Cobblers Cove is one of the Caribbean’s most trusty and elegant hotels. Set in lovely tropical gardens on Barbados’s famous West Coast, it is intimate and relatively small (it has just 40 suites) and it typifies the graciousness and traditional courtesy of the best Barbados hotels. As one of the Caribbean’s very few Relais & Châteaux, Cobblers Cove offers the ‘five Cs’ - calm, charm, character, courtesy and most notably of course, cuisine. With its discerning, mainly British clientele and beautifully manicured air there are times when it might just be an English house party in the tropics.
KEY FEATURES
Well loved Barbados hotel, all suites in 2-storey buildings set in lush gardens, main house, award winning restaurant, Relais & Chateaux member, seafront swimming pool, tennis, fitness centre, two spa treatment rooms, watersports - simply one of the best West Coast Barbados beach front properties.
STYLE
Understated elegance taken to the tropics, backed by gracious Bajan hospitality at this distinguished Barbados hotel
CLIENT PROFILE
Wealthy and well heeled, majority British, discreetly hiding away rather than there to be seen, many long-time visitors in the winter season
From outside the Caribbean it is easy to imagine that the hotels that line the fashionable West Coast of Barbados might all be fairly similar, but in fact they each have their own distinctive character and each suits a different sort of traveller. The keynote of Cobblers Cove is its understated elegance and low key but reliable luxury. Its well heeled clientele know they have found a good thing and they stick by it, returning year after year for one or two or more weeks over the winter.
Cobblers Cove hotel is a comfortable size, with just forty suites, and it is tucked away in its own lovely garden enclave at the northern end of Barbados’s West Coast, isolated from the humdrum of the strip. Of course all the restaurants and other beaches are within a quick drive when you want them, but most guests are happy hidden away here and emerge only occasionally during their stay.
As you pass through the lobby at Cobblers Cove and emerge into the garden you are struck immediately by the neatly trained tropical fertility. The suites run down to the beach in lines to the left and right, but they can barely be seen. Either side of the central path are walls of plants, which create ‘rooms’ of foliage in front of each of the suites.
Set in two storey buildings, Cobblers’ 40 suites each have a bedroom and a drawing room, with a balcony or sitting area at the front that looks out onto the gardens and in some cases the sea. The suites use the best of traditional Bajan architectural techniques, with low-pitched roofs and louvres to give a through-flow of air, and balustrades painted in Messel green.
As you head closer to the sea, the main house reveals itself among the palms. It is painted a light shade of pink and is, a little unexpectedly, crenellated, but perhaps this is in keeping with the legendary name of one of the two extremely comfortable suites upstairs, the Camelot. The main house, which was built in the middle of the twentieth century by a Barbadian sugar baron, is furnished and decorated in traditional Barbadian style, with a lobby at the entrance and then a drawing room with mahogany furniture, sofas and armchairs, and a table of coffee table books to browse in moments away from the important pursuits of sunbathing and dining. This is also where the weekly manager’s cocktail party is held.
As you emerge from the other side of the main house, you will find the pool to one side, and beyond it sunbathing areas and the access to the beach. To the other side is the dining room, called the Terrace, which sits right on the waterfront in an open-sided gallery.
At the height of the winter season, from January to early March, Cobblers Cove tends to be filled with faithfuls who have been returning to the same suite on their constitutional winter break to the Caribbean for many years. At other times of year the visitors tended to be more mixed, with a younger crowd. No children under 12 are permitted in the hotel during the winter season.
Beach & Swimming Sand has returned to the front of Cobblers Cove (as it has along the west coast, after erosion in 2006) and so you can walk along the beach at the front of the hotel now. The main beach is just a short walk to the side beyond the pool, a lovely, 500 yard curve of quiet sand backed by casuarinas and palms, splashed occasionally with bougainvillea. Cobblers Cove provides sunloungers on the beach.
The hotel pool is at the front of the resort, on a terrace right above the sea
Sports & Recreation The watersports hut on the grounds of Cobblers Cove offers snorkelling, kayaking, windsurfing, sunfish sailing and waterskiing. Scuba diving can be booked and you will be collected from the hotel. For those who want on-land exercise, there is a gym and a floodlit, all-weather tennis court across the road
The closest golf course is at Royal Westmoreland, which has some limited tee times for outsiders during the morning and is fifteen minutes away by car. Sandy Lane is twenty minutes drive and has three courses.
Spa Cobblers Cove's two treatment rooms, Frangipani and Hibiscus, are located in a traditional Bajan-style chattel house. A range of treatments using Pevonia products will be available six days a week, including a Myoxy Caviar Facial (using pure caviar and pearl extracts), an Aromatherapy Salt Glow exfoliation, a creme fraiche, papaya and pineapple body wrap and Cobblers Cove Aromatherapy Ultimate De-stressor Swedish massage.
Staff The staff is one of the reasons that so many people return to the hotel. When you are greeted by Tony Johnson in the dining room, chances are he will probably remember your name. The two gardeners, Edward and Peter, each of whom care for one side of the resort, would be happy to explain the many plants that they tend.
The General Manager of Cobblers Cove is Randall Wilkie who joined the hotel in April 2008. Originally from Barbados, he is a well known Caribbean hotelier who in the past has been at the helm of Settlers Beach in Barbados, Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort in Jamaica and more recently in Antigua at Blue Waters Hotel.
The Rooms The rooms at Cobblers Cove are all suites. Thirty-eight of them are in similar style, set in the two-storey buildings. There are also two luxury plantation suites, the Camelot and the Colleton, which are upstairs in the main house just above the sea.
For what is quite a small hotel, the rooms are large. You enter via a drawing room, where there are wicker armchairs, a coffee table and a writing table. To one side there is a balcony or patio, with two sunbeds and a bench, which can be closed off at night but create a large space by day. Looking the other way you come to the bedroom, whose louvered French doors can be opened so that the whole space becomes one room. Inside they are airy, with high ceilings upstairs, and they are decorated in light tones, and decorated with classical Bajan prints, of tropical plants from the days of the plant hunters 200 years ago. There is a king size bed. The rooms with the finest view are numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4, which are right on the water, and on the other side of the main house, 35 and 36, which have an angled view of the sea. Most of the suites have connecting doors to the next room
Each room has small kitchen facilities, including tea and coffee makers and a toaster and in keeping with traditional Barbados, the rooms can be opened up and ventilated by ceiling fan (rooms do also have air-conditioning if you want it). There are computer ports in the room, but in keeping with the hotel’s quite and refined atmosphere televisions are not installed as standard. They are available on request. Radios are also available at Reception. The bathrooms have Molton Brown toiletries.
The Camelot and the Colleton suites are larger and extremely luxurious. They each have a living room and bedroom and they are set in the main house on the waterfront. They have spectacular views over the sea from their roof terrace and a private plunge pool.
Dining The Terrace Restaurant, one of the places to eat out on this part of the West Coast, has a very attractive setting right on the waterfront at Cobblers Cove, on an open-sided terrace with a stained wooden roof whirring quietly with ceiling fans. True to the hotel it is quiet and sedate, but the fare is excellent. The Executive Chef is Irishman Brian Porteus, who joined Cobblers Cove in September 2008. Brian is a classically French trained chef who has worked with the celebrated chef, Raymond Blanc, at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxford. Over the years he has developed his skills at The Dorchester and The Savoy in London and has worked in Thailand and on a number of luxury cruise ships. More recently, back home in Ireland he was head chef and proprietor of Pordylo’s restaurant in Kilkenny. His cuisine is traditional French at base with British and Asian influences. He then combines these with the best of the good range of ingredients available in Barbados to create a sophisticated continental menu with Caribbean touches. The restaurant has a tie-in with Gleneagles in Scotland, with staff exchanges.
Weddings Cobblers Cove is a romantic wedding venue and the hotel will work with your travel organiser or a specialist wedding co-ordinator such as St James Travel & Tours to make sure that your day is extremely special. There is a standard wedding plan as well as a list of optional extra features but, subject to the hotel’s approval, you can tailor make all the arrangements.
The standard plan includes a Minister/Registrar, marriage licence and certificate, transfer to and from the Ministry*, wedding cake, one bottle of champagne, a bouquet, a head band, a buttonhole and a decorated location within the hotel grounds. Extras might include photographer, video of ceremony/conversion for UK, steel pan or guitarist, canapés, hot and cold hors d’oeuvres.
* Please note that you are advised to make arrangements through your travel organiser or a local wedding co-ordinator (St. James Travel & Tours) to accompany you to the Ministry and assist with the completion of the paperwork.
Practical Facts Annual Closure dates: 30 August to 04 October 2009 - 2010 tba
Dress Code: Elegantly casual, no collarless shirts or shorts in the evenings. Black Tie is requested for dinner on Christmas night and New Year’s Eve
Facilities: Floodlit all-weather (Omni) tennis court, air-conditioned gym, two spa treatment rooms, gift shop, watersports centre, children's Arts & Craft Room, Terrace restaurant, lounge and bar
Complimentary: Waterskiing, sunfish sailing, hobie cat, kayaking, snorkelling and windsurfing. Afternoon tea between 4-5pm daily. Day and night time tennis. Use of air-conditioned gym. Supervised children's activities from 08 Jul-01 Sep.
Other Services: Exchange dining with a number of deluxe hotels for guests on MAP (subject to availability). In-house laundry, library, same day dry cleaning. In suite massage. TV lounge with internet. WiFi
Children: Welcome except no children U12 yrs accepted between 6 Jan-27 Mar. Children U12 yrs are encouraged have finished dining by 7.30pm, and U5 yrs are not permitted in the bar/lounge after 7pm. Arts & Craft Room for ages 2-12 yrs with supervision available during Christmas, Easter and July-August. Complimentary supervised activities from 08 Jul-01 Sep for ages 2-12yrs.
Weddings: US$1000 for basic wedding plan (see above)
Accommodation: 40 suites
Room Types: 22 Superior Garden View - Open plan sitting room with ceiling fan, sofa bed, dining area and sun loungers, small Library of best selling titles, dressing area with personal safe, iron & ironing board and trouser press. Bathroom with double vanity and shower over bath. Air-conditioned bedroom to rear with ceiling fan and hairdryer. 8 Deluxe Suites (located closer to the sea) - Open plan sitting room with ceiling fan, sofa bed, dining area and sun loungers, small Library of best selling titles, dressing area with personal safe, iron & ironing board and trouser press. Bathroom with double vanity and shower over bath, English soaps and linens. Air-conditioned bedroom to rear with ceiling fan and hairdryer. 8 Oceanfront Suites (directly overlooking the sea) - Open plan sitting room with ceiling fan, sofa bed, dining area and sun loungers, small Library of best selling titles, dressing area with personal safe, iron & ironing board and trouser press. Bathroom with double vanity and shower over bath. Air-conditioned bedroom to rear with ceiling fan and hairdryer. Camelot & Colleton suites (Located in Pink Plantation House) - Situated on the top floor of the Pink Planters House are the Camelot and Colleton suites. Arguably two of the finest hotel suites in the Caribbean, they are decorated in the English style and combine marble floors with beautiful coloured fabrics to achieve a cool elegant atmosphere. Each suite has its own sun terrace with plunge pool, separate sitting room and bedroom, and en suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi bath tub and his & her showers.
All rates are quoted in US$ per room, per night inclusive of service and tax. BP = Room and full American breakfast. All rates are subject to change without notice. Dinner supplement is US$82 pp/day to be booked in advance. No children U12 yrs during 08 Jan-27 Mar 2010 and 07 Jan-27 Mar 2011. No minimum stay except during 19 Dec-05 Jan when a minimum of 14 nights applies.
Special Offers EXCHANGE DINING
Guests staying at Cobblers Cove on a half board basis may exchange dine with a number of deluxe hotels on the island, subject to availability at time of request – excludes transfers.
HONEYMOONS & ANNIVERSARIES- Honeymooners and couples celebrating their anniversary will receive complimentary fruit, flowers and Champagne in their room on arrival.
How to Book If you wish to make further enquiries or a reservation, please use the WEB LINK or DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility at the top of this page to make contact with Cobblers Cove Barbados, or if you wish to telephone them, please click on TELEPHONE CONTACT to reveal the number.
Locality Cobblers Cove is just south of Speightstown, which is Barbados’s second town, but is distinctly quieter and more local than Bridgetown. You will find more to interest you in Holetown, which is about 10 minutes drive to the south. There are two shopping malls and banks and a supermarket.
There are a number of restaurants within just a few minutes’ drive. North of Speightstown are the Fish Pot, which has a lovely setting in Shermans Bay, and La Mer, which has an excellent setting on the waters of Port St Charles. To the south you will find the Lone Star, any number of restaurants in Holetown (Olive’s, the Tides), and further south, about 15 minutes drive, the Cliff and Calabaza.
Meet & Greet If you are travelling independently, taxis are usually available at the airport, but one can be arranged for you by the hotel at your expense. It is worth putting in the request at the time of booking. The ride from the airport is around 45 minutes, depending on the traffic. Alternatively, if you would prefer to be taken care of from the minute you arrive at the airport, with a range of services that can include limousine transfers, a Concierge Service is offered by St James Travel & Tours.
Getting Around Hiring a car to explore the island is easily arranged. If you are not travelling in peak season and you don't think you will want a car for more than a day or two, hotel reception will be able to assist you. Otherwise, we recommend you book in advance via your travel organiser or direct with Stoutes Car Rentals, who will deliver to the property and issue your Barbadian driving licence, price Bds$10. Vehicles can be returned at the airport or be collected from the property at a pre-arranged time on your departure day. Be aware that in the winter season there is often a shortage of cars in Barbados, so you are advised to book well in advance. Also book early if you want one for a week or more because the pre-booked rates can be more advantageous.
Taxis are readily available through the reception at the hotel, through drivers who remain on property. A perfectly good bus service passes straight in front of the hotel, heading north to Speightstown and south to Bridgetown.
Cobblers Cove Video Please see below for a video of Cobblers Cove, an exclusive Caribbean resort on the west coast of Barbados, just south of Speightstown. Ideal for watersports, dining and weddings.
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