft-spoken Berber who has brought employment to an impoverished corner of the Anti-Atlas mountains. The hotel’s great joy is its terraced garden, with 30 ft walls of hanging geraniums and vast stands of lilies, all fed by the abundance of water that gives the hotel its name. There is a tennis court and a refreshing swimming pool, which is constantly replenished by the spring water that trills through the garden.

Jamal can organise treks into the surrounding uplands, where you sleep in converted shepherd’s huts and village chieftain’s houses. The landscape is stunningly dramatic, with waterfalls crashing into inviting pools of turquoise water and isolated mud-built villages glimpsed far below. Only the plumes of smoke, which rise lazily into the air, and the noise of a few animals betray habitation. Rooms in the hotel have an Alpine feel to them, with simple wooden furniture. Breakfast of delicious homemade breads and jams is followed by a mouth-watering lunchtime buffet on the terrace, and in the evening the only entertainment is watching the faultless performance of the sunset, night after night.