The old courtyard houses may be hung with lanterns and fronted with wooden latticework, but they are given over to hotels, bars and souvenir shops, commented Richardson.

The rain trickles down through the house, and everything wooden swells and shrinks, and the nails in everything wooden, the floors and baseboards and window casings, the nails inch out and rust.

By pulling aside the glazing and opening the folding wooden shutters, the entire edges of the rooms can be opened up to the sea views and breezes.