Wild Orchid

In Depth

Wild Orchid is one of a growing collection of luxurious St Lucia villas for rent in the exclusive residential area of Cap Estate, in the far north of St Lucia. Built over three floors, this is a villa of large proportions, with rooms opening out to panoramic views to Pigeon Island and Mount Gimie, St Lucia’s highest peak to the south and in the other direction the French island of Martinique. The villa has a modern design but still incorporates many traditional Caribbean architectural features such as jalousie doors, high exposed roofs and beams, and a wide covered veranda. The house has a cool, fresh ambiance with bright white walls, inside and out, and either bleached or white painted woodwork and furnishings, speckled with colours, all set against large terracotta floor tiles.

You enter from the parkway at mid level and walk straight into the centre of the house, a formal dining room with oval mahogany dining table with elegant caned back, distressed wood chairs, beneath a crystal chandelier. A wooden staircase here leads up to the master bedroom. A couple of steps lead through a large archway into a very large sitting room with a 34” screen TV and surround sound Bose stereo system. The room is on the north wing of the villa and is surrounded on three sides by a series of large arched wooden doorways that have also been fitted with wrought iron gates so that the doors can be left open to allow a natural flow of air and full enjoyment of the sea views. The room has been comfortably furnished with simply designed painted wood sofas and chairs, and there is a second oval dining table next to the veranda. Beyond the dining room is a barbecue terrace and large, well equipped kitchen with water cooler.

The veranda itself runs the entire length of the house and provides another area to dine or to sit and relax. A central flight of stairs leads down from here to the white tiled pool terrace which has ample space for sunbathing and an another dining table for casual poolside meals. A good size kidney shaped swimming pool is set within the terrace, one side of which ends straight above the gardens several feet below, giving views across the surrounding tree tops to the coast.

Wild Orchid has three bedrooms, two located along the veranda to the south and the master upstairs. The downstairs bedrooms have jalousie doors which lead onto the veranda. Both have twin beds pushed together, walk-in wardrobes and en suite shower rooms. Upstairs, the Master bedroom is certainly a room with a view. It has two private furnished verandas, one of which looks towards Martinique and the other down south, to Pigeon Island and beyond. The room is very spacious and breezy with a king-size bed, cable TV, walk-in dressing area and nicely designed en suite bathroom with walk-in shower. All bedrooms have ceiling fans.

Beach & Swimming

The nearest beach is Anse du Cap, where LeSport is located, which has volcanic sand and is about five minutes by car or ten minutes on foot. Close by, Smugglers Cove has excellent snorkelling. A ten minute drive will get you Causeway Beach, where there are two stretches of white sand running down to Pigeon Island National Park. The north area of the beach is popular with St Lucians on weekends, especially bank holidays, and has a picnic area. Reduit Beach is the island's most popular beach and is located on the other side of Rodney Bay, with a lovely mile long stretch of powder soft sand. It is fairly active. It has a few hotels and a good variety of watersports is available, including waterskiing, parasailing, jetski, sunfish and hobie cat sailing. It takes about ten minutes to reach by car.

Wild Orchid has a kidney shaped swimming pool with entry steps to the shallow end and a ladder mid length, with a white tiled sun terrace partway round.

Sports & Recreation

The 18-hole, 6829 yard, par 71 course at the St Lucia Golf & Country Club at Cap Estate is less than five minutes drive away and has a pro shop, driving range and restaurant. The nearest tennis courts open to the public (courts must be booked in advance) are at the St Lucia Racquet Club at Club St Lucia, also in Cap Estate, which has seven floodlit Laykold cushioned tennis courts, a squash court and gym. There are also two squash courts at the St Lucia Yacht Club at Reduit in Rodney Bay. The Sportivo fitness centre at Rodney Heights is St Lucia's largest gym and offers yoga, Tai Chi and Karate classes.

Locality

Wild Orchid is located within the hills of Cap Estate, a large residential development in the Gros Islet area of St Lucia, which is in the north of the island. There are many luxury homes dotted on the hillsides of Cap Estate, some holiday homes and some residential. The estate has an 18 hole golf course and a couple of resorts, and is close to two of the best restaurants in St Lucia - the Great House and Tao at LeSport. Views from the estate extend to Pigeon Island National Park, a forty four acre National Trust reserve which was joined to the mainland by a man-made causeway in 1972, where there are two white sandy beaches. The island features ruins of many 18th century British and French military buildings including Fort Rodney, and has an Interpretation Centre, a restaurant featuring local cuisine, a historical themed pub and restaurant, and lookout point at the top of the fort. The island is also the main venue of the annual St Lucia Jazz Festival, held each May which attracts a host of international stars. A ferry runs between the island and Rodney Bay on an hourly schedule.

Rodney Bay is St Lucia's busiest tourist area, where there are hotels, good restaurants and bars, a shopping mall, banks, mini marts and a nearby supermarket (on the main road) called Super J and a very lively nightlife. It has a busy marina and attracts over 200 boats for the annual ARC (trans-Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) which usually sees its first arrivals in early December. The nearby village of Gros Islet hosts the now famous Friday Night Jump Up, an all night street party. The Rodney Bay and Pigeon Island area is a ten minute journey by car. Castries the capital and George F L Charles Airport (formerly known as Vigie) which receives inter-island flights only, are about 25 minutes drive away.

Useful Hints

Ask your travel organiser or the management company (if booking direct) for initial food and drink supplies to be laid in for your arrival (a starter food pack costs approximately US$40 per person), so that the cook/housekeeper can prepare a simple welcome meal for you. Thereafter, your housekeeper will be happy to assist you with your shopping should you wish to delegate this chore, however do expect to provide transportation and appropriate gratuity for this service. Rental rates for villas in St Lucia do not include 'tips', about which you will find advice in the guest information book at the villa.

Personal laundry is not included in the rental rates and charges are approximately as follows: machine wash small load EC$10, hand wash small load EC$25 and ironing small load EC$25.

Airport Meet & Greet

If you are booking direct ask the villa management company Tropical Villas to send a taxi to meet you at the airport. These are arranged with their taxi driver Desir (pronounced Daisy), who normally waits in the area just outside the customs hall at Hewanorra airport. He will hold a Tropical Villas sign and if you miss him go to the Tourist Board desk and they will page him for you. Your airport transfers are paid for locally and take approximately 1hr 30 minutes from Hewanorra and 20 minutes from George Charles. Alternatively, if you would prefer to be taken care of from the minute you arrive at the airport, with a range of services that can include helicopter transfers, you may want organise a concierge service, we recommend St Lucia Representative Services.

If you are booking through a travel organiser, it is likely that their representative will be at the airport to meet you. This service and your return airport transfers should be included in the cost of your holiday. Please check at the time of booking.

Getting Around

A hired car is strongly recommended for all St Lucia villa rentals, unless you would prefer staff to call taxis for you as required. A vehicle will be useful if you want to dine out at night or do lots of sightseeing and particularly when it comes to shopping for groceries. Book car hire via your travel organiser or direct with Drive-A-Matic (Tropical Villas will book this for you) or Cool Breeze Car & Jeep Rentals for your St Lucia car rental and ask for your vehicle to be delivered to the property approximately 3 hours after your scheduled time of arrival on St Lucia or the following morning. Vehicles can be returned at the airport or be collected from the property at a pre-arranged time on your departure day.