Thousands of miles away from the depths of the murky British winter, the view from the patio of Mary Inman's villa in Thailand is beautiful indeed.
Luscious gardens replete with fragrant flowers and birdsong, two glistening swimming pools; anyone watching the 83-year-old sitting outside in the evening sunshine might think she was enjoying a five-star holiday.
But Mary, who has severe dementia and needs round-the-clock care, is one of a small but growing number of elderly Britons being sent halfway around the world by families who have turned their backs on the UK's beleaguered, expensive care system and embraced the care 'resorts' that have sprung up across Thailand.
John Higgins at the Care Resort Chiang Mai in northern Thailand; a British-run facility which caters for hotel guests as well as the elderly
While the decision to send a loved one so far from home might be regarded as drastic, relatives say Thailand, with its warm climate and lower cost of living, offers unbeatable standards of care — beyond anything most could afford in the UK, where around one care home place in three is privately funded.
Some compare the Thai resorts to hit film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in which a group of pensioners travel to India to see out their twilight days.
At Care Resort Chiang Mai, a British-run facility in northern Thailand which caters for hotel guests as well as the elderly, widowed mother-of-three Mary is looked after, one-to-one, by a team of Thai carers, while her days are filled with walks around the 12-acre grounds and lake, painting and music, pool sessions, spa treatments and trips to the local elephant farm and butterfly park.
'The care our mum has is way beyond anything we could find in the UK,' says Mary's 54-year-old son Michael.
'Care for the elderly is a huge part of the Thai culture. She has four wonderful young Thai women looking after her.
'They treat her with love and respect. It's impossible for homes to offer this level of care in the UK — it's just too expensive.'
There are about 920,000 dementia sufferers in the UK but, with the nation's social care system in crisis, their families struggle to find affordable good-quality care.
The average UK residential nursing home costs nearly £50,000 a year — but with staff shortages and no prescribed staff-to-resident ratios, carers often look after several residents at the same time.
The cost of one-to-one care, 24 hours a day, is about £120,000 a year.
Residents with savings over the Government's £23,250 threshold have to 'self-fund' their places.
Rates at Care Resort Chiang Mai, which has 32 'guests' and 48 full-time carers, start at about £1,100 a month.
After dementia sufferer Debbie Carlton, pictured, was taken to the Swiss-run VivoCare Residence, another Chiang Mai care facility, two years ago, one family friend even accused her husband Neil of kidnapping her
Former army officer's wife Mary, from Chislehurst in Kent, pays £3,500 a month — £42,000 a year — for her luxury 800 sq ft two-bedroom, two-bathroom villa, which has a private patio garden. She is looked after by four carers working eight-hour shifts in rotation and is never alone.
The price she pays — at the highest end of the scale because of her care needs — is all-inclusive and covers individually tailored food, medical care, daily activities, spa treatments, laundry and day trips.
It's not much more, says Michael, than the £35,000 a year the family was paying for 40-hours-a-week care in Britain.
The business consultant from Bristol heard of Thai 'care resorts' on the radio in 2017, at a time when he and his wife had realised Mary could no longer remain at home.
Put off by the sterile, hospitalised care homes they visited in the UK, they flew to Thailand in April 2017 and after 'falling in love with the place' took Mary there two months later, staying in a nearby hotel while they settled her in and furnished her villa to make her feel at home.
'We were nervous about the trip but she was relaxed and excited, as if she was going on holiday,' he says.
'She is right next to the spa and gets massages every couple of days and her hair done. It's very moving to see how loving the carers are with her. They kneel at her side to feed her by hand at mealtimes.
'It was a big decision to make but I have never regretted it. We believe she is having the best care possible.
'I know there are people here who are devoted carers and do a great job but you just can't match what's on offer in Thailand.'
Care Resort Chiang Mai is run by Peter Brown, a businessman from Manchester who decided to adapt his hotel resort to offer care for the elderly after removing his elderly mother from her UK care home.
There, he said, he found that staff were checking in on her via a tannoy system and he found several days' meals still covered in cling film.
'I knew I could do better,' he says. 'I wanted to create something that wouldn't look, feel or smell like a care home. I don't have patients, I have guests. My focus is to keep people safe and happy.'
His resort is one of several that have sprung up in the mountainous north of Thailand, most catering for elderly Europeans and Americans, sometimes along with their healthy partners, and offering high-quality care with high staff-to-guest ratios.
The UK government website lists 24 Thai care facilities, including Peter's, that claim to meet standards set by the Care Quality Commission.
Pensioners wishing to relocate to one must obtain an annual 'retirement' visa from the Thai government and either provide proof of income or deposit 800,000 baht — around £18,000 — in a Thai bank account.
The biggest issue facing those considering care in Thailand is the distance. With his mother living 6,000 miles away, regular trips are impossible for Michael. But while he admits
