We booked this trip as a last minute week away from it all and it fulfilled our expectations and more. The accommodation was spacious and far better equipped than we needed - we were on an All Inclusive package but could have easily catered for ourselves. Having said that, the food in the restaurant(s) was excellent with a good variety of fish and friendly staff. A word of warning to vegetarians - check carefully to be sure what you're eating (for example split pea soup with chicken) - as it was not always labelled.
The staff were all helpful and welcoming from the moment we arrived and were handed our first of many rum punches. The free minibus service to Speightstown and local beaches was easy to book and efficient, and on the one occasion we used a taxi service this was arranged for us very promptly.
The grounds and gardens are beautiful and immaculately kept, and the guided gully "stroll" was a must - we particularly enjoyed the freshly picked coconut at the end.
This isn't the place to go if you want nightlife - the bar closes at 10.30pm and everyone disappears, but we liked the fact that after a busy day exploring it felt like coming home to peace & quiet.

This was our second visit to the Sugar Cane Club and it didn't disappoint. The hug we got when we arrived was great and it was lovely that so many of the staff recognised us even though it's nearly 2 years since our last visit. We'd contacted the hotel before-hand and asked for the same room as we had last time and that was all sorted for us when we arrived.

The food and drinks were excellent. Not all drinks were part of the all-inclusive deal but that just seemed to be the really expensive brands of spirits. It was certainly never a problem for us and we never heard of anybody else wanting a drink that wasn't included. In fact, everybody we spoke to absolutely loved the place too and many of them were also returning guests, which speaks volumes!

One thing we didn't find out until the day before we left was that the Chattel Bar restaurant, which is open a few nights each week, serves Caribbean food. We'd definitely have gone there if we'd known that as we really love the Bajan food in the main restaurant. It's a pity that wasn't mentioned in the hotel literature.

It is a shame that they don't have their own beach facility any longer but we knew that before we booked and we're not beach bums so it wasn't a major issue for us. We did go down to Heywoods beach one day for a few hours and it is nice, but we couldn't find anywhere to rent a sunbed, (though that may well just have been us not looking properly), so we had to just sit on our towels. It was fairly busy as it's used by the Almond Beach Club, but there was no problem finding space to sit down.

The shuttle service is good and you can go to Speightstown or the beach at other times for a small charge. The wi-fi was a bit hit and miss whilst we were there but I think they were just having some problems with the router so I wouldn't expect that to be a long-term issue. We also had a 30 minute massage at the Spa which was lovely.

The only problem was the Virgin rep who wasn't very good, but that's not the hotel's fault. We shouldn't really have been surprised as they hadn't answered the email we'd sent them before we went, even though it had been sent in response to theirs asking us to get in touch if we had any questions. It was a good job we'd been to the island before as she didn't say much in her "welcome" meeting. We wanted to hire a car for the day to go to the east coast and she told us that the price was $277, which we thought was way too expensive so we didn't bother. We later found out that a more normal price was around $100 but it was too late for us to do it then.

All in all, a great place to chill out and we wouldn't think of staying anywhere else in Barbados.

My wife and I returned from here last week. This is a great hotel with all you need for a relaxing holiday. The check-in was very efficient, with much appreciated wet flannels after a hot journey (although we missed out on a rum punch when we arrived - don't worry, we had more than enough to make up for it over the next week!) We had a garden room which was very spacious with an air-conditioned bedroom, well kitted-out bathroom, a dressing area with combination safe, a large lounge/dining room/kitchen area, and a large verandah.
We were 'all-inclusive' which included all meals (with no restrictions). There was a good breakfast of cereals, fruit and cooked items; lunch was a la carte with mostly snacks and light meals (with 'specials' each day). Dinner was either a la carte (again with 'specials' each evening), or a specialty Caribbean or Bajan buffet, or a couple of nights a week at the Chattel House (an authentic Bajan menu). There is a good selection of drinks including fantastic freshly made cocktails (the non-alcoholic fruit cocktail is particularly good).
The surroundings of the hotel are lovely, set in subtropical gardens, and the gully walk around the hotel, led by one of the staff, is very interesting. The gym is well kitted out and air-conditioned and the Frangipani shop has lots of useful items. We couldn't comment on the spa as we didn't use it.
The hotel staff are relaxed but friendly, and always seemed to be available to help.
The hotel is the most northernly of the hotels used by Virgin and actually it was really nice to be somewhere a bit 'out of town'.
The hotel is a kilometre or so from Heywoods beach, but this is easily walkable (as is Speightstown, a little further on). The beach is a nice place, but you need to speak to reception to take drinks, etc with you as there the hotel has no beach presence.We walked down a couple of times, making use of the free shuttle to get back. Speightstown is a interesting little place, with a couple of art galleries, a well stocked supermarket, and a few other shops of interest. Holetown, a little further down the West Coast road, is certainly worth a trip on the jolly reggae yellow buses, or the more sedate national blue buses. Holetown has duty free shops but also local interest shops (Best of Barbados, etc) in the Chattel Village and a slightly incongrous very high end shopping mall with Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Armani, etc (and prices to match).
We went with Virgin holidays which was a very comfortable flight and efficient transfers. I have mixed opinions of the Virgin related trips - we went on Virgins Ahoy which was a catamaran trip up the west coast with great opportunities to snorkel and swim with the turtles and a nice lunch provided, but I felt the trip could have done with a third less people on it. Also the Bajan bus tour was a good chance to see the less directly accessible parts of the island, but again the bus was completely full which made the journey between each site a bit cramped.

I would definitely recommend this hotel for a relaxing Caribbean holiday - in fact we are planning a repeat trip back in the next year or two.

If you are looking for an all-inclusive beach place this is not for you.
It has no beach!
That said it is not far from the beach.
We never actually used the bus service, but we drove to heywoods beach and its not that far (for ref: drive down to the main street and the parking lot for heywoods is just after the massive Port St Charles development) - there is a sign. The parking lot can fit at least 6 cars, but we went on saturday and it was empty.
Wildlife: toads - every night, geckos - you might see them on the walk or the walls, tree frogs - we had a little guy climbing the outside walls on two nights, birdies - these guys will wait for you to come home and sit on your balcony/table/chair and beg for food, mongoose - we saw one run across the street, monkeys - we heard them the first night, but we saw a whole bunch of them at 7am one day. We heard them running across the roof, but they were all over the courtyard - there are fig trees and banana trees and they come and get the fruit.
Rooms:
To follow up on the monkeys, your best view of them would likely be the garden view rooms, I recommend the rooms on the upper floor - 2** instead of 1**. The higher the number the closer to the trees you are, the lower the number the closer to the main building.
The main building has the penthouse and some of the other more expensive rooms (ocean view), honestly save the money and get a garden view. The pool has people at it a lot of the day - granted everyone here seemed to be reading or soaking up the sun rather than swimming, but there is music during the day, on a few nights a week they have a singer or a band and you can hear the music anywhere on the grounds, so there is no reason to be closer to it than necessary.
The room had 2 single beds side by side, 1 bathroom with a shower/tub, a living room with small eating table for 2, a balcony with a small eating table for 2, a galley kitchen(dishes, pots, pans, corkscrew, can opener etc).
The bedroom had an air conditioner, it was kind of loud so that might put people off, but it was really white noise after a while.
Food: we did not get the all-inclusive. You can, i think its $100US per person, which seemed a bit steep to me. We ate one night at the restaurant and it was good food, i think it's was $200BBD for 2 mains, 2 desserts, 2 beers - so not cheap, but each room has a fully stocked kitchen and there is a grocery store in town(jordans, by the water, selection not as good as the iga in warren but the prices are the same and you can buy things in individual sizes - single eggs!?!). For $80BBD we got eggs, bread, sausages, juice, beer, ham, cheese(very cheap in barbados! about the only thing that is cheap!), baked beans and dish detergent(perhaps bring some with you) - we had a fully cooked breakfast and a quick lunch for the entire time we were here, so again probably all-inclusive is not necessary unless you want to drink a bunch and don't want to cook.
Pool:
the pool is split - 2ft deep wading pool, which no one used, up to ~6ft swimming pool - which almost no one used. Perhaps its the type of people who come here, or we were just lucky, we had the pool mostly to ourselves. The main pool it isn't a terribly big pool, probably slightly larger to a good sized house in-ground pool. There are a bunch of places to sit around the pool and soak up the sun, of course there is shade as well - never a problem for getting chairs. If you are looking for someone to come and get your drink orders, this is not the place. I think they do that at some places that offer AI but I didn't see it happen once here.
Parking:
free
Excursions:
friday morning glass bottom boat, swimming with turtles - this is amazing! You must do this!
Judging from the other boats out there, every hotel offers this - not sure if other hotels have it for free.
This hotel offers this on friday mornings, the bus brings you down to the patch of sand at the bottom of the hill(i'd call it a beach, but the massive development going up has kind of destroyed it). You go on this little boat and you see fish and then you go to this place - on the other side of the construction - and you see turtles. I think the turtles are used to this, they get fed, they are swimming around and bumping into you and you're bumping into them and they are just waiting for the next bit of fish to be dropped in the water. It was amazing.

That said, if you just snorkle off the patch of sand you might see a turtle too - we went after the boat ride and there was a (smaller) turtle grazing the reef there.
You might want to be careful with your stuff though, a local guy said that particular patch of sand is frequented by the kids on their way to and from school and they will take stuff - to compare, Heywoods beach was frequented by tourists so we were fine leaving stuff there while we snorkled.

Gully walk - we didn't do the official walk, but we did walk the gully. Go to the end of the property - by the two bedroom houses - and you'll see steps leading down. I think the gully is a dried up stream, so be careful with your footing as its not even at all. Interesting, but a very short little walk around the property, I don't think you really need a guide.

Rates:
We paid about $160US+tax a night for a garden room.
I'd say this was a good deal.
We would stay here again.