Caricey Cottage, Bon Accord

[Ayla Maddox]

Hi, great site, masses of info. Does anyone know anything about Caricey Cottage in Bon Accord? We are thinking of renting it for 2 weeks in Jan. We have 2 young children and want a relaxing family holiday. Any comments/tips welcome!

Ayla

[Steve Wooler]

Welcome aboard, Ayla

Sorry, but Caricey Cottage is not a property I am familiar with, nor can I find any mention of it in the forum. Hopefully somebody might know it and be able to add a few words here.

[Andy Roberts]

Hi Ayla

Caricey Cottage is located behind the Sea Shells Villa my family and I stayed at in February. You can't see a great deal of the property due to wall height. As for the area the only real problem is mosquitoes, some of my family/guests got eaten alive.

I went there with my wife, 3 children (7,4,and 3), and 5 guests staying in 2 villas. Kids loved playing in the pool, Pigeon Point/Store Bay all walkable, good selection of restaurants in walking distance, and most will provide suitable kid's meals. Jimmy's Mini Mart 10 minutes walk away stocks most items you would require, or Penny saver's is a 5 min taxi ride away.

You are near the airport but don't really notice the noise from the 3 or 4 flights that pass. Kids enjoy telling if its beewee or Liat.

If you want to get around the Island would recommend hiring a car for some of the time.

I'm returning October 2005, now with 4 kids and possibly 2 guests, to Villa de Lena a bit further along Milford Road. Didn't notice details for Caricey Cottage when I booked but having seen details would have definity considered it.


Andy

[Ayla Maddox]

Thanks Andy,
When you say the beach is walkable, how walkable do you mean?! We've got children who will be 5 years old and 20 months old ie buggy, changing bag, buckets&spades etc etc.
thanks for your help

Ayla

[Andy Roberts]

Store Bay is the closest proper beach and would be about 15 minutes at a 5 year olds pace. There is a small beach next to Coco Reef on the way to Pigeon Point, and I personally have supervised the construction of sand castles there, but there's nothing else for when the boredom sets in after the first half hour. The wall constucted along the side of Coco Reef had started to attract quite a few fish and I managed to get my 7 year old to snorkel there for a while.

Pigeon point is probably to far to consider walking with your kids. Try the map at http://www.skyviews.com/tobago/crownpointmap.html . Take the position of Caricey Cottage as being where Sea Shells Villas are. This should give a good guide to distances.

Tended to find my kids prefered playing in the pool to the sea.

Andy

[Ayla Maddox]

Thanks Andy
Have decided to go with Caricey Cottage - we'll blame you if its too far from the beach! Villa De Lena looks lovely, unfortunately booked up when we can holiday. Keep us posted if you have any more tips and thanks again for your help

Ayla

[Sandra Heath]

Dear Ayla,

I recently joined this forum and ironically saw your comments and questions about Caricey Cottage. Coincidentally I am the owner of this villa and thought I would give you some info on our villa. It is situated only 15 minutes walk, or 3 mins drive, from Crown Point Airport where you will arrive. It is also only about a 10 min. walk to Store Bay Beach which is one of our beautiful public beaches, that have amenities of local craft shops and local cuisine. There are a multitude of restaurants and snack bars, a bank and small grocery all within 10 mins stroll from the house. Then Pigeon Point beach, a wonderful but private beach, is about a 25 min walk away or 10 min drive. However, the beach front is reached in only 3 mins from the house though that is not where you might necessarily swim. The house has a pool which all kids love and it is open and spacious in its layout. I hope you enjoy your stay there.

[Sharon E]

I am staying in Caricey Cottage at the present time till mid December, and can tell you it is a wonderful villa, whilst I have been here the whole of the cottage has been fully redecorated.

If you go to my website [Editor: broken link removed] there are some pictures and as soon as the villa is completed will update with a full set of photographs on this lovely villa.

I can walk to Store Bay easily within 10 minutes and the to the point of Pigeon Point within 15. You will truly enjoy your stay here it is one of the best equipped villas I have stayed at on the island. Hoan the housekeeper is delightful and will make your stay special, anything you need just ask her.

To be perfectly honest mossies have not been a problem have put on the amply supplied bug mats each night and not had a problem. You will really enjoy your time here, it is private with no one over looking you, lovely setting and close to all amenities that you will need.

Have a great stay.

[Houle]

Hi all.
I has been very interesting to find this forum and particularly this string of msg.'s since I and my family are going to stay in Caricey Cottage for 2 weeks starting on Jan. 20th 2006.

Sharon: Interesting to hear the houes has been redecorated. And what's a bug mat? I thought one should be talking about mosquito-nets???? 2 of the 4 of us are quite mosquito prone, maybe we have particularly sweet blood?, so we're quite concerned the there are mosquito-nets with no holes or rips in them.

Sandra: Great to hear from you too. If I were you, I'd do a little redecorating of the website as well i.e.: http://www.cariceytobago.net. It's nice enough, but could do with a touch-up.
Try and see the pictures Bill took while visiting over Christmas in 2003: http://community.webshots.com/album/107012936zNOwnK.

Ayla: Since you write about renting the house in January as well, I presume you'll be there just before us. I hope you have a very pleasant stay.

Just want to tell you all how much we look forward to this holiday. Away from the everyday grind and stress, and take over a bit of that laid-back attitude of the Tobagonians - yeah. And of course to get away from the cold Danish winter.

We're coming 4. Mom, Dad, Emma 11 and Frida 3

Very best regards to you all
Houle

[Houle]

Just realized the link to Bill's page with the photos doesn't work. Couldn't figure it out at first, but the error is that devious little full stop at the end of the link. It's treated as if it is part of the address. Here it is in working order:

http://community.webshots.com/album/107012936zNOwnK

This should work. Enjoy
Houle

[Sharon E]

The cottage is now a very pretty yellow and green and all rooms have been redecorated. Once all rooms are back in order I will update my website with photographs, hopefully by the end of the week.

Bug Mats or Bug Burners are liitle electric plates you plug into the wall and insert a little square mat in. They work very well. There are no mosquito nets in the rooms, but the mats work well. I also get eaten alive if they get a chance, but to be honest I really have had no problem here. I will check with the housekeeper today though to see if she has any and will post if she does.

Have a great stay.

[Houle]

Hi Sharon:

So in your opinion, mosquito-nets over and around beds are not nescessary?

And thanks - thats very nice of you to check it up for me. I'd really dislike waking up the first morning covered in mosquito bites

How do you connect to the internet at the house? Or do you go somewhere to post?

Hugs
Houle

[Sharon E]

Sorry for the delay in replying.

Checked with Joan the housekeeper and there aren't any mosquito nets, however, in all truth I have not been bitten at night.

I use the internet from the villa. I just plug my laptop into the phone line. So very easy. You can then access TSTT by using 619 EASY, and away you go.

Will get photos sorted this week. So you can see what it now looks like. Just had very busy week.

Have a great holiday. Anymore questions please let me know and I will answer if I can.

[Houle]

Thanks once again for answering, and don't worry about the delay. First I know how it is to be busy and the need for a little calm and the right mood for writing. Second we have exactly 60 days left before going
We'll trust you that the bug mats are enough

I'd really like to know more about using the internet from the villa. I suppose you're using your own personal account or what? I almost don't remember the time I went online by dial-up with a modem
Since the it's been ISDN and for a long time now ADSL. Will I be able to connect from the house with my laptop? It does have a modem built-in.
Don't you need at username and password? And how would I pay for my on-line time? Please give me the details.

Very much looking forward to seeing the villa in it's redecoration.

I know the following probably is none of my business, but I'm curious.
I can't quite figure out the roles of people connected to the house.
Further up, there's a post from Sandra, who is obviously the owner of the villa. Then there's Christine whom i suppose is employed at a company letting lots of different accomodation on the island.
What is your role? Are you a guest at the house, or hired to oversee the redecoration or something entirely different?
Sorry if I'm too nosey
Best regards
Houle

[Steve Wooler]

Hello Houle

Now and again the owner of the property has an Internet account with the local ISP (TSTT) and will let you 'borrow' that. However, don't bank on that. You can't arrange a dial-up account with TSTT unless you 'own' a TSTT land-line, so forget that. A small Trinidad ISP, Opus, used to offer visitor dial-up accounts but only this week they notified me that they were discontinuing dial-up services, so I have deleted the details from our Internet article (Miscellaneous/Practicalities/Internet).

However, the good news is that TSTT have launched a visitor dial-up service. See the Internet article for full details, but basically you just need to create a dial-up account on your laptop to dial a local number (619-EASY), enter the username EASY with no password - and bingo! You're connected. No account, no registration, nothing. The cost of TT$0.75 per minute, or TT$45 per hour equates to about £4/US$7.50 per hour, so is not cheap, but reasonable I guess.

[Houle]

Hi Steve.

This sounds great and is in accordance with what Sharon wrote in her post.
How do you dial LETTERS on a computer? This is a silly question, but here in Denmark we've never started using letters in phonenumbers, so I've never done it. Please instruct.

When you've dialled and used 619-EASY, how do you pay?
The very best from
Houle

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Houle

Full details are in the Internet article.

[Houle]

Yes - just saw it now.
Thanks
Houle

[Houle]

Hi again Sharon.
I wonder if you'd be kind to write me the correct postal address of the house? And maybe the phone number to the house?
Much obliged.
Houle

[Houle]

Hi All.

Well back in ice cold Denmark I guess I'd better give a small review of the house.

It's a fairly large house, nicely aired by the wind. We all, paricularly the girls (3 and 11) enjoyed the swimming pool.

With respect too space it was quite a luxury, as we were only 2 adults and 2 children there. The furniture, and mayby particularly the kitchen however is somewhat worn and run down. The fridge is rather old and dripping inside to the extent that even though they had set a square plastic container inside to catch the drops, we had some things soaked.
There's everything for your basic needs, but it's definitely not new or flashy!

Twice during our stay we told the housemaid, who comes in everyday (except sunday) at about 9.30, to take the day off, as we didn't need cleaning that day. Even so - on the days she came in, we had the impression that she sat down and just waited for us to leave. On top of that, when asked how long we'd like to stay in the house on our last day, and we said 7pm, it was like her whole body sagged by the thought of having to come in at such a late time. It was right then and there we decided to take back home the present we had brought from Denmark to give her. So sorry about that.
Obviously she can't make friends with every family coming and staying there for 1 or 2 weeks, but frankly - a little friendliness and servicemindedness doesn't hurt.

Bottom line - we enjoyed our stay very much and the house is very well situated for walking to either Store Bay (7-8 min) or Pigeon Point (15-20 min).

Mossies: For a whole week - we were blessfully unharmed, but then in the night between saturday and sunday, they decided to hit us. We were scratcing the whole last week. Take those little bastards seriously for your own sake.

I wouldn't hesitate to be in Caricey Cottage again at some other time, provided the price was right. The 200-250 US they ask on the homepage I can't see anyone paying.

And by the way - the redecorating Sharon mentioned is simply, that the house was painted on the outside - look quite good.

All for now. I'm quite open for questions if anyone has any.

All the best
Houle