Four fabulous over fifties stayed at Tradewind Pavilion, Lance aux Epines, Grenada for two weeks in February. Tired out from a nightmare journey in the snow and sitting up all night at Gatwick, we were prepared to be disappointed on finally reaching Tradewinds - WOW! we could not have been more delighted. A warm welcome from Anton & Sharon, the owners, a pavilion that outdid the photos on the website, a fridge full of provisions that we had preordered, fabulous views and the pool! - Did I mention the pool? Bright, clear and big enough to swim in, we all felt like celebrities staying here!. So much room, all on different levels, so many chairs and loungers to choose from, well equipped and set out to feel lkie a real home. We BBQ'd some nights and also ate out at restaurants close by - Da Big Fish - great atmosphere and blues band - Aquarium - lovely for the Sunday Lunch, but oh! so! fab for an evening meal with great lobster and individual Beef Wellington, and the beach bar at the Calabash was our choice for a lazy lunch.We had a car delivered to the door - recommended to see the island and get to well stocked supermarket - and arranged our holiday through Nick Hughes at Spiceislesvillas.com - what a good guy - patient, informative and answered my endless emails almost by return. The smaller Turtleback Villa is just below Tradewinds, and ideal for just two people. Tradewinds can only be described as a Pavilion because of all the separate outdoor spaces that could be used to laze, eat or enjoy a sundowner looking in almost 360 degree view. But remember to look up at a clear starry sky. Very private and big enough for six people. Grenadians were friendly,easygoing and helpful people, driving was not aggressive and roads varied from excellent to gravel track! Service exceed our expectations from having been to other Caribbean resorts, but it was returning to such a peaceful haven that really made our holiday.

Wonderful views. Outstanding owners, Fantastic amenities. A captivating setting.

I’ve put off writing a review of turtleback because I feel like I can’t do it justice. And I'm a writer. My apologies for length, but I like to touch on the things that we wonder about ourselves.

We stayed there at the end of March, 2009. Initially, we were torn between staying at a hotel on Grand Anse Beach, to be more in the “midst” of things (as far as going out/drinking at night and being right on the beach) or at Turtleback, which was about $500 more than the hotel, and seemed isolated. We finally settled on Turtleback, since it looked too wonderful to pass on.

And we didn’t regret that choice for a second!

The inside is small, but large enough for the two of you, and extraordinarily comfortable with a nice bed, plenty of pillows, a comfortable sitting area and a well-equipped kitchen (everything we wanted, we had, and we cooked in about three or four nights). TV had a decent amount of stations and good reception, but since we only turned it on once the whole time, I’m not sure how many.

And outside? It really is impossible to describe how captivating the outside spaces were. Upstairs, the sundeck had plenty of room for two, and the “outside living room” upstairs had a comfy couch and two chairs, sink and dining table. We’d spend many mornings beneath the fans, looking out to the bay, enjoying a cup of coffee and the serenity. The upstairs sundeck was visible to the people in Tradewinds, above, if they were in a certain corner of THEIR deck. Well, we saw them at least, I imagine if they turned around and looked down, they’d see us. A couple of times we heard them, but only when things on our end were really quiet. The covered area up top was entirely private. On the pool level, there were plenty of chairs for sitting or lounging and a table for a romantic dinner. Lush vegetation surrounded this area, making it, too, entirely private from the guests at Tradewinds Pavilion, above. We couldn’t even hear voices from this area. Each night, we’d lay on the swinging loungers beneath the stars, listening to music and watching bats swoop down to drink from the pool. In fact, after 7 years together, he (finally) asked me to marry him one night out there.

We appreciated the ample towels, refreshed every other day with cleaning service (including a pair that we were told we were welcome to take to the beaches and around the island). They were happy to provide laundry service, which we never used. There was a safe in the room, big enough for our travel documents, wallets, cell phones and jewelry case.

If we go back to Grenada (and we will), we wouldn’t even think about staying anywhere else. While I was concerned that we’d be away from bars, etc., we found that we’d come home from a day out and about, and be mesmerized by the setting, the ambiance. Some nights when we’d planned to go out to dinner or for drinks, we chose rather to relax on the deck, beneath the stars or upstairs in the open-air living area beneath the fans. The location was convenient, yet you felt you were the only people in the world. It was about 5-10 easy minutes to Grand Anse and True Blue. We took a cab to and from the dodgy dock one night so we could drink and it was, with tip, about $100EC round trip. One thing we’d perhaps do, would be stay 10 days instead of seven – a week at turtleback, and two or three nights at the northern end of the island – so we could do some things up there without doing so much driving. Would definitely recommend the Tufton Hall Waterfall hike (guided) if you’re in good shape and enjoy a workout. Also enjoyed hikes at Mt. Qua Qua and Concord Falls. Loved a day at La Sagesse (and neither one of us are big beach people, but it's certainly a must-do), although we’d probably skip lunch there and just enjoy a day at the beach. Did a snorkel trip with Aquaknots out of True Blue, which was nice. Drank about everywhere ;). Enjoyed the Dodgy Dock, dinner at de big fish, Aquarium BBQ and Patricks – all were vegetarian (me) friendly and fun. In fact, De Big Fish had better vegetarian options than most places in the states. Overall, Grenada was an outstanding balance of fun bars, good people, great beaches and good outdoor/active entertainment. I’d been concerned that it would be a more “dress up” place, which isn’t really our style, but - while we certainly good have visited some of the fancy-schmancy places - the places we gravitated toward welcomed us as we came and were both casual and reasonably priced. Specifically, Turtleback Pavilion was the perfect place for us to stay and I’d recommend it to anyone.

Re: A car: I will say we’re “go out and do things” folk, and even the days we were mostly lazy at turtleback, we still used a car, I’d suggest a rental for your entire stay there.

July, 2007
Cue from Cape Cod, MA

In my 4 decades of world travel, I have never had a vacation as relaxing as this one. We stayed at the Tradewinds Villa, and I felt at home the moment I arrived. Sharon and Anton met us as we drove up, even though it was quite late in the evening. She showed me around the house, and from then on it was "peace and serenity".

She checked in periodically to inquire about our needs, but was unobstrusive and allowed us to feel as if we really were truly at home. The pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the surroundings, and the ambiance of the villa, itself. While either lounging by the pool, or sunning on the upper deck, the feel of the wind, and the mellow sounds of the wind chimes invited me to melt into tranquility. The breeze also put to rest the fear I had of baking in the summer sun; the weather was perfection from the top of of our rolling hill.

I'm usually a "been-there-done-that" kinda gal, but I'll be back to the Tradewinds to do that again.

I thought long and hard about various accommodations, hotel versus inn versus
villa. La Sagesse and Twelve Degrees North offered very attractive rates with
the intimacy and local flavour we like so much. And discount websites were
offering beachfront rooms on Grand Anse for under $100/night. But then I
stumbled across the website for Spice Isle Villas and that pretty much settled
my decision. This site is run by the indefatigable Nick Hughes, and let me tell
you, folks, this guy is a gem! His rental services just earned a special nod
from Conde Nast as being one of about 35 villa rental companies worldwide who
are most likely to match their clients with the perfect rental, among other
things. I chose Turtleback Pavilion, a new one bedroom studio villa as our home
for our first week in Grenada, based mostly on the fabulous photographs of it
online and the incredible introductory rental rate of US $885/week. Nick was the
soul of patience and promptness when it came to answering my questions, ranging
from How far is it to the closest beach (short walk to a very small one, less
than 5 minute drive to the main one, Prickly Bay) to What appliances are in the
kitchen (blender, toaster, electric kettle, microwave, coffee maker). He even
did some local research and put me in touch with a woman who lends a hand to
various schools and possibly a children’s home so that I could sent boxes of
children’s clothing and books ahead of our visit. He also picked us up at the
airport and drove us to the villa, and called us partway through the week to see
how things were going. No email of mine went unanswered longer than a day. I’m
telling you, Nick Hughes is the man to see about a villa on Grenada.

We arrived very late at night and our first sight of Turtleback was pure
magic—we were led down a garden staircase that was sensuously lighted to our
home for the week. The indoor living space is fairly small—just an open plan
studio with a full kitchen, bathroom, living area, and king size bed, with
central A/C. But the outdoor living spaces, which outnumber the indoor space
three to one, where truly magnificent. We had a large swimming pool, probably
about 15’ x 30’, a deck surrounding the pool scattered with lots of comfy
chairs, a covered breezeway with a dining table and more chairs, and then a
covered rooftop terrace that was larger than the studio that was compete with a
dining table, wet bar, and a sun deck.

The villa is owned by Sharon and Anthon Antoine, a couple so good-looking they’d
make your teeth hurt. He’s Grenadian and she’s from California, and they live in
an apartment on the grounds with their two sweet dogs, Oso and Tiger. The rental
included a home cooked meal for our first night, and it was excellent—Sharon
prepared the best callaloo soup I had during my entire trip, and she also
provided a green salad, a baked chicken with Moroccan spices, and a yellow cake
with lime glaze—all of which were delicious. They also do an initial
provisioning at cost upon request. They also do all of their own maintenance and
housekeeping for their two rental properties.
Nick took care of our rental car, and so Y&R rental delivered a small
Suzuki-type 4WD vehicle with left-side steering. We were so smitten with the
villa that we were reluctant to leave that morning, so we just ventured out to
buy some groceries at the nicely appointed Food Fair and to a pharmacy to buy
some sodium naproxen and an ice pack to help assuage the pain in my DH’s foot.
My husband is a great navigator and I was keen to drive, so we made a good team.
Then we headed back to the villa to take some sun, read, have some cocktails,
and listen to some music on the villa’s CD player (it also has a TV and DVD
player). In fact, each of our days was bookended in such a way—early morning
coffee, a nice swim, more coffee, maybe some reading, a nice swim…and then
cocktails, watching the sunset (sort of, as we didn’t face west), a swim before
getting ready for dinner. And then after dinner, a quick dip in the pool.
The villa was nicely decorated and appointed, with the small exception of the
lamps on either side of the bed—they were mood lamps, insufficient for reading
in bed with only a 15 watt bulb, and the overhead light in the ceiling fan was
positioned too far away to be much good, either. We would be hard-pressed to
come up with more “flaws” in this lovely place. We were very sad to leave, as
Turtleback definitely felt like home and we had become fond of the owners as
well as the dogs. I would heartily recommend both Spice Isle Villas and the
Turtleback Pavilion (or the larger Tradewinds Pavilion just above it, also owned
by the Antoines) for anybody looking for good value, a certain amount of luxury,
fabulous views, and dependability in terms of on-site housekeeping, maintenance,
security, guest services, etc.

In fact, my husband and I enjoyed our stay so much that we are returning to
Grenada next spring just after the World Cup with friends to stay in the larger Tradewinds Pavilion just above Turtleback.