T Coco King Villa stands on a patch of coconut land off Pallikkudawa Road, about five minutes’ walk from Red Beach. There are two bedrooms, which is deliberate — enough for a family or two couples, few enough that the pool is never busy.
The name is for the king coconut — thambili, the orange one that grows the length of this coast and is drunk cold from the shell. The palms were standing here long before the house was.
“I built T Coco King Villa with my family. I wanted a place close enough to the beach to hear it at night, but quiet enough to actually sleep.” — Sachith Malinga, who built the villa with his family and looks after it day to day.