This is anything but a typical holiday villa – quite unlike any other I’ve seen on the island. From a previous visit to St Lucia and studying pictures I thought I knew what to expect, but the unusual, low profile of the house didn’t prepare me for its enormous and deceptive size, emphasised by cool shades of white and grey and a simple, uncluttered interior where a family much bigger than ours could lose itself.
Contrasting, warm terracotta paving brackets the main house – in the large courtyard hidden behind an iron gate set in a rustic stone wall like the way into The Secret Garden, and along what must be the longest veranda in the Caribbean where we spent much of our time just chilling out, looking over the huge grounds and jumping into either of the pools whenever we felt like it – even in a tropical downpour!
Different birds visit through the day and in the evening bats swoop low over the pool-deck. If we looked carefully and quietly, sometimes we could spot a crab poised to retreat into its hole in the ground. Picking ripe mango and paw-paw from the laden trees is just one of many abiding memories, and finding a newly-fallen coconut definitely beats trying to win one at the fair.
The housekeeper Francesca is a star and the management company very responsive, whether to domestic enquiries or advising and booking sightseeing activities. When we didn’t stay in to enjoy a meal cooked by Francesca, all our needs were catered for in nearby Rodney Bay with its excellent restaurants and supermarkets, and almost all our wants in the capital Castries with its busy shops and enormous covered market for local produce and Caribbean crafts, about 20 minutes away.
A more challenging drive, off the good and steadily improving main roads into the hilly bits, rewarded us with stunning views of St Lucia’s mini-continent of landscapes from rain forest to volcanic peaks to rich, coastal plain. On one beach, we viewed the remains of a booster rocket, salvaged from the sea a couple of years ago!
I would recommend Villa Giorgia to any person or family group wanting a tropical island break somewhere quiet, secluded, spacious and unique yet not far from major amenities.
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