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Style: A generously proportioned, comfortable, traditional style Caribbean home for casual family living
The Beach: Anse du Cap or Smugglers Cove, both volcanic sand beaches are within a 10 minute drive, the latter has excellent snorkelling
The Rooms: 3 bedrooms with en suite bathrooms
Key features: A St Lucia villa designed with children in mind, swimming pool, cable TV, VCR, CD system and barbecue
Children: Welcome - child safe veranda
Staff: Housekeeper, Janice - 9am to 3pm Mon-Sat and resident caretaker/gardener/night watchman, Webster, has own cottage in the grounds |
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Description
Set well back into the hills of the exclusive residential area of Cap Estate in the far north of St Lucia, Tamarind Villa is located on the hillside of Windward Ridge and has views of both the Atlantic and Caribbean. The house has been built in a traditional Caribbean style to take advantage of the Atlantic breezes, with latticework and roof ventilation encouraging natural air circulation. Built in the early nineties, Tamarind Villa has a strong sense of place, featuring local woods for the louvres and lattice work, exposed ceiling rafters, local river stone and terracotta floors all set off by rustic white painted plaster walls and appropriate local furnishings. This is a very comfortable and spacious home, with a very casual air that is well suited to families, especially those with younger children.
At the heart of the house is a very large open plan living and dining room with a sitting area of white washed wood framed sofas and chairs with colourful Madras Cotton cushions. They are set around a coffee table, where there is a large TV with cable service and VCR to one side. There is also a CD player and a large dresser with a small selection of books. The other section of the room features a large, long wooden dining table for formal meals. It will seat eight very comfortably, but there is room for four more. The central living room is actually in an L shape with a smaller more casual dining area to the side. Known as the breakfast room, this has a smaller round table that seats between four and six. An adjacent, well equipped kitchen is open to the breakfast room by way of a breakfast bar which has three stools, and there is a separate laundry room and facilities for the housekeeper.
A set of three double jalousie doors extend the living area onto a very wide, wood decked covered veranda, which runs along the entire front of the house and wraps around to the corner side of the master bedroom, so that all bedrooms and the living area have access. The veranda has been furnished for casual outside living. There is yet another dining option, a small circular wooden table and two more sitting areas. One has white wicker seating, the other rocking chairs in a more local style with bold madras fabrics. Beyond the veranda, which has a surrounding wooden decorative rail (enabling it to be blocked off from the pool terrace if young children are in house) are a couple of steps leading out to the sun terrace which is inset with a good size, kidney shaped swimming pool. The house enjoys expansive views to the surrounding hillsides and straight out to the sea, taking in Pigeon Island to the south. Guests can also sit beneath the shade of the shingle sunshade and enjoy a spot of lunch, pool side.
Tamarind Villa has three good sized bedrooms, two on the south and one to the north of the living room, all with walk-in wardrobes, en suite shower rooms and jalousie doors leading out onto the veranda. Like the rest of the house, the rooms have natural ventilation, aided by ceiling fans. The north bedroom and inner bedroom to the south both have twin beds which can be made up as kings, whilst the corner master bedroom, a slightly larger room on the north side, has a king size bed and enjoys access to an additional section of veranda which wraps around the corner, giving views to the Atlantic. |
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Beach & Swimming
There are a couple of small volcanic sand beaches within ten minutes drive at Anse du Cap and at Smugglers Cove, where there is good snorkelling. A fifteen minute drive will get you to Causeway Beach which has two stretches of white sand leading down to Pigeon Island National Park. The north area of the beach is popular with St Lucians on weekends, especially bank holidays, and has a picnic area. Reduit Beach is the island’s most popular beach and is located on the other side of Rodney Bay, with a lovely mile long stretch of powder soft sand. It is fairly active. It has a few hotels and a good variety of watersports is available, including waterskiing, parasailing, jetski, sunfish and hobie cat sailing. It takes about ten minutes to reach by car.
Tamarind Villa has a good size kidney shaped pool set within a paved sun terrace with entry steps to the shallow end. |
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Sports & Recreation
The 18-hole, 6829 yard, par 71 course at the St Lucia Golf & Country Club at Cap Estate is less than five minutes drive away and has a pro shop, driving range and restaurant. The nearest tennis courts open to the public (courts must be booked in advance) are at the St Lucia Racquet Club at Club St Lucia, also in Cap Estate, which has seven floodlit Laykold cushioned tennis courts, a squash court and gym. There are also two squash courts at the St Lucia Yacht Club at Reduit in Rodney Bay. The Sportivo fitness centre at Rodney Heights is St Lucia’s largest gym and offers yoga, Tai Chi and Karate classes. |
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Locality
Tamarind Villa is located within the hills of the Cap Estate, a large residential development in the Gros Islet area of St Lucia, which is in the north of the island. There are many luxury homes dotted on the hillsides of Cap Estate, some holiday homes and some residential. The estate has an 18 hole golf course and a couple of resorts, and is close to two of the best restaurants in St Lucia - the Great House and Tao at LeSport. Views from the estate extend to Pigeon Island National Park, a forty four acre National Trust reserve which was joined to the mainland by a man-made causeway in 1972, where there are two white sandy beaches. The island features ruins of many 18th century British and French military buildings including Fort Rodney, and has an Interpretation Centre, a restaurant featuring local cuisine, a historical themed pub and restaurant, and lookout point at the top of the fort. The island is also the main venue of the annual St Lucia Jazz Festival, held each May which attracts a host of international stars. A ferry runs between the island and Rodney Bay on an hourly schedule.
At Rodney Bay, which is St Lucia’s busiest tourist area, there are hotels, good restaurants and bars, a shopping mall, banks, mini marts and a nearby supermarket (on the main road) called Super J and a very lively nightlife. It has a busy marina and attracts over 200 boats for the annual ARC (trans-Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) which usually sees its first arrivals in early December. The nearby village of Gros Islet hosts the now famous Friday Night Jump Up, an all night street party. The Rodney Bay and Pigeon Island area is a ten minute journey by car. Castries the capital and George F L Charles Airport (formerly known as Vigie) which receives inter-island flights only, are about 25 minutes drive away. |
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Useful Hints
Ask your travel organiser or the management company (if booking direct) for initial food and drink supplies to be laid in for your arrival (a starter food pack costs approximately US$40 per person), so that the cook/housekeeper can prepare a simple welcome meal for you. Thereafter, your housekeeper will be happy to assist you with your shopping should you wish to delegate this chore, however do expect to provide transportation and appropriate gratuity for this service. Rental rates for villas in St Lucia do not include ‘tips’, about which you will find advice in the guest information book at the villa.
Personal laundry is not included in the rental rates and charges are approximately as follows: machine wash small load EC$10, hand wash small load EC$25 and ironing small load EC$25. |
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Rates
| Tamarind Villa | 01 May-14 Dec 2007 | 15 Dec-14 Apr 2007-08 | 15 Apr-14 Dec 2008 | | 1-2 guests | 239 | 450 | 239 | | 3-4 guests | 265 | 450 | 265 | | 5-6 guests | 299 | 450 | 299 | Prices are per night in US$ and include 8% Government Tax. All rates are subject to change without notice. Rates do not include the Christmas/New Year period for which a 10% supplement applies and rates are for full occupancy only (no tiered rates), with a minimum stay of 14 nights. A 10% supplement also applies for stays over the annual Jazz Festival which takes place every May when a minimum rental of 5 nights also applies. A 10% reduction applies for bookings of 21 nights or longer. Minimum stays: a 3 night stay during 15 Apr to 14 Dec except during the annual Jazz Festival when the minimum stay is 5 nights, for stays 15 Dec to 14 Apr the minimum is 5 nights except Christmas/New Year when it is 14 nights. |
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How To Book
If you wish to book direct, reservations should be made through the local managing agents, Tropical Villas. You may contact Tropical Villas for further information or reservations by using the DIRECT ENQUIRIES facility or the web link at the top of this page. For reservations, you will need to send a deposit equal to 25% (non refundable) of the total rental fee to confirm a reservation and payment of the remaining 75% is required 45 days (non refundable) prior your arrival. If you are booking within 45 days of your arrival, full payment must be made to secure the booking. For a review of Tropical Villas and their services together, written by James Henderson, please see here where you will also find links to reviews of many more St Lucia villas managed by Tropical Villas and featured by DefinitiveCaribbean . |
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Airport Meet & Greet
If you are booking direct ask the villa management company Tropical Villas to send a taxi to meet you at the airport. These are arranged with their taxi driver Desir (pronounced Daisy), who normally waits in the area just outside the customs hall at Hewanorra airport. He will hold a Tropical Villas sign and if you miss him go to the Tourist Board desk and they will page him for you. Your airport transfers are paid for locally and take approximately 1hr 30 minutes from Hewanorra and 20 minutes from George Charles. 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 helicopter transfers, a Concierge Service please click here for St Lucia Representative Services.
If you are booking through a travel organiser, it is likely that their representative will be at the airport to meet you. This service and your return airport transfers should be included in the cost of your holiday. Please check at the time of booking. |
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Getting Around
A hired car is strongly recommended for all St Lucia villas, unless you would prefer staff to call taxis for you as required. A vehicle will be useful if you want to dine out at night or do lots of sightseeing and particularly when it comes to shopping for groceries. Book car hire via your travel organiser or direct with Drive-A-Matic (Tropical Villas will book this for you) or Cool Breeze Car & Jeep Rentals for your St Lucia car rental and ask for your vehicle to be delivered to the property approximately 3 hours after your scheduled time of arrival on St Lucia or the following morning. Vehicles can be returned at the airport or be collected from the property at a pre-arranged time on your departure day. |
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All the information on this page comes to you free of charge. Please remember to mention DefinitiveCaribbean when you contact Tropical Villas for your St Lucia villa rentals, and Drive-a-Matic or Cool Breeze Car & Jeep Rentals. |
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