Riad El Arsat by Joanna Monkhouse

Riad El Arsat is not just rooms around a courtyard, but two houses at either end of one of the largest gardens of any riad in Marrakech. The summer house has a dining room, salon and bedroom with vaulted tadelakt bathroom on the ground floor and a second ensuite bedroom on the roof, with a large terrace. Two further bedrooms and bathrooms have been added next to the summer house, one with a 30s style bed, the other a swathed four poster.

The winter house at the far end of the garden contains a second salon, three more bedrooms and bathrooms and a second big terrace with views of the medina and the Atlas mountains. The décor is a mélange of traditional Moroccan carved wood and plaster, tadelakt and zellige tiling with European Art Deco furniture. As well as the lemon and orange grove, bamboo, fig trees, jasmine, honeysuckle and bougainvillea that provide shade in the garden, there is a large pool and a white marble fountain. Riad El Arsat’s spacious gardens provide a calm retreat from the madness that is Marrakech.