Holiday Accommodation

Introduction

Mahogany Villa is a spacious three-bedroom holiday rental villa next to Tobago's Mount Irvine golf course.

The five vacation villas on the small and prestigious Villas On The Green development are based on the same floor plan. Being privately owned, each is furnished and decorated to the owner's personal taste and preference. Due to the ideal location and excellent levels of holiday accommodation offered by these lovely villas, we now recommend two villas on this lovely development.

Location

The Villas On The Green are situated on the lower slopes of Mount Irvine, adjacent to the attractive golf course of the same name. The two-acre development comprises five luxury villas built around a shared swimming pool. Mahogany Villa sits adjacent to the 11th fairway of the golf course and offers beautiful views across the course. Although there are only the briefest of sea views from the upper bedrooms, the Caribbean Sea is actually little more than 500m away.

Mount Irvine is a wonderful location. It is a short 15-20-minute drive from Tobago's airport and all the shops, restaurants and facilities of Crown Point and Scarborough. It is often said that Tobago comprises of the Lowlands and the 'Nicelands'. Mount Irvine marks the start of the latter.

Whilst Grange Beach is a pleasant 10-minute walk across the golf course and Mount Irvine Bay beach little more than five minutes more, there are no shops or restaurants within walking distance of Mahogany Villa. Relying on taxis is possible, but expensive and inconvenient. A self-drive rental is by far the best way to get the most out of your time on Tobago.

Architecture

Built in 1997, the five Villas On The Green properties are virtually identical and of modern, semi-Colonial design. The rendered walls of the two-storey houses are finished in a pleasant ivory colour and finished with distinctive red pantile roofs

The grounds are a riot of colour. The villas are well-spaced and largely screened from each other by stunning bougainvillea and lush colourful tropical trees and bushes.

The ground floor of the villa, including the balcony, is level and wheelchair-friendly. The master bedroom is on the ground floor; the other two bedrooms on the upper level. Two small steps lead from the parking area to the front door. There are no ramps or other aids, but the villa might be appropriate for wheelchair users or those with restricted mobility.

Accommodation

Mahogany Villa offers a gross accommodation area of around 290sq.m. (3,100sq.ft.) comprising three air-conditioned en suite bedrooms. The villa can accommodate up to eight adults in comfort. Additional foldout beds for children, or cots for infants, are available by pre-arrangement.

The villa is nicely furnished and attractively decorated throughout, with pleasant pastel colour walls complimenting the floor tiles. General maintenance levels were good, and everything worked as expected.

The villa is serviced every day except Sunday and bed linen and towels (including beach towels) laundered every 3-4 days. Guests can make private arrangements with the housekeeper for additional duties, such as private laundry, cooking or baby-sitting.

Bedroom 1

The huge air-conditioned ensuite master bedroom suite is located on the ground floor.

This bedroom is furnished with a comfortable king-size bed flanked by two-drawer bedside tables with reading lamps. There is a spacious 6-drawer dressing table with half-length mirror, a wall-mounted full-length mirror and 2.7m of built-in wardrobe space, with storage shelves plus full-length hanging, and lots of hangers.

A charming seating area with three cushioned armchairs offers a quiet corner to relax and read. Immediately adjacent is a secure external door providing access to the front veranda

The excellent Toshiba air-conditioner proved more than capable of keeping this huge room cool. There is also a large and very quiet ceiling fan.

The ensuite bathroom boasts one of the few bidets I have come across on Tobago. The washbasin is inset into the vanity unit and offers three drawers, one of which is used to store a hairdryer, and a cupboard for storage of toiletries. An electric shaver socket is located above the sink. The fully-tiled walk-in shower is spacious. There was always an excellent supply of hot water, but water pressure was a little on the low side. A new pressure tank was installed and the tanks and filters overhauled shortly after our visit, so the comment about low pressure is probably irrelevant.

Bedroom 2

Bedrooms 2 is located on the upper floor of the house and is furnished and decorated to the same high standard as the rest of the villa. The room still feels roomy despite being furnished with two queen-sized double beds separated by a two-drawer bedside table with reading lamp. Additional furnishings include a six-drawer dressing table with half-length mirror, a large towel rack and a wardrobe offering 1.7m of full-length hanging space and shelving.

The ensuite bathroom is small, but nevertheless well fitted, practical and attractive. The washbasin is set into an attractive vanity unit with drawers and an under-sink cupboard, so there is adequate storage space for toiletries. A 110v electric shaver socket is available, together with a fully-tiled walk-in shower unit and a pedestal toilet.

The large overhead ceiling fan in the middle of the bedroom ceiling is supplemented by a new wall-mounted air-conditioner. The units in both upstairs bedrooms have been replaced and upgraded since our last stay.

Adjacent to the second bedroom, a secure door leads onto a roof balcony furnished with an all-weather plastic table and chairs. This is something of a sun trap, so unlikely to be used by many visitors during the day. However, it would undoubtedly be a delightful place for guests staying in the upper bedrooms to enjoy a morning cup of coffee or tea, offering lovely views over the colourful and peaceful grounds and swimming pool.

Bedroom 3

This is the smallest of the three bedrooms. However, although fitted with a queen-size double bed, two bedside tables with lamps, a six-drawer dressing table with wall-mounted half-height mirror and a comfortable cushioned armchair, the room still feels adequately roomy. Glazed doors provide access to the narrow balcony that runs along the front of the building and shared with bedroom 2.

Three pairs of attractive shuttered wardrobe doors dominate one wall of the room. One set of doors provides access to 1.2m of full-length hanging space; the second set to a similar width of storage shelves. The third set is a false wardrobe: the doors actually lead into the ensuite bathroom. This is a little larger than that of bedroom 2, but otherwise similarly furnished and equipped.

Living, Dining Room & Kitchen

The exceptionally spacious living, dining and kitchen areas of Mahogany Villa are totally open-plan. Two wide sets of double doors provide lovely tranquil views over the coconut palms and lush green fairways of the Mount Irvine golf course, which has received a major refurbishment in recent years and is now rapidly returning to full championship status

The lounge seating area consists of two sofas and an armchair grouped around a coffee table, facing an entertainment centre with 42-inch flat-screen TV and DVD player. There is also a pair of high-quality speakers that can be plugged into tablets and phones with 3.5mm headphone sockets and a range of DVDs, puzzles and games. The villa benefits from subscription to the excellent Digicel Play fibre services that provides access to a wide choice on digital TV channels, plus super-fast Wi-Fi broadband. Guests can make and receive free local calls on the villa landline and receive incoming international calls. Outgoing international calls can be made by purchasing a 'Companion Card'. These are available from numerous local mini-marts.

In addition to standard local 110v voltage sockets, Mahogany Villa has six 240v 3-pin electricity sockets in the kitchen/dining area. These will be highly useful to British travellers who wish to bring UK-standard electrical devices.

The dining area is furnished with a large glass-topped table and six chairs. Adjacent, a small octagonal wooden table with four cushioned chairs makes for a handy charging station for laptops, tablets, cameras and all the other electronic gadgetry that fill our modern lives.

A long and wide breakfast bar, with two revolving stools, separates the kitchen from the dining area. A children's highchair is available by pre-arrangement.

The kitchen is exceptionally spacious and equipped with a four-ring electric oven, microwave, fridge-freezer, toaster, kettle, filter coffee machine and blender. The range of kitchenware was perfectly reasonable, and everything was clean and worked as intended.

The living area is not air-conditioned. There is a large overhead fan in the kitchen area and a powerful portable oscillating fan that can be moved as required. Wonderfully cooling breezes blow across the golf course and over the hill, behind the house. By opening all the doors and windows, first thing in the morning, to prevent any heat build-up, we found that the house remained comfortable throughout the day.

A fire extinguisher, fire blanket and smoke detector are available, in the kitchen area.

Management offer a grocery shopping service to guests staying five nights or more, or who arrive late on the first night. Before arrival, guests are sent a list from which they can order basic supplies. These items are purchased on the day of arrival and stored in the villa's refrigerator. No charge is made for the service and the guests simply reimburse management for the receipted cost of items purchased

Veranda

In the best traditions of good Colonial design, Mahogany Villa's huge veranda is sure to become the centre of life for everybody staying at the villa. It offers wonderful views over the golf course and both shade and breeze until mid to late afternoon. Facing due west, the setting sun shines directly onto the veranda from about 4pm, but by that time the sun is so low in the sky that it has no great intensity. Watching the stunning skies often experienced as the sun sets behind the coconut palms on the golf course is likely to become a ritual.

The veranda wraps around two sides of the villa. It is furnished with padded recliners and all-weather chairs grouped around a small wooden coffee table. We understand that a new 5-piece rattan cushioned suite has been purchased for the veranda since our visit.

The hammock, slung across one end of the veranda, is a truly wonderful place to enjoy the regular spectacular sunsets across the golf course. There is also an excellent gas barbeque unit and a large glass-topped table with six padded dining chairs. As lovely as the formal dining table may be, I imagine that most visitors will dine on the veranda.

Jacuzzi

A small tiled deck and Jacuzzi are located in the garden area in front of the veranda. The Jacuzzi has a maximum depth of about a metre, with three shallow steps leading in from a mini-Roman end and a wide seat ledge running all the way around.

Although not mechanically heated, the water in the Jacuzzi gets remarkably warm after being heated by the sun all day. The air-pumps worked well and the Jacuzzi proved to be a wonderful place to relax and enjoy the wonderful sunsets.

Swimming Pool & Gardens

Residents of the five villas share the attractive 18m swimming pool in the centre of the stunning gardens. The depths of the pool range from 1.2-2.3m and the overflow from a small raised toddler's pool makes a nice water feature. The pool terrace is of adequate width and furnished with plastic recliners.

Security

The swimming pool and gardens of Villas On The Green are managed centrally. We have stayed on the development on five occasions over the past fifteen years and think that the development is looking better than we have ever seen it now

Electronically-operated gates protect the only road entrance to the development. The gates are operated by remote control. A night watchman is on duty from 6pm to 6am, every night. The villas are fitted with security bars on all windows and doors. There is also a key-operated security safe for valuables.

Conclusion

The fact that we have reviewed and recommended two near-identical villas on the same development surely says it all.

The location of Villas On The Green is so ideal that you simply never think twice about 'popping out' for something you need – assuming you have your own transport, of course. However, despite being so close to all the facilities, you are nestled in a hugely tranquil fold in the hills at the base of Mount Irvine in a location that has all the attributes of a much more isolated spot. There is no road noise. Nor is there any of the usual cacophony of Caribbean village life.

Mahogany Villa undoubtedly offers wonderful holiday accommodation for parties of up to six or eight adults. The house is spacious, well-furnished and very, very comfortable. What more can one ask for?