Kapinjala - Review Page 3

Bedrooms

Three bedrooms are contained within the main house; two on the upper level and one on the ground floor. A fourth bedroom is located as a separate unit in the lower basement level, beneath the pool deck.

The three main bedrooms are of almost identical size, measuring around 6.3 x 4m (25sq.m.) including the bathroom. In addition, each has a spacious 4 x 1.6m private covered balcony or terrace to the front. The three rooms are almost identically furnished, the only difference being that the master bedroom has a California King (72-inch) bed with four-poster surround, whilst one of the other two rooms has a more conventional Queen-sized bed and the third has twin beds.

The beds were fitted with nice firm mattresses and luxurious soft duvets and pillows. Like the seating in the living room and terrace, the beds wanted to envelope you. Saying that you would have a five-minute lie down or sit down was always a fatal mistake – five hours, more like.

Each bedroom is furnished with bedside tables, radio-alarm clock with iPod docking station, a small table and a pair of rattan chairs with padded cushions. The master bedroom also has a telephone extension handset. Attractive rattan roller blinds can be lowered over the glazed windows, which also have louvered shutters to the sides.

Like all doors and windows in the house, wrought-iron grills are used for security. Whilst nobody welcomes these, they are at least attractive and in no way make you feel constricted. In fact with their mottled brown and black paintwork and decorative ironwork, they are something of an aesthetic feature. The fold-back wooden louvered balcony doors are backed by discreet glass panels to ensure that cool air does not escape when the air-conditioner is used.

All three bedrooms have small split-unit air-conditioning units plus overhead fans. Frankly, given the position of the house, air-conditioning will seldom be necessary. Bedrooms two and three face north and east – in other words, into the prevailing winds. It can become surprisingly cool during the early hours of the morning in Tobago, so the thin warm duvets supplied were a damn good idea. The master bedroom faces south and west – so gets the best sea views but at the marginal disadvantage of less breeze. However, we found temperatures perfectly acceptable with just the windows open. We could have increased cooling by opening the balcony doors.

The bedroom air-conditioners are modern split-unit types, so reasonably quiet. I have a suspicion that the unit in the master bedroom is either not man-enough for the high-ceilinged room, or might not be working properly. Whilst it did maintain a pleasant temperature (approximately 24°C), it failed my ‘chill test’ – i.e. to reduce the room temperature to 20-21°C within an hour of start-up.

An electric bug-matt mosquito deterrent is provided in each bedroom. To be honest, we never even considered using them. We have found the island remarkably bug-free this year and would be surprised, given the villa’s location, if Kapinjala ever had a problem in this regard. Mosquitoes cannot control their flight accurately in strong winds and the villa’s location does not provide an ideal environment for them.

The en suite bathrooms are of comfortable size, rather than excessively spacious. They are, however, well furnished, decorated and equipped – every bit up to the high standards we came to expect of this lovely property. The bathrooms feature attractive square porcelain sinks inset into sturdy vanity units, with lots of storage space, cupboards, drawers and shelves. Electric shaver sockets are provided, together with wall-mounted hairdryers.

Each bathroom has a fully-tiled walk-in shower enclosure with a large shower head. As soon as I saw them I thought we were in for a real treat. Sadly, it was not to be. Water pressure in the shower was relatively low, so although the cascade was soft and gentle, it was not as all-encompassing as I expected and hoped for. The biggest disappointment, however, was that the water needed to run for two or three minutes before warm water started to come through. Even then it never produced anything approaching ‘hot’. I suspect that much of this was to do with the safety limiter on the shower mixer tap. I must stress that it was not a bad shower; simply not quite up to the standard promised by its appearance and everything else about Kapinjala. That’s the problem with this property – your standards tend to rise way above normal Tobago benchmarks and make occupants over-critical. Plus I’m desperately trying to find criticism to prevent this review looking like an advertising feature written by the property owner’s marketing company.

All three bedrooms feature built-in open wardrobes that provide one metre of three-quarter-length hanging space, with lots of hangers, plus half a dozen deep storage shelves and four large drawers. We certainly did not lack for storage space.

The fourth bedroom is a little different from the others, but furnished and equipped to the same high standard and in matching style to the rest of the house. This room is housed in the basement level of the house, beneath the pool deck and is accessed via a short flight of stairs leading down from the main terrace. This places it outside the main security cordon of the house. In other words, there is no direct access from this bedroom into the main body of the house. Personally, I do not view this as a problem and would gladly stay in the room. However, it would be clearly unsuitable for young children; although teenagers would probably welcome the separation from parents and older generations.

The fourth bedroom measures approximately 3.3 x 3.4m (11.2m2), excluding the small bathroom. Because of the nature of the room, it is of somewhat unusual shape and layout. Nevertheless, it is large enough for a double bed, side tables and lamps and a fully furnished bathroom. There is no hanging space, but there is lots of shelf space for clothing and other items. Both the bedroom and bathroom have south-facing windows looking over Arnos Vale bay and beach. The air-conditioner is supplemented by a large ceiling fan.

NEXT: Main Terrace, Pool Deck, Garden & Beach

         

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