Magic behind marrakesh

Marrakesh is the kind of city where the best things are behind closed doors, Rosena Charmoy tells me, as we drink Champagne in a candle-lit, rose-filled courtyard.

This petite Irish lady knows her stuff. Rosena and French husband Frederic are the force behind Marrakesh's exclusive concierge service Boutique Souk, whose clients are a jet-setting lot. Organising a wedding in a thousand year-old palace or a party in the desert for 200 hipsters is all in a day's work for this dynamic duo, so my un-diva-like demands to stay in a traditional riad-style hotel where I could shop till I dropped are easily met.

My mundane request is suitably sprinkled with stardust and I find myself checking into the exquisite La Sultana, a mini-masterpiece of Moroccan craftsmanship, its narrow, polished-plaster passageways laced with hand-carved plaster reliefs, painted woods and shimmering mosaics all overarched with beautiful plants and flowers. It's hidden away behind giant carved doors an olive lob away from the King's palace.

Each of the 28 rooms is inspired by animals and precious marbles. I land within the shiny grey walls of the Elephant room with an Arabian princess bed adorned with pink silks and faux elephant tusks, a marble fireplace and a four-poster jacuzzi bath. It takes all of 10 seconds to fall in love with it.

My shopping itinerary is equally enticing. The next morning, following a poolside breakfast of Berber omelette, sesame bread and mint tea, I'm met by a man in a pewter-coloured, pointy-hatted djellaba. Hafid is to be my shopping guide for the day and turns out to be the Obi-Wan Kenobe of Marrakesh. Hollywood set-designers and fashion magazine scouts have his number on speed-dial and there's not an olive seller or master craftsman that he doesn't know about.

We start our tour in Jemaa el Fna, the main square in the walled old city - a vast space where Berber storytellers vie with musicians, fortune-tellers, snake-charmers and dentists for the attention, and dirhams, of one and all.