We have booked Lamb's Cottages for our spring vacation for the last five years in a row now. We love the place. Every year the discussion around the kitchen table goes: Well, maybe we should try another island this coming year. Let's check out this or that island resort. But after all family members have had their say, we all end up agreeing that it won't be possible to find anything else that exactly matches this little hide-away gem in a corner of paradise on earth, Nevis. So it is not without hesitation we share our views: We sure hope it doesn't suddenly get booked out more. After all, we do want our spring vacation weeks to remain flexible for years to come. But if you are traveling any other time of the year, Lamb's Cottages might be just the right place for you too. :)

The Positive & the negative:

1> Positive: It's very quiet and private. You get to see monkeys and birds up close when they swing by the garden on their daily trip down the mountain. A mom can sun topless on the pool deck without offending anybody. Kids can play and explore the garden and the forest (& creek) freely. A dad can join a mom's aerobics regime at dawn on the deck and nobody but the kids and the monkeys get to study how totally ridiculous he looks doing that. (And Mom is mum on the subjetc, he, he). :) The negative aspect: you need to rent a car. There are no grocery stores within walking distance. The family’s favorite beach, Nisbet, is a couple of miles away. However, you have Cades Bay close by for easy strolls to the ocean on lazy afternoons.

2> Positive: We love to cook and the main house has a fabulous, gazebo-like kitchen, extraordinarily well equipped (including such things as a bread machine and an espresso machine), with a commercial size oven, a large five burner stove, a side-by-side fridge. An added bonus is that the kitchen overlooks the tiny pool so the kids can stay busy while we prepare dinner. Negative: You have a lot of glass doors and a big cathedral window to watch out for if your kids slam doors or play ball.

3> The view is out of this world! Every visit we end up sitting there on the wrap-around veranda, mesmerized, waiting for the green flash as the sun dives into the ocean, with St. Kitts in the background.

4> Positive: The main cottage bedroom has a tiny "baby bedroom" connected to it, with a bed that has a pull-out underneath, making it possible for us to have our two young ones close by at night. However, we can see that the room arrangements will be a problem down the line, as we feel the garden cottage is too far away for the kids to sleep in by themselves and the baby bedroom will not be suitable for them as they grow older. There is always the basement studio of course, but in our opinion, it is not as beautiful as the other rooms in the cottages because it has no view and the windows are smaller-sized and on ground level. We love that it’s there though, because we use the second bathroom and the shower in the studio all the time. The upstairs' bathroom has a claw foot bath tub. (The best bathroom is in the garden cottage: a wrap-around massage shower.)

5> Positive: The master bedroom in the main cottage has a 4-poster, sleep by numbers bed. Heaven! All the rooms are airy and light, air conditioned, have French doors, mahogany sliding doors, screened shutters and polished wood floors, with traditional Caribbean flavor. Lots of books in the guest library, flat screen TVs hidden away, high speed wireless Internet, antiques, Egyptian carpets, winding brick walkways. The four individual cottages are close enough for a larger family to be together, but private and separate enough to be totally independent.

This is definitely the perfect "home" away from home. Next year, or some other year, we might try something different. But for now: Nevis, here we come again! :)