For more pictures - Click Here
|
Style: A series of linked cottages with immense West Indian style - wooden verandas, criss-cross balustrades, pitched wooden ceilings and blue tin roofs. The buildings are painted in the most vibrant tropical colours, including electric orange, several surreal blues, fuschia and lime green. Inside, Limeberry Villa has bright Mexican and other Caribbean décor, with funky tiles, sculptures and artwork
The Beach: Long Bay, nearly a mile of excellent white sand, is five minutes drive down the hill. There is a hotel there with a beach bar. Smugglers’ Cove, an extremely pretty curve of palm-backed sand and one of Tortola’s best beaches, is three minutes further on. There are usually a couple of vendors there
The Rooms: 4 bedrooms en suite (showers only), each with a veranda, four-poster bed and air-conditioning
Key features: An eye-catching villa for Tortola vacation rentals with excellent views. Secluded freshwater swimming pool. Open-plan living area with well equipped kitchen leading to covered dining veranda with commanding views to Jost Van Dyke. Barbecue area with built-in gas grill and buffet counter, sundeck and dining area. DVD and CD player. 2 washing machines and 2 dryers.
Children: Not suitable for young children due to villa layout and design, and unfenced swimming pool
Staff: The housekeeper comes twice a week in winter and once a week during the summer. She will do personal laundry for you (extra) although there is a washer/dryer at your disposal. On arrival at Limeberry Villa you will be greeted by a representative |
| |
Description
Limeberry Villa is a delightful place to stay. It has a cracking setting high above the coastline in the west of Tortola, looking onto a lovely seascape of Jost van Dyke and its tiny cays. The house has immense character in its own right, for its tropical style and outdoor living, but it is most distinctive for its funky décor and its extremely vibrant colours. These jangle on another – orange, green and yellow – and they hit you like the smell of a dozen different ripe fruits on the air.
You wouldn’t know it, though, almost until the moment you arrive. You come down a drive with a brick-topped, cream-coloured wall. Ahead stands a double wooden gate, painted blue, over which bright blue tin roofs are visible. Then, as you walk down a curve of stone steps between flowerbeds, they leap out at you. A mustard wall appears, then a jade green one with orange trim. Next come fuschia and an outrageous orange. And they gain depth too, as the blue, which reflects the colour of the sea offshore, subdivides into several different shades.
The steps bring you down into a patio, which is covered by a tin roof supported on white wooden pillars. At its centre stands a teak dining table that can accommodate eight. This is the open-air heart of the house and you will no doubt spend quite a bit of time here. It is also a good place from which to orient yourself. Just in front of you and slightly below is the swimming pool. This has a curved infinity edge, so its blue water merges into the seascape to the north of the island when you are swimming. To the right of the patio are three of the rooms, set in two cottages. And to the left is the main house, with the master bedroom upstairs, which is surrounded by a balcony on two levels.
Two sets of large double pastel blue doors lead inside from the patio, the first into the kitchen, the second into the open-plan living room. This is designed to be as open as possible, to get the best of Caribbean indoor/outdoor living, with a set of doors and a large shutter window on two sides. It is breezy, with a set of attractive wooden armchairs and a sofa centred on a low wooden table. There is a CD system here and cable TV.
The style of the house becomes more apparent in the living room too. With its natural, exposed wood and floors of hefty terracotta tiles, Limeberry has a stylised rusticity. The same bright colours continue inside, though they are toned down a little so as not to shock you too much in the morning. The decoration declares itself too. All around you are bright Mexican motifs in pottery and metalware - the sun and moon echo the yellows and blues of the villa. Decorative tiles are laid into the floor and on the risers of the steps. Geckos are another theme – you will see them lurking in corners and cubby holes, either as small models or painted on tiles – and fish sconces and Haitian metalwork appears too. There are also some delightful Caribbean architectural features, in the clapboard walls, the wooden balustrades and the shutters that reach out on angled pegs.
The kitchen, at the rear of the patio, is well equipped, with a range set into the bar in the middle of the room and behind it a huge fridge and dishwasher, toaster and juice maker either side of a Belfast sink. The splashback is a line of colourful geckos. Like many of the windows at Limeberry, the one in the kitchen has no glass. It is a shutter that is pinned up on an angled peg. Next to the kitchen, to the rear of the sitting room, are the laundry and a lavatory. Stairs lead from here up to the master bedroom above.
At the front, the living room gives out onto a partly wooden balcony with a classic wooden criss-cross balustrade – a very pretty setting to take in the fantastic view. This covers Smugglers Cove beneath the villa, the sea and then the offshore island Jost van Dyke and its tiny cays in the distance beyond. There is a wooden table with four chairs on the balcony, which wraps around the front of the house. On the far side it leads into another deck where there are two loungers. Here there is a barbecue built into a platform on the back wall.
In the master bedroom upstairs the four poster bed (which has a full canopy and a muslin mosquito net) is positioned looking forward through the set of double glass doors to get the best of the view. The room has a polished wooden floor, a pickled pine ceiling and wooden furniture. It is decorated in light blue and has cable TV (the other bedrooms have a TV, but it is not cable). On the balcony there are a couple of armchairs and a small sofa. Another recurrent theme of Limeberry Villa appears here, in the classic palm prints on the cushions. The bathroom is as bright and funky as the rest of the villa. The basin is a brightly coloured Mexican bowl and a lizard lurks on the wall. There is an open shower laid with pebbles in the tile floor.
Bedroom Two leads off the patio area, set up some stairs in the fuschia-coloured cottage. Inside, it has bright yellow and blue decoration and there is a lovely view through the window over the pool. The two remaining bedrooms are set in the yellow cottage to the side of the pool and slightly further down the hill. Approached by a small balcony at the front, the upstairs room is decorated in teal blue and electric orange. It has white wooden furniture and looks out onto the garden as well as onto the pool and main view. In the bathroom the vanity is patterned with geckos. The fourth bedroom is set downstairs. This has a wraparound balcony and is furnished with a two-poster bed with a hefty wooden headboard. It has an outside shower with a view onto the thick greenery of the garden. While the central areas are ventilated by ceiling fans, the bedrooms can also be air-conditioned.
Limeberry Villa is an extremely original and well presented house that offers an excellent villa holiday for a group of friends or a family with older children. It is worth noting that Limeberry Villa has a sister villa, Limeberry House, which is owned by the same family and sits lower down the hillside. They have a similar style, but Limeberry Villa is newer and has taken the formula to a brighter degree of comfort and of colour too. |
| ^ back to top |
Beach & Swimming
Limeberry Villa has an attractive infinity pool. Set just below the patio, it has the villa’s superb view out into the bay, but is protected from sight, so it is very private (secluded enough to bathe nude if you wish, which is not permitted on the beaches of the BVI). A sitting platform is built into the rear wall of the pool to give you a seat from which to admire the view. There are a couple of loungers on the small deck to one side of the pool.
The closest beach is Long Bay, which is a few minutes down the hill. It is a very attractive swimming beach with a lovely stretch of sand. There is a hotel there. It is also just as easy to get to Smuggler’s Cove, which is one of the loveliest beaches on the island. It is a curve of wonderful sand backed by palm trees along its entire length. As befits the name it is quiet and quite remote, so it is a very secluded escape (usually). There is not much in the way of facilities, but on busy days there are a couple of vendors with coolers full of cold drinks and some food on sale. Otherwise you will have to take your own. There are no watersports on the beach. |
| ^ back to top |
Sports & Recreation
There are not many sports on offer in the immediate area of Limeberry, though the steep local roads in this area of Belmont do make good paths for walking. Superb views open out as the tracks twist and turn. The owners of the villa will happily help with arrangements for the excursions on offer on Tortola - day sails, scuba diving, fishing trips, para-sailing, trips to other islands and sightseeing. They can make advance reservations for any of these if you wish. Please see our guide for the BVI for ideas of what is available.
A massage therapist can come in to the villa. Or you can head down to Long Bay Beach Resort, where there is a small spa. |
| ^ back to top |
Locality
Limeberry Villa sits high on a hillside in the Belmont Estate area, a secluded development of villas at the far western end of Tortola. The road past the villa goes around the western point of the island and will take you down to all the activity of Soper’s Hole and the West End. The road is quite rough however, so you may prefer the access via Long Bay and Apple Bay, where you will also find a hotel.
The bay beyond the hotel, Apple Bay, is reached over a steep headland. Here you will find a little more of a West Indian community, with a couple of shops, bars and restaurants. Try the Sugar Mill for sophisticated food and Coco Plums for something a little more West Indian. You will also find the epic beach bar, Bomba’s Surfside Shack, which is famous for its Full Moon parties and unusual drinks additives. Farther along the north shore in this direction you eventually come to Cane Garden Bay, where there is an excellent beach and several good beach bars.
West End (generally reached on the road over to the south coast from Apple Bay) is also lively. It has a marina, Soper’s Hole, and is the main ferry point for the island. There are also a couple of very lively waterfront bars. |
| ^ back to top |
Useful Hints
On arrival at Limeberry Villa, you will find complimentary welcome drinks in the fridge together with a complimentary starter pack of food to start you off. By prior arrangement a provisioning service can be booked. Please make your request at the time of your reservation.
Children
Because it is set on such a steep hillside, Limeberry Villa is not terribly suitable for small children. However children do stay there and so there are high chairs and cots. The pool area can be blocked off to prevent access. |
| ^ back to top |
Rates
| Limeberry Villa | 16 Apr- 14 Dec 2008 | 15 Dec- 07 Jan 2008-09 | 08 Jan- 15 Apr 2009 | 16 Apr- 14 Dec 2009 | | 1-2 persons | 3,500 | 7,000 | 6,300 | 3,500 | | 3-4 persons | 3,700 | 7,000 | 6,500 | 3,700 | | 5-6 persons | 3,800 | 7,000 | 6,700 | 3,800 | | 7-8 persons | 3,900 | 7,000 | 6,900 | 3,900 |
Rates are in US$ per week, and are subject to 10% Government Tax and Service Charge. Rates are subject to change without notice. |
| ^ back to top |
How To Book
If you wish to make further enquiries or book direct, please contact the owner of Limeberry Villa by using the DIRECT EMAIL ENQUIRIES facility at the top of this page, or if you wish to telephone, please click on TELEPHONE CONTACT to reveal the number.
You will need to send a deposit of 25% of the total rental fee to confirm a reservation and payment of the remaining 75% is payable 45 days prior to your arrival. If you are booking within 45 days of arrival, full payment must be made in advance to secure the booking. Please note that, whatever the time of year, there will be no refunds for late arrivals, early departures, or no shows.
Limeberry Villa does not accept credit cards. Payment is by bank transfer, or in the UK a sterling cheque. |
| ^ back to top |
Airport/Ferry Meet & Greet
The owners of Limeberry Villa are happy to arrange for a taxi driver (who knows the location of the property) to pick you up either at Beef Island Airport (about 45 minutes drive) or at the ferry terminal at West End (10 minutes drive). |
| ^ back to top |
Getting Around
Limeberry Villa is relatively remote at the western end of the island and so you will definitely need a car during your stay, to visit the beaches by day and restaurants in the evenings and of course to run errands for groceries. Please note that due to the rough access road, a 4 wheel drive jeep is recommended for Limeberry Villa. We suggest you book the car at the time of placing your villa reservation and ask for your vehicle to be delivered to the property approximately 3 hours after your scheduled time of arrival on Tortola or the following morning. The car hire company will issue your local driving permit when you take over the car. Vehicles can be returned at the airport or at the car rental office at a pre-arranged time on your departure day.
Please be aware that during the height of the winter season, over Christmas and New Year and then in February and March, cars become scarce so you are advised to order one well in advance. |
| ^ back to top |
Have you found this page useful?
We appreciate your feedback on our service.
I found this page useful
I would like to make a comment
All the information on this page comes to you free of charge. Please remember to mention DefinitiveCaribbean when you make an enquiry about Limeberry Villa on Tortola for your BVI villa rental.
Thank you for your interest. |
| ^ back to top |
|
Print
page
www.limeberry.com
