AN ENCHANTED WORLD UP ON THE ROOF

Further to last week’s cover story (“Hotels to sigh for,” Aug 24), if Tibet is the roof of the world, the roof terrace of Lhasa’s Mandala Hotel is the place to feel ethereal detachment.

You are in the heart of the city, and sit with a beer on a plastic chair above the hubbub of Barkhor Square with its market stalls, tourists and pilgrims. In the clear air your eyes focus on the distant grey mountains and blue sky. You have visited nearby Jokhang Temple and are near enough still to hear the whirring of prayer wheels and the clanging and tinkling of bells. Your clothes still smell of yak fat candles. You linger up here and sift through your impressions of Tibet; the colour, noise, the weatherbeaten, smiling faces, the simple lifestyle contrasting with the magnificence of palaces and temples.

The Mandala is described as a budget hotel, garish in the Tibetan style, but those who can only criticise the hot water supply have not spent time on the roof, reflecting on the meaning of life.

DAVID SYME WINS A £250 RAILBOOKERS VOUCHER shuttle bus to take you into town and to the resort’s private beach six miles (10km) away. Guests mingle in the main plantation house for evening cocktails and there is a slow drift on to the terrace of the 750 Restaurant – the distance in feet above sea level – where they offer contemporary Caribbean cuisine, and panoramic views across to neighbouring St Kitts island. Nevis is a notable celebrity hideaway but Montpellier Plantation can play a trump card – in the Nineties Princess Diana and William and Harry came to stay.

DAVID KENNY Imperial in Barnstaple, is the finest we have ever stayed in, home or away. We had booked a superior room that overlooked the river Taw and what a room it was. The quality of the furnishings, the cleanliness, and the view were outstanding. ANTHONY AND CHRISTINE BENNETT