Paradise Found Villa - Review Page 3
Services
A maid service is provided six mornings per week. The maid, Debbie, was a cheerful, helpful and friendly girl who made us feel at home right from the first moment of greeting when she offered us a cool rum punch. Technically, her duties are restricted to cleaning the villa, but in practise she automatically made the beds and tidied and washed anything left in the kitchen. Even though we operated a washing-up duty roster amongst our party, you only had to take an empty glass or plate into the kitchen and before your back was turned, Debbie had magically appeared and cleared everything.
As one might expect, all linen and towels are provided. Bed linen was changed three times a week and towels every other day. Naturally, guests are expected to provide their own beach towels.
Although originally from Trinidad, Pat Thompson lives in England with English husband Bob. In their absence, the villa is administered by a local manager, Gus, who was both helpful and efficient. Gus normally meets arriving guests at the airport and arranges grocery and other essential shopping supplies, although these must be ordered in advance.
A pool attendant and gardener are present several times a week, but their presence is so non-intrusive that I frankly have difficulty remembering how often they visited the property.
Exterior
The gardens of Paradise Found Villa are mature, lush and very attractive. There is a small parking area outside the front door and, nearby, a small patio equipped with sun loungers. The gardens are so private that it is always easy to find a pleasant little spot to sunbathe au naturel, if the mood so takes you.
The gates to and from the property are kept locked at all times, for obvious security reasons. This could be a problem when visiting the beach, across the road. What do you do with the key when swimming? It would obviously be extremely foolish to leave the keys unattended, with your towels. This is a problem when staying anywhere, of course. We strongly urge visitors to buy one of the little waterproof pouches that can be clipped to a waistband or hung around the neck and which are just large enough to hold the small amount of money you might need at the beach, plus those all-important keys.
Beach
The Mount Irvine Beach facilities are across the road from Paradise Found Villa and offer changing and toilet facilities and a small café offering light meals and drink. Mind you, most of these facilities are largely superfluous when you are living directly across the road, but we did find the beach café a useful place for burger and chips-type lunches.
The beach and swimming at Mount Irvine are good, but much nicer spots are to be found just a few hundred metres down the road towards the golf course. Even better, the road leading to the villa is directly opposite the track leading into Back Bay.
Back Bay must be one of the most beautiful locations in Tobago. I would kill for a plot overlooking this bay. I could only see one property that overlooked the bay. Don’t you just hate some people?
Sadly, Back Bay has achieved a rather bad reputation in recent years. It is relatively isolated and is backed by dense vegetation, trees and scrubland. In other words, it was ideal territory for the young toe-rags who hid in the bush and then raided visitor’s belongings while they swam. A lot of the bush has been cleared, making these escapades more difficult, but visitors must exercise caution. The best advice is to only go to Back Bay in company and never take valuables with you. However, go you must – it truly is the most beautiful of beaches and you will seldom find more than one or two other visitors there.
Be warned - it is a bit of a scramble down the cliff-side to Back Bay beach, but well worth it. If you take the left fork, after driving in from the north coast road, and drive to the end, stopping at a well-trampled area just before the track doubles back on itself, there are steps leading down to the beach. This is much easier than scrambling down the cliff-side in other parts.
The swimming and snorkelling is excellent everywhere along this stretch of the Caribbean coast. There was a new moon at the end of our week at Paradise Found and prior to this there was a noticeable increase in sea turbulence. The surf was so strong that it became almost impossible to swim on the two evenings before the full moon. However, one of the beauties of Tobago is that when the conditions on one beach are less than perfect, a short drive will invariably take you to a more sheltered beach with ideal conditions. This is yet another reason why a self-drive car is an essential component to any holiday on the island.
Talking of self-drive car rental, may I offer a word of caution here? The unmarked track leading down to Back Bay is considered to be ‘off road’ as far as insurance companies are concerned, so technically you may not be covered by insurance or CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) if you drive down to the track. Take particular care if you do and do not, under any circumstances, leave valuables in the car while you are out of sight down on the beach.
Eating Out
Being based in the Mount Irvine area means that one is almost spoilt for choice as far as good restaurants are concerned. None are within walking distance, unless you fancy a 5-10 minute walk along an unlit main road with no sidewalk, but there is a very good choice within a five-minute drive. These include (in order of distance):
- North towards Plymouth: Indigo, Pavilion at Stonehaven, Seahorse Inn, Black Rock Café
- South towards Crown Point: Sugar Mill (Mt.Irvine Bay Hotel), Papillon, Polo Bar, La Tartaruga, Patino’s, Me-Shell’s, Melange, Shirvan Watermill
During a two week holiday, adventurous visitors could try each of these restaurants and have two nights left to revisit their favourites. They offer a good mixture of cuisine, style and price. Other options are fully detailed in our Restaurant section.
Conclusion
Paradise Found Villa was the first villa we have ever stayed in, anywhere in the world. It was also the venue for a major family celebration to celebrate the 80th birthdays of both my parents. Needless to say, this was an emotional and happy event and I think that we would have made the most of wherever we might have stayed. However, looking at Paradise Found Villa as objectively as possible, I do not think this influenced our views.
We loved our stay. The villa offers the very finest standards of luxury, with excellent amenities. It is undoubtedly a wonderful holiday accommodation solution for families or groups of up to ten people. We thoroughly recommend the villa and most definitely look forward to our return.
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