At the foot of the Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang province, a homestay is attracting travelers from far and wide. They beat a path to its door by word of mouth and are stunned by its design and ambient environment.

In May, the homestay was one of the two such hostelries in Asia that won architectural gongs at the 2021 German iF Design Awards. The other one was in Japan.

Experts acclaimed the homestay's fine improvements and renovations of the historical building and its combination of Eastern elegance and warmth.

The owners of the award-winning property are a couple in their late 30s who made the decision to return to their hometown two years ago. Li Xiumei quit her job in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and decided to renovate the old house, which was left to the couple by her husband's grandfather.

Li used to be in charge of a division at a real estate company in Hangzhou, and her husband was a sales director.

"It was basically a mundane situation where he was on business trips a lot and I worked overtime on weekends," Li says.