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Style: Beautifully styled contemporary villa, almost an exercise in right-angled geometry, with rectangular columns and light-holes cut into white cubes and just a handful of curves on the whole building. The interiors are less stark, with a Moroccan flourish on generally sleek decoration. Perfect as a retreat for a special occasion, as family, friends or for a corporate event. Designed by Deborah Berke.
The Beach: Barnes Bay, a superb stretch of bright white sand shelving into superb jade and turquoise sea
The Rooms: Seven comparable bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. It can be eight if you convert the TV room (not ensuite)
Key features: A unique Anguilla villa and rare in the Caribbean with its own spa - Susan Ciminelli spa with massage and beauty treatments, pool (40ft x 25ft pool), jaccuzzi, watersports including snorkeling, tennis court, fitness centre. Cable TV, VCRs, videos, stereo, library, office with fax and data ports, also secretarial services if required.
Children: Welcome. Cerulean has a trained children’s co-ordinator who offers a supervised children’s programme including excursions. Please note that the pool is not fenced.
Staff: Cerulean has a staff of 14 including three chefs, children’s and spa staff. There is a dedicated wedding coordinator, if required. |
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Description
Cerulean broke the mould when it appeared on the scene in 1997. In an era when you were lucky to get a housekeeper with your villa in Anguilla, Cerulean had the staff of a small resort and a sleek new architectural style. It was one of the smartest private houses in the Caribbean, the first of Anguilla’s ‘supervillas’ and it set new standards of service for the island and in style across the region.
A few years on, Cerulean is still an exceptionally luxurious villa which continues to operate like a small, private resort. It has kept in line with travellers’ changing tastes and so now, in addition to its exceptional privacy (it has often been temporary home to any number of Hollywood and other stars), it now offers other services, including a children’s co-ordinator and most particularly a spa (backed by Susan Ciminelli), making it one of the few villas in the whole region that does so.
Cerulean is set on a cracking stretch of sand, Barnes Bay on Anguilla’s north shore and it takes its name from a certain colour of blue, a rich shade between aquamarine and azure, the sort of colour that you can see in the Anguillan skies and sometimes the sea. As a building, Cerulean is a little less ‘geometrical’ in design than some of the villas for which the island has become known, but it is certainly striking in style and it still has a theme of right-angles, with a series of straight sided cubes cut out with regular columns. There are just a few curved lines in the whole building, in a tower, a couple of Moorish domes and the curved sweep of the main façade, though even these are cut with rectangular pillars and windows. The building was designed by Deborah Berke from New York and it is adapted well to the climate, being airy and open, with high ceilings throughout.
You enter Cerulean via a small courtyard into a small entrance hall with a guest office to your left. From here you step down into the broad, curved living room, which sweeps off to your left. The room is open to the huge pool terrace ahead through a series of Cerulean’s distinctive rectangular columns and this gives the living area a lovely indoor/outdoor aspect. As you walk left through the sitting room you find the main dining room off to your left, set with a wooden table and tall-backed armchairs for sixteen. Like the sitting room, the upholstery is in light brown and the furniture and fittings, chandeliers and sconces, are made of slender metalwork, so it has a cool, minimal feel. The kitchen overlooks the dining room from a large hatch in the wall. This can be closed if you prefer, but it is usually kept open because there is often interaction between the chefs and the guests as their meal is being prepared.
If the villa itself is quite striking, in white, the colour scheme within is more muted. The main colours are a pewter grey (used for balustrades, louvred doors and sunscreens), and the light brown of the upholstery and the Mexican stone floor. The hefty wooden garden furniture on the terrace and balconies is a sun-bleached brown covered with white cushions. Altogether Cerulean is quite lean in style, but with lightweight cream hangings and a theme of blues in the bedrooms, it is by no means aseptic or over-minimal. The most unexpected room, though, is the circular extension to the sitting room, which is bright blue, with half a wall of rich Moroccan mosaic.
Headed right from the sitting room you come to the bedrooms, which are ranged over two floors and accessed by stairs from the entrance hall and along corridors lined with Cerulean’s rectangular pillars. As you walk to them you will skirt the pool terrace with its loungers and parasols. The swimming pool is there, as well as plenty of space for sunbathing and outdoor dining. Beyond the main terrace is low-lying greenery and then the beach.
The seven main bedrooms are all of a similar size and standard (there is no ‘master’ bedroom), and they all have en suite bathrooms. They also have glassed-in showers, two of which are in enclosed gardens. The TV room, which converts into an eighth bedroom, shares one of the other bathrooms and is ideal for children. Four rooms do have a slightly better position, set in their own building at the front of the property. They look over the pool one way and the other over the beach. Above the living rooms you will find a whirlpool with a view over the sea. There are also other quiet corners around the villa, including a small nook of greenery hidden between the two main buildings.
For all the style of the building, and its excellent ‘liveability’, the atmosphere at Cerulean is made by the staff, who are at your shoulder at any moment of the day or night that you need them. They will be in touch with you even before you arrive, to arrange menus and your choice of wines (a sommeiller is on hand) and then of course they will make sure that everything happens the way you want it. You can dine indoors or out, or move the garden table down to the beach and dine by flaming torchlight. And in addition to waiting on you, they can provide facilities such as a children’s programme and of course the spa, see below. But above all, the service is key. Cerulean really is like a small Anguilla resort. There is even 24 hour room service. |
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Beach & Swimming
Cerulean is right on Barnes Bay, one of Anguilla’s many excellent stretches of pretty much perfect bright white sand, which gives into an electric blue sea, water that shades from glassy jade to a rich aquamarine patched with coral heads and then the darker blue of the deep. The 500 yard beach is protected from the most extreme seas by the lie of the island, by headlands at either end. There is a reef right offshore for snorkelling and Cerulean has several kayaks for your use.
Cerulean also has a swimming pool which is 25 by 40 feet. There is also a whirlpool on the upper floor above the terrace. |
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Sports & Recreation
Cerulean is one of the very few private villas around the whole Caribbean which has dedicated spa facilities. It is backed by Susan Ciminelli Spa of Bergdorf Goodman fame. Susan Ciminelli is known for her skin care treatments called the Healing Art of Beauty, and so her trademark facials and body treatments (including wraps and salt scrubs) are available alongside several sorts of massage. There is no spa building as such. Instead, treatments can take place anywhere around the villa, including the marble courtyard between the two buildings, on the beach and on the upper terrace.
Cerulean has a tennis court with an Omnicourt surface within its grounds and a gym with cross-trainer, multi-station equipment, free weights and a TV. Tennis instructors and personal trainers can also be provided. |
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Children
Cerulean is geared up to look after children of all ages and there is a co-ordinator to take care of them for you, through their Kid’s Club. There is all the equipment that you need for babies including cots, high chairs and playpens, then buckets and spades for the beach. Then there are children’s games, youngsters’ videos and arts and crafts programmes, and for older children, as part of the Kid’s Club, there are a number of organized excursions on offer including treasure hunts, pony rides and swimming with dolphins. |
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Locality
Cerulean is in Barnes Bay towards the western end of the island, where many of the big hotels are situated, and some of the top restaurants, including Blanchard’s. Don’t forget the hotels when it comes to eating out because many of the best dining rooms in Anguilla are actually in the hotels. Try Malliouhana and Altamer.
There is not that much to do inland in Anguilla, but of course there are plenty of other beaches if you want some variety from Barnes Bay. The busiest beach on the island is Shoal Bay, beyond the Valley to the East, where you will find several classic Caribbean beach bars and simple restaurants as well as watersports outlets. It can be lively on Sundays and holidays. Sandy Ground has less of a beach scene, but it can also be lively at lunchtime, with a good mix of locals and visitors, and then it can also be very lively in the evenings. |
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Rates
| 03 May-15 Nov 2008 | 16 Nov-01 May 2008-09 | 02 May-14 Nov 2009 | | 33,000 | 53,000 | 35,000 | All rates are quoted in US$ per week, for a maximum of 14 guests, any guests over 14 will be charged an additional US$250 per person, per night. All rates are subject to 10% service charge and 10% government tax. Additional nights are pro-rated. Please apply for tailored quotes for weddings, corporate retreats and photo shoots. Rates do not include the Christmas/New Year period. All rates are subject to change without notice and do not include food and liquor costs and extras such as a personal trainer, telephone etc., all of which are subject to a 15% administrative fee.
A 50% deposit is required to secure your booking and the balance is required within 60 days of arrival. For Christmas bookings you will need to pay your balance 90 days before arrival. Payments are non-refundable so we strongly recommend that you take out travel insurance or trip cancellation insurance. There is a US$3,000 security deposit for rentals of 14 days or less and this goes up by US$1,000 for each additional week. |
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How To Book
If you wish to make further enquiries or a reservation, please use the WEB LINK or DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility at the top of this page to make contact with Cerulean in Anguilla, or if you wish to telephone them, please click on TELEPHONE CONTACT to reveal the number. |
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Airport Meet & Greet
You will probably arrive at the airport outside the Valley, but if you are travelling via St Maarten it is often just as quick and generally more pleasant to travel by ferry. The ferry leaves from Marigot on the French side and puts in at Blowing Point.
Alternatively you can also arrange to be transferred from St Maarten by private motorboat (on Summertime, price US$500 one way). You will be picked up from the marina opposite the airport, and transferred to Blowing Point to clear Customs, and then if it is very calm they can bring to Barnes Bay itself.
If you do arrive at the airport or independently at Blowing Point, Cerulean would be happy to arrange a cab for your arrival. Fares should settled locally and cost US$20 for one or two people, more for more people from Blowing Point and US$22 from the airport. |
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Getting Around
Although everything you need is pretty much on hand at Cerulean and taxis are readily available for occasional trips, you will also probably want one or more cars to visit other beaches by day and Anguilla’s restaurants and bars in the evenings. It is a good idea to hire a car at the time you book your accommodation, and this can be done either through Cerulean itself, your travel organiser or through our recommended car hire company in Anguilla, Avis/Apex Car Rental. It is probably best to arrange for your vehicle to be delivered to you at the property, which they are happy to do. Vehicles can be collected at a pre-arranged time on your day of departure or they can be left at the airport by arrangement. |
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All the information on this page comes to you free of charge. Please remember to mention DefinitiveCaribbean when you contact Cerulean or your travel organiser for your Anguilla villa rental.
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