Stars love it — and so will you
Barbados, which is just 21 miles by 14, is the ideal place for a first-time visit to the Caribbean. It’s quite crowded but it has been attracting winter visitors for half a century. Whole sectors of Britain’s aristocracy used to decamp here each February to avoid the miserable weather back home. Nowadays the west coast is famous as the winter bolthole of an array of celebrities. Just to name a few Mels: Mel Smith has a house there. Mel Gibson has nearly caused crashes just by driving down the west coast main road — so many people stop and stare. And probably Mels B and C. Victoria Beckham has visited, as have the Blairs.
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Michael Winner at Fishpot
Two of those outings were to a restaurant I’d never visited in my 25 years of Barbadossing, the Fishpot.
The Fishpot, on the other hand, is a delight. You turn left out of Sandy Lane and drive 25 minutes, passing endless hoardings hiding upcoming apartment blocks and foreboding signs on wasteland reading, “Prime residential site for sale”. Eventually you come to old Barbados.
There are little wooden houses, market stalls by the beach, cane fields and an aura of better times. At the Fishpot you sit right by the sea, in an old 17th-century fort. It’s also a 21-room hotel. It’s tranquil. It’s beautiful. It’s what Caribbean life should be.
Andrew Warden, the owner, is Australian. Actually I didn’t put that on my tape so he could be from Uruguay, China, Ethiopia or anywhere. But I’m sure he said he was Australian.
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Barbados: the platinum and the tin
But then I reached Speightstown. This little west coast town marked the sudden end of mass development: an old-fashioned, ramshackle place with a few colonial buildings, market stalls lining the streets and a laid-back but lively feel.
Equally so a few miles up the road at Little Good Harbour. At this family-run hotel my room looked out over a palm grove, a corrugated iron fence and a boat up on blocks. Beyond that the sea glittered through the trees. At dinner there was fresh snapper on the menu and advice from the Bajan-Australian owners to kick back with a glass of Chardonnay. Good idea. And why stop at one?
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TEN ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCES IN BARBADOS
Self-cater, at the new apartments at Little Good Harbour (439 3000) opposite the Fish Pot restaurant (same owner). Built on a hillside with two elegant pools on the quiet north-west coast (too quiet and remote for some, though), the apartments are outstanding, with four-poster beds, big twin-basin bathrooms, brilliantly equipped large kitchens and large terraces set with sofa and dining table. Buy fresh fish from a local fisherman’s stall and shop at the excellent supermarket in Warrens.
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Heaven on Earth
Little Good Harbour comprises The Fish Pot (a destination restaurant on the island even
if one is not a resident) which makes self-catering optional at all mealtimes, as they serve breakfast lunch and dinner, and will bring them to your apartment.
We were staying in the new Vineyard houses, beautifully designed three-bed duplexes, that you can rent or buy in a scheme whereby you hand over all the hassle of maintenance and renting the villa while you are away to the
hotel.
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CELEBRITY HAVEN'S RICH PAST
Among the top restaurants are the Fishpot at Little Good Harbour; Daphne’s, the trendy Bajan sister of the one in Chelsea, serving contemporary Italian; the romantic Cliff on a balcony above the (floodlit) sea; and Brown Sugar in Bridgetown.
See it on a big day out, along with the east coast – Barbados is roughly the size of the Isle of Wight so quite manageable. Plan on lunch at the Atlantis hotel at Bathsheba (currently closed for renovations), ideally on Sunday, for the blow-out Bajan buffet.
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I've been going to Barbados for so many years now I thought I knew almost every hotel on the island. But Little Good Harbour, open for eight years, had escaped me.
For all the opulence of the vast five-star hotels that have sprung up along the west coast, this one is, thankfully, so reminiscent of the Barbados of 20 years ago you could almost be stepping back in time.
If you're looking for the flashy glitz of the Sandy Lane or a bustling resort, then Little Good Harbour isn't for you.
It's a small, charming, private hotel set in beautiful gardens with 21 luxury villa suites and situated on the far north of the west coast of the island. It's also home to one of the most celebrated restaurants on the island, The Fish Pot, lauded by restaurant critic Michael Winner as the best in Barbados. But more of this later.
Situated on the far north west coast, just a few miles road from Speightstown, Little Good Harbour is tucked away a short walk from the tiny village of Six Men's Bay.
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The Australian owners of Little Good Harbour have managed not only to create a Barbados boutique hotel that captures the essence of the island's beach life 20 years ago, but have also opened one of the most impressive fish restaurants in the country.
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GREAT VALUE!
Much, much more.
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