Nevis Jewish cemetery marker.[Missing Credit]
Graves in the Jewish cemetery on Nevis.[Missing Credit]
This part of the world is being rapidly transformed by developers, who have made the traditional painted wooden cottages a threatened species. But on Nevis, the cottages, reminiscent of the lodgings of the detective in Death In Paradise, are here to stay. In brights and pastels, they pop up all down the hill, from the volcanic peak which gave the island its name. The mist invariably capping the peak on most days was mistaken for snow – nieves in Spanish – by early explorers, hence the pronunciation, Neevis rather than the short “e” in the name of our own British Ben Nevis.
I enjoyed my own cottage experience at the Hermitage, a hotel whose “great house” (every plantation had one) was built in 1670 and is believed to be the oldest wooden house in the Caribbean. It holds only a veranda restaurant, bar, library and lounges opening on to a manicured lawn; guests repair for the night to individual dwellings painted every shade of the rainbow scattered among lush, sweeping gardens.
Hermitage Gardens on Nevis.[Missing Credit]
My bedroom was dominated by a four-poster draped with a purely decorative mosquito net (despite a wealth of other wildlife, mozzies seem strangely absent on this island). The bedroom opened on to a sitting room furnished with matching bench sofas and, beyond, a huge veranda, equipped with a hammock as well as wrought-iron dining furniture and a pair of upholstered easy chairs.
The kitchen was redundant apart from its welcome supplies for brewing a cuppa to take on to the veranda with a book. Hermitage breakfasts, featuring crispy coconut French toast, bountiful omelettes and a fresh mango from the hotel tree (an off-menu secret), are the best on the island.
Mango for breakfast at the Hermitage on Nevis Island.[Missing Credit]
The Hermitage has stiff competition from other characterful properties in the island’s interior, particularly from the equally historic Montpelier, where Nelson married his love on the plantation in 1787 and Diana fled with William and Harry in the last days of her own marriage in 1993.
The hotel accommodation, in 60 acres of gardens, has a sophisticated, contemporary Caribbean vibe, with secluded mid-century style villas with spacious bathrooms. After four nights of fan-cooled cottage I was ready for three more of air-conditioned cool, and happy to swap my veranda for the sight of monkeys scampering across my jungly terrace garden, overlooking a hillside dotted with huge orange flamboyant trees (the aptly-named national plant) and the blue ocean beyond.
While the Montpelier has a spectacular outdoor pool in the shadow of its 17th-century sugar mill, it’s hard to beat the swimming facilities at the five-star Four Seasons, where the beach bunnies prefer to stay, cooling off in the excellent spa. A huge infinity pool overlooks a private beach dotted with outdoor bars and restaurants, and a jetty from which chartered catamaran trips offer a private tour of the island’s coastline.
The Montpelier swimming pool on Nevis.[Missing Credit]
Like St Kitts, with which it forms a self-contained nation, Nevis is a diver’s paradise, and our catamaran crew carried a full panoply of masks, snorkels and flotation devices when anchoring up for a long, lazy dip into crystal-clear turquoise waters in view of tropical turtles.
The mango festival provided a good framework for touring a row of beach bars within strolling distance of the Four Seasons, each serving a different mango-flavoured tipple on bar crawl night to a loud reggae and dance hall accompaniment.
Nevis public beach.[Missing Credit]
Sunshine’s Bar and Grill serves palatable food, as well as a cocktail called Killer Bee, for which it’s famous, but as with the island’s hotels, the restaurant with greatest charm is deep in the interior. Called Bananas, it is the passion project of Gillian Smith, a former chorus girl from Doncaster who danced her way around the world before opening a beach shack on Nevis. That evolved into today’s island restaurant and bar in the midst of a jungle garden, with a brilliant playlist as well as an enticing menu.
Other highlights of the interior include a privately owned botanical garden featuring statuary from Thailand and a pair of talkative parrots as well as tropical plants, many varieties of wild orchid and a breathtaking series of stepped-down waterlily ponds.
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Nevis Peak shrouded in mist.[Missing Credit]
Between here and the tiny urban enclave of Charlestown sits the Artisan Village, a clever initiative on an island where shops are few and far between. More painted cottages here, each housing an artist, maker or souvenir-seller focused on selling island crafts rather than imported tat. Look for hand-painted pictures, key rings and “shacks” (boomerang-shaped, brightly-painted bean pods which are as fun to shake like rain sticks as to place on a windowsill to brighten grey British mornings with holiday memories).
Artisan Village, Nevis.[Missing Credit]
Nevis also has a healing hot spring where achy joints can be bathed. If there’s any downside to visiting Nevis, it’s that remote quality which has kept the tiny island so unspoilt. International visitors land on the larger island of St Kitts (flights from London via Antigua or Miami), then cross the island from the airport to the landing beach for water taxis on to Nevis. Still, the scenic route across both islands is an enjoyable by-product, and the lack of cruise ships, chain stores and cookie-cutter beach resorts is a good trade-off for lack of easy access.
And in the over-developing Caribbean playground, Nevis is a perpetual paradise, a place to find shalom.
Rooms from US$260 B&B at the Hermitage (hermitagenevis.com) and US$475 at the Montpelier (montpeliernevis.com). For more information, go to nevisisland.com
"Shalom" taxi on Nevis Island.[Missing Credit]