An hour’s drive from Izmir, near the tip of the long, low Çeşme peninsula, lies the town of Alaçatı. Today one of Turkey’s most popular and trendy resorts and a windsurfer’s mecca, Alaçatı was, in the early 1900s, no more than a remote, breezy village, its houses crouched nervously a little inland, its inhabitants either subsistence fishing folk or Greek olive growers. After the population exchange in 1923, even they had mostly departed. So it might have remained, a sad ghost of a village, had not a pioneering entrepreneur and enthusiastic sailor, Zeynep Öziş, stepped in with a romantic vision of converting a 130-year-old Greek mansion into a seven-room boutique hotel, which she named the Taş Otel (Stone Hotel). When she opened her doors in 2001, no one could quite believe it. And yet, where Zeynep Öziş led, others would fairly soon follow.

Rana Erkan Tabanca was also enchanted by this idyllic corner of the Aegean. Turning her back on her earlier success in tourism, the arts and business, she, with her husband, Erol, an architect and art collector, bought a five-hectare plot of land with breathtaking views and half a dozen motley derelict dwellings in gardens run to seed. Here they set about creating a timeless space of comfort and beauty, imbued with nature and art. The couple make a great team, says Rana. “We dream together, then we roll up our sleeves and start. Erol says a dream needs landing gear as well as wings, so he’s the wheels, I guess, while I am the wings.” With the help of family, friends and a team of gifted architects and decorators, they succeeded magnificently and opened the Alavya in 2013. The old stone houses were handsomely restored and converted to form a cohesive complex with adjoining courtyards and patios. The surrounding gardens were turned into a Mediterranean oasis with mastic, bay, lemon, fig and olive trees. There are fragrant corners with cascades of jasmine and honeysuckle, clouds of lavender and geranium, while seasonal flowers planted in the surrounding fields provide vistas of colour.

A prolific kitchen garden, local farmers, growers and market stall-holders supply the hotel’s restaurant, Mitu, its chefs passionate about terroir. With bountiful harvests – of artichokes, herbs, salads, tomatoes, mulberries, lemons, figs and grapes – the available produce determines the menu, and Turkish Aegean Mediterranean cuisine is raised to a high art form.

Those original humble dwellings, some just a single storey, are home to 25 chic rooms and suites, individually designed by Hakan Ezer and furnished with antiques and artworks. “The atmosphere is unique,” says the artist and fashion designer Patrizia Gucci, “the place both familiar and fascinating, a little Oriental and a little Western. Relaxing by the pool, enjoying amazing cuisine and being looked after by smiling people is an unforgettable experience.”

Holding a prestigious Michelin Key granted in 2025, Alavya, that former huddle of primitive houses, is now the jewel of a glorious coastline and flourishing tourist hotspot.

The life of the hotel is told through a splendid album of photographs by Andrew Montgomery, whose work has illuminated books ranging from Winter Gardens (reprinted this autumn) to The Irish Bakery. Now Cornucopia is publishing a book on the work of Amanda Cobbett, Embroidered Nature, and it is Montgomery’s images that bring her astonishing sculptures of fungi and lichen to life on the page.

Alavya the book (alavyashop.com and montgomerypress.co.uk) had long been Rana’s dream, made possible by Zeynep Çiftçioğlu, who has helped to shape the hotel from day one. An introduction by Rana ushers in essays by gurus of travel and design, and a sprinkling of recipes. Just reading them will carry you back to the Aegean.