Split Apple Hideway, Split Apple, New Zealand

But here's a clue. It steps down a cliffside somewhere outside Nelson (the name might give you a big clue) at the end of a private road with views of a pristine beach and out across the Tasman sea.

The house has been a four year labour of love for Alan and Shelly who have melded their own special brand of California cool with the best of new Zealand building techniques to create everybody's fantasy crash pad, right down to hint of shagpile in the carpet and the coloured lights in the shower and taps .(hot is red, blue is cold and a perfect purple in between).

This ultra-luxury residence is available for private hire from November 2010 and The Luxury Travel Bible got a sneak preview. Down the winding staircase that leads from the main hall are wide windows which have breathtaking views across Tasman Bay. There is also lots of polished marble and granite, Italian designer furnishings and vast canvases of modern artwork by artists such as Christian Lassen, Douglas, Volk, and American popculture icon Peter Max.

"Would you like a drink?" say Alan and so it begins...

We eat too much good food, drink too much good wine and generally spoil ourselves thoroughly; it is that kind of place. You can self-cater but the private chef on offer so impressed John Paul DeJoria, owner of Paul Mitchell (yes he's the reason your hair looks so good) when he and his family stayed here that he pronounced his meal "the best he had ever eaten" ,and you don't get on the Forbes Top 400 without eating a decent meal or two.

Occasionally that pristine beach beckons us for early morning walks and we also take a day to explore the stunning waterways and scenery of Abel Tasman National Park from a boat that picks us up from the beach below the house. Mostly however it is hard to go past curling up on athegiant designer beanbag in front of the very groovy glass and pebble fireplace or taking copious baths-with-a view in bathrooms with floor to ceiling windows (no one to see you but the seagulls after all).

On the last day we leave the hideaway in broad daylight. What are they thinking? I might feel compelled to share the location. OK, I won't but I will tell you to book Split Apple Hideaway for yourself, then you can be in-the-known too.