Birdie's Nest - Review Page 2
Apartment One: 2-Bedroom (Upper Floor)
We would have been happy to stay in any of the apartments, but were fortunate enough to enjoy the spacious two-bedroom apartment on the upper floor (Apartment 1). Although ground-floor accommodation can be less taxing to us old fogies (anything is better than lugging 40 kilos of computer and camera equipment upstairs), the truth is that higher floors catch more of the cooling breezes and, of course, provide better views.
The upstairs apartment is spacious, with overall dimensions of 8.4m by 7.5m excluding the balconies and deck. The front of the apartment is entirely given over to a large open-plan living room with stunning sea views, both over the beach and across Great Courland Bay. The two bedrooms sit at the rear of the apartment, but both have large windows on the side aspects and provide sea views.
The property is decorated and furnished in simple local style and was spotlessly clean. The accommodation was very comfortable and all basic necessities were provided.
The living room is dominated by a large wooden display unit. This creates a neat separation between the lounge and kitchen areas and provides a useful breakfast bar.
Should you wish to sit inside the apartment, a three-seater settee and pair of armchairs arranged around a small wooden coffee table and floor rug make a cosy and comfortable ‘liming’ area. Nearby, a new wooden storage unit acts as a base to a telephone (local calls only; Internet service 
by special request), a small CD/cassette-radio unit (bring your own CDs) plus a decent-sized colour cable TV with the local Tobago Channel 5, BBC World, and countless American cable channels of usual indeterminate quality. A collection of tourist brochures about Tobago are provided, together with a small collection of books and magazines. Guests are encouraged to swap or leave their own books when they have read them.
The main living area and kitchen are not air-conditioned, but a large and quiet oscillating floor fan is provided. With wide windows and doors on the front and side aspects, there is frankly no need. Light glare makes it impossible to use laptop computers outside, so writing this review has meant working inside. I can vouch for the fact that temperatures have remained comfortable, even at the very hottest times of the day.
This fact is particularly important when self-catering. Nothing can ruin your day more than trying to prepare meals in a hot stuffy kitchen. Whilst many people, myself included, prefer kitchens to be in a separate room, there’s no doubt that the open-plan layout is considerably superior from a ventilation aspect. At no stage has heat proved a problem in the kitchen at Birdie’s.
The kitchen is fitted out very adequately. A large new (American-size) fridge-freezer can store more than you would want to haul from the local supermarkets. A decent-sized four-burner bottled gas oven with internal grill takes care ofthe cooking and is supplemented by a medium-sized microwave oven (although I confess that the setting logic defeated us and we ended up with defrosted, but uncooked, vegetables on our first attempt). Additional utilities included a filter coffee maker, four-slice toaster, kettle plus a reasonable selection of cooking utensils, 
cutlery, crockery and glassware. All items were clearly relatively new and clean. This was certainly not one of those places where you felt it necessary to wash everything before first use.
The apartment floors are fully tiled, spotlessly clean and polished to such a high gloss that we almost felt guilty to walk on them. You hardly notice the half-dozen different tile patterns - evidence of the dedication and commitment of Prince and Princess who have constantly improved the apartments over the years, as finance has allowed.
An arched opening to the rear of the living room provides access to the main bathroom and the two bedrooms.
The first bedroom provides a generous 3.9 x 4.3m (16.7m2) of floor space and is furnished with a double bed and a wide (41-inch) single bed. The double bed is flanked by small bedside tables and touch-controlled reading lamps. A wardrobe provides 1.3m of full-length hanging space (a few hangers provided), overhead storage cupboards and a dressing table with two deep drawers, plus a three-quarter length mirror. Although furnished with two beds, there is more than enough floor space, even with open suitcases and other personal possessions scattered around.
Immediately adjacent to the first bedroom, and virtually en suite, is an attractive 3.4 x 2.2m tiled bathroom with a full-size bath and shower, hot and cold washbasin and toilet. A five-shelf one-metre wardrobe plus a five-shelf vanity unit provide storage space for as much ‘product’ (honestly!) as you could possibly take on holiday. There is no shaver socket.
The shower was truly excellent. There was never any shortage of hot water and the shower stream was powerful, yet gentle and all-encompassing; quite surprising given that it had a small modern shower-head.
The second bedroom is marginally smaller at 3.6 x 4.3m (15.5m2) but appears more spacious because it is furnished with a single Queen-sized bedroom flanked by two more bedside tables and reading lamps. The only other furnishing was a wardrobe-dressing table unit identical to that in the first room.
The second bedroom also has its own spacious, but simple, en suite bathroom, with washbasin, toilet and a large fully-tiled walk-in shower. As in the main bathroom, there is no shaver socket. There was a temporary problem with the hot water supply to the wash basin during our stay and Prince mentioned that he intended to change the basin for a larger unit, but other than this all services were fully functional and in good condition.
Both bedrooms boast large ceiling fans and neat new Toshiba split-unit remote-controlled air-conditioning units. They were highly effective and virtually silent – although this latter comment may be prejudiced by the fact that being so close to the sea, most sounds are totally masked by the constant sound of the waves breaking on the beach. Although not normally great advocates of air-conditioning, we tried it for review purposes on our first night and then never looked back.
The sound of the surf also masked a typical Tobago ‘problem’ – the raucous sound of cocricos and cockerels (roosters) in the hours before and after dawn. Being on the edge of a village, rather than open country, we weren’t surprised by the absence of cocricos. However, the neighbouring property clearly had the usual resident hens and a strident cockerel. However, this latter scoundrel was remarkable restrained and not once were we disturbed when he began to strut his stuff.
Wide six-foot double doors lead from the living area onto a 4.2 x 2m covered patio. This provides a shaded seating area throughout the morning and into the mid-afternoon and represented a particularly pleasant dining and ‘liming’ spot in the evenings. The patio is furnished with a simple plastic table, four chairs and a brand new gas barbeque. The patio became our standard dining spot, rather than the breakfast bar beside the kitchen. In this gorgeous weather, who wants to be inside when they can be out?
A narrow balcony runs around two sides of the building and provides direct access onto the wonderful open deck. Made of rock-hard Guyanese greenheart, one of the hardest woods on the planet, the 2.8 x 3.6m deck is a wonderful sunbathing and liming spot. Prince has furnished it with two very high-quality cushioned chairs, a table and recliner. A more conventional unpadded recliner is also available. Almost suspended over the beach, the deck is a wonderful spot to view the sunsets over Fort Bennet, two hundred metres down the beach.
NEXT: Apartments 2 & 3 (One-Bedroom)
Review Page Links: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4
Return to the search listing page
The buttons above present articles sequentially, in the order shown in the menu bar
at the top of the page. You are currently on the Property Review page in the Accommodation menu.
