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Style: A modern house built using grand traditional Caribbean design - pillars, criss-cross balustrades and rounded arches - painted in peach
The Beach: Tom’s Beach is right below the point on which the villa sits, access by private steps, not suitable for young children
The Rooms: Two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, master with queen bed, second with twin beds
Key features: Comfortable Caribbean beachfront villa, swimming pool, lawned garden, steps down to rocky beach, 8 iguanas live in the grounds, high ceilings, fan ventilation and screened rooms, phone, wireless DSL internet, cd player, pool, covered west-facing veranda.
Children: No children under twelve
Staff: Maid service two mornings a week (but can be arranged more often) |
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Description
Ginger Lily is a modern and comfortable two-bedroom villa set on Tom’s Beach on the shoreline of Carriacou, the largest of Grenada’s Grenadines. The house is built using modern material and methods, but it also has many classical Caribbean features, such as rounded arches and cylindrical columns, even a pyramid-shaped tympanum. The result is a house which looks quite grand (albeit in small scale) in an island that is otherwise fairly simple. Ginger Lily is well set up for tropical living and its position on Craigston Point gives it good privacy and excellent views.
To reach it you wind down to the coast among the tracks of Snow Hill in the north of the island, an area with several villas. The house is set behind a white picket fence and it has a shallow-pitched green tin roof with light salmon pink walls. The main path leads to quite a large entranceway between two ‘wings’ of the house (in fact the bedrooms).
The front door gives onto a small landing and then immediately to a flight of stairs that descends into the main living area of the house, an open-plan sitting and dining room and the kitchen - the dining table is just at the foot of the stairs, the kitchen is on the left and the living room on the right. You will notice at once that the like the outside the interior of Ginger Lily uses many classic Caribbean features, in its large arched windows, exposed beams and high, pitched ceiling. The interior walls are magnolia, again touched with white and the house is tiled throughout with light-coloured ceramic tiles. Windows are screened and the house is ventilated with fans rather than air-conditioning.
The kitchen is very well equipped, with a fridge-freezer, a full cooker, a microwave and a bread-maker, all of which are sit white against the magnolia walls and white door and window frames. There is an island in the kitchen which provides an extra worksurface. The dining table in the centre of the room is large enough for six but has wicker dining chairs for the four of you. Wicker is also used in the sitting area, where there are large armchairs and a sofa surrounding a low table. There is a bookshelf and a CD player there.
Two sets of large double French doors, one from the sitting area, the other from the kitchen, lead out onto the covered veranda at the front of the house. This is a large space and it continues the traditional Caribbean theme with its classical columns and criss-cross balustrade. There is an outside dining table at its centre and chairs for sitting or lounging in the shade. Outside the kitchen there is a hammock.
From the veranda a double staircase, left and right in classical form again, leads down to the pool level. There is even a small classical façade (in fact the pool house) on the garden side of the pool. The pool itself is not large, but it is set in a largish deck (of the same ceramic tiles) where there are loungers so that you can sunbathe.
Beyond the pool the lawned garden stretches towards the point where there are shoreside trees and bushes, in which the occasional breaks give you snatches of the excellent view. Steps from a ship’s ladder lead down over the small cliff onto the rocky beach (there is a section of sand further down). It is also interesting to know that several iguanas, lizards that can grow to three or four feet long, live in the garden at Ginger Lily. They are harmless and will keep out of your way, but they are fun to look at.
The bedrooms at Ginger Lily lead off the first landing that you come to as you enter the house. The master is on the left. It has a queen-size bed. It is nicely, if simply, decorated and has built-in cupboards and an en suite bathroom. The second bedroom is on the other side of the atrium. It is fairly similar in style but has twin beds. Its bathroom can also be accessed from outside as a day bathroom by visiting guests. Both bedrooms are screened and ventilated by ceiling fans.
Ginger Lily is one of a small handful of Caribbean beachfront villas in the Snow Hill area in the north of Carriacou, many of which are managed by Down Island Villas. Its position on its own point means that the villa has excellent privacy and also a good view through the trees. Looking west over Hillsborough Bay you can see the island’s small town, the hills behind it and the offshore islands on the horizon. To the north is the spectacular-looking Union Island, one of the Grenadines that belong to St Vincent. |
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Beach & Swimming
Ginger Lily is set just above the northern end of Tom’s Beach, where there is a reasonable section of mid-brown sand. It is accessed by a set of stairs attached to the small cliff. There is good snorkelling just below the villa and at the other end of the beach.
The closest of the island’s best beaches is at Anse la Roche, just north of Bogles. Although development is possibly on the cards there, the beach has no facilities at present and so you will have to take all you need in the way of water and food. Alternatively you can head down to Paradise Bay on the other side of Hillsborough, another excellent stretch of sand, where there is a beach bar.
The pool at Ginger Lily is not large, about ten feet by twelve, but it is a useful addition on Carricaou, where not all villas have pools. It is completely private and invisible from off the property. |
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Sports & Recreation
Watersports are limited on Carriacou. The scuba diving, however, is pretty good and there are several companies. Try Carriacou Silver Diving in Hillsborough, which is not far away. They will also rent you snorkelling gear.
There are several excellent day sails based in the island (people come from as far afield as Grenada and Barbados for them), which visit the islands off Carriacou and also the Tobago Cays a few miles to the north. If you would prefer to travel independently, you can get one of the water-taxi men to run you out to Sandy Island off Paradise Beach. They are happy to pick up from Tom’s Beach. |
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Locality
Ginger Lily is in the north of Carriacou, in a small villa community called Snow Hill close to the village of Bogles. Hillsborough, the island’s capital town (more of a village, really) is just a few minutes away. Here you will find supermarkets, a couple of ‘sights’, including the small museum, and a handful of restaurants, including Callaloo and the Garden Restaurant. Close by, towards Bogles, is the Round House, a very nice restaurant set in a private house.
Beyond Hillsborough along the coast is Paradise Beach (though you have to go inland to get around the airport), the liveliest beach on the island. And not far beyond here is Tyrell Bay, where there are several restaurants and bars to go with a fantastic view of the sunset through the yachts and local trading boats. Try Turtle Dove and Lambi Queen, or the bar on the pontoon in the bay.
There are also a number of islands off Carriacou, which make for excellent day trips. It is also possible to go there independently - the easiest to reach is Sandy Island, a ribbon of coral and sand just off Paradise Bay. You can arrange for a boatman to take you out there – and collect you again later in the day. |
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Useful Hints
Down Island Villa Rentals can arrange for a cooked meal to be delivered to Ginger Lily on your first evening so that you do not have to think about it on your arrival. It is part of their restaurant delivery and fresh food ‘Heat and Eat’ service. They can also stock your villa with groceries in advance if you wish. After your booking is confirmed, Down Island will send out a provisions list. Alternatively please see the Provisions List and email it to Down Island Villas when you confirm your reservation. The cost of the shopping will be added to your account. These services are subject to a service charge of up to 15%. |
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Rates
| | 16 Apr-15 Dec 2009 | 16 Dec-15 Apr 2009-10 | 16 Apr-15 Dec 2010 | | Ginger Lily (sleeps 4) 1-2 guests Extra persons | 205 20 | 240 20 | 205 20 | Rates are quoted in US$ per night and are subject to 10% service charge. All rates are subject to change without notice. Children over 12yrs welcome. Minimum rental 5 nights 30 Apr-15 Dec and 6 nights 16 Dec-29 Apr. A deposit of 25% of the total rental cost is required to confirm bookings and is refundable less 10% if cancelled 60 days prior to arrival and is non-refundable if cancelled within 60 days of arrival. Full payment due 60 days prior to arrival. |
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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 Down Island Villas in Carriacou, or if you wish to telephone them, their telephone number will be revealed if you click on the CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER link. If you wish to see more villas available for rent on Carriacou through Down Island Villas, please click on the name. |
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Getting to Carriacou
Getting to your villa in Carriacou can be a little complicated. The easiest access is probably via Grenada, from where there are usually three daily flights on SVG Air. However the latest flight is at about 4pm, so (depending on your international connections) you may not be able to make the island on the same day. You might consider a two-centre holiday with a villa in Grenada. Another option is the fast ferry, the Osprey, which runs twice daily both ways between the islands. The last sailing to Carriacou is at about 5.30pm.
Barbados is better served with international flights than Grenada and so it may be easier to route your journey via there. Inter-island flights are not ideal, but you can take a share charter flight to Union Island. From here there are two different options, a short hop by plane (be aware that the last flight usually leaves by about 4pm) or a water taxi ride from Union Island to Carriacou. Another option to consider from Barbados, the most direct of all, is to take a private charter in a small plane. This is obviously convenient and, if there are enough of you, prices will be comparable. The option of a private charter probably gives you the best chance of getting to Carriacou on the same day. Contact SVG Air.
A couple of days a week there are also services from Carriacou via Canouan, which is not far away in the Grenadines. Canouan can be reached from San Juan in Puerto Rico.
For more details on flight times, please see Getting to Carriacou. |
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Meet & Greet
Down Island Villas will meet you at the airport or the ferry dock in Hillsborough when you arrive on Carriacou. They will take you to Ginger Lily, where the housekeeper will settle you in and answer any questions you have about the villa or about the island.
On departure, most guests drive themselves back to the ferry dock or the airport, but if you would prefer, Down Island will arrange transport for you free of charge. |
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Getting Around
It is well worth exploring Carriacou island during your time there and so a car is a useful addition to a visit. You can visit the beaches for the day, collect your groceries and eat out when you do not want to cater for yourself. We recommend a rental car with every Caribbean vacation villa rental and suggest that you make a reservation in advance through Down Island Villas, who use our recommended Carriacou car hire company, Martin and Wayne Jeep Rentals. Or you can do so through your travel organiser.
Down Island’s delivery driver will bring the jeep to Ginger Lily so that you can complete the paperwork. They will then accompany you to the Police Station in order for you to get your local Grenadian driving licence (price EC$30 for each driver), and give you an orientation tour of Hillsborough and the area at the same time. Be aware that at the height of the season between December and April, as well as during August and Thanksgiving (November), cars on island can be booked up, so it is a good idea to reserve one in advance.
Buses do run around the island, from Hillsborough past Snow Hill to Bogles and across to Windward. You will need to walk down to the main road. Services are unpredictable. Taxis will come to the villa itself. |
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