All that will soon be packed into boxes, however, because its owners are moving on to the next chapter of their Hong Kong lives.

Britons Anne Carroll Marshall and her husband, Roger, have for five years lived in their two-bedroom, 1,400 sq ft home in an idyllic corner of Sai Kung, surrounded by mountains, mangroves and the sea.

"The stupid thing was I fell in love with the place because it was a minimalist, white flat," says Marshall, a jewellery designer and gemologist who moved to Hong Kong in 1992 with her husband, who works in finance. "But it's just not our lifestyle. We've got so much stuff."

That includes two cats and a dog, plus artwork celebrating past pets (not all of them theirs). Then there are the family heirlooms, including a music cabinet from the estate of 19th-century English dramatist W.S. Gilbert, which stands between the open kitchen and dining area.

"My mother was a Gilbert and Sullivan fan and, for her 21st birthday, her godmother bought her this. My mother always kept - as my father used to say - 'her little bits and pieces' in it."

There is also a 19th-century Ashanti throne, which Marshall's great-grandfather brought back from the Anglo-Ashanti wars in Ghana; a sofa that used to belong to British statesman Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India; and a colourful picture by Ida Kerkovius that the Bauhaus painter and weaver gave to Marshall's father, then British consul in Stuttgart, Germany, at her 80th birthday party.

And inside the walk-in wardrobe, a room off the master bedroom, there is a country-style bench made by a family of English woodcarvers whose signature was a little mouse. "Here it is," Marshall says, finding the rodent on the underside.

On weekends, the couple loved to kick back on the roof.

"When it wasn't too hot, we were up here the whole day," says Marshall.

The unit was once two flats on the top floor and the rooftop "houses" of both properties were knocked into one space, which functioned as her office.

"This was a great place to sit and design," she says.

Views of the luxuriant mangroves can also be enjoyed from the living areas and master suite, adding to the treetop feel of the flat.

Marshall opens the doors to a balcony that runs the length of the flat, and says, "We would sit out here and have our cup of tea, and see the most incredible birds whizzing by."

As though someone has just put on a sound-effects recording, exuberant chirps seep through the opening and flood the interior with birdsong.

"A couple of days a year there will be 20 to 30 egrets gathering there," says Marshall, also remembering the time she saw a bright blue kingfisher fly past.

The outdoor carpet of greenery is perhaps best appreciated, however, from the egg-shaped bathtub in the roomy master en-suite. A few vines drape along one wall creating a back-to-nature "glamping" atmosphere that's enhanced when the balcony door is opened.

"I can lie here with a glass of wine and a book and I'm blissfully happy," says Marshall.

But the time has come for the couple to begin afresh. "We want to start a new project and once we're retired we want to travel a bit more, so maybe we'll find something a bit smaller and easier to pack up and leave," she says.

What will they miss most? Without a second thought, Marshall says: "The trees and the birds."

Roof The synthetic-rattan sofa and coffee table, both of which came with the flat, sit on a platform on the roof overlooking mangroves and boats moored off Hebe Haven. The umbrella was bought years ago at Everything Under the Sun (9/F, Horizon Plaza, 2 Lee Wing Street, Ap Lei Chau, tel: 2554 9088).

En-suite bathroom The bathroom features a Victoria & Albert Napoli bath that was already installed when the Marshalls moved in. The valet stand came from Tequila Kola years ago.

Dining area Items for the home bought when the Marshalls moved to Hong Kong, in 1992, include the glass dining table, acquired second hand, and the carpet, which came from a Hilton hotel sale. The chairs were bought from a shop in Macau four years later. A pair of wooden Burmese temple ducks sit at their feet. The sideboard was bought more than a decade ago from Shambala (2/F, Horizon Plaza, tel: 2555 2997). On it is a statue of a monk praying, which came from Mandalay, Myanmar. The chair with the blue cushion was bought years ago. The embroidered Mandarin sleeves on the wall were a gift. The red cabinet was bought years ago from an antiques shop on Queen’s Road East. Under it, the rhinoceros, in soapstone, came from Kenya.

Master bedroom The antique wardrobe was bought by the Marshalls decades ago from a warehouse in the New Territories. The bedside table and lamp were bought years ago from Dynasty Antiques (HomeSquare, 138 Shatin Rural Committee Road, Sha Tin, tel: 2681 3788). The art nouveau bookshelf is a Marshall family heirloom; the papiermache jar was purchased at a college sale when Marshall was a student at the Central School of Art and Design (now Central Saint Martins). The male nude is by Stussi and the work above the bed, The Ladies’ Quarters, by Hu Yongkai, came from Singapore’s Plum Blossoms Gallery (Raffles Hotel Arcade, 328 North Bridge Road, Singapore, tel: 65 334 1198). At the foot of the bed is an ottoman bought at auction by Roger’s mother decades ago.

From the rooftop "house", Papaya, the Marshalls' dog, can gaze down on the living area while cocooned in a cosy corner. His bed was placed between two bookshelves positioned about a metre apart. The artworks on the walls leading to the roof include A Street in Toronto, by Rudolf Stussi, and a picture of a head, by Li Xiaofeng.