Seagrape Villa - Review Page 1
Reviewed by Steve & Jill Wooler in February 2004
Tobago is a tiny vacation destination. Even so, finding appropriate holiday accommodation from the 300 or so properties on offer can be a daunting task.
One of the main purposes of myTobago is to help visitors make sense of the endless alternatives. Our aim is to sift through the list and offer suggestions to suit every taste and pocket. We only review properties that we feel are worthy of recommendation and genuinely want to stay at ourselves.
And so we came to Seagrape Villa, a two-bedroom duplex villa located within the grounds of the popular Inn On The Bay in Little Rockley Bay. We’re not really sure whether this semi-detached property should be regarded as a villa or as an apartment. Anyway, villa-apartment will do.
Seagrape Villa came to our notice because it belongs to Marie Dilworth, who runs the island’s premier wedding planning and coordination service, Tobago Weddings. The constant praise we hear of her services left us confident that she would offer the same high standards and attention to detail on her rental property. And we weren’t wrong…
Location
Seagrape Villa is located in Little Rockley Bay at Lambeau on Tobago’s southern Atlantic cost. The Crown Point airport is a brief 15-minute drive away, while central Scarborough is less than 10 minutes in the other direction.
The location is centrally situated within the main tourist triangle and just outside the flatlands (there is a local saying that Tobago consists of the Lowlands and the Nicelands). The terrain starts to build just half a mile before Lambeau. In fact, if you head up the road towards Scarborough, within just a few hundred metres you will find a very steep little side road that gives the most dramatic views of Little Rockley Bay, right across to the Tobago Plantations/Hilton development.
Guests staying at Seagrape Villa have full use of the facilities at the Inn On The Bay, in whose grounds the villa is located. It’s like being a guest at the inn, but retaining your own independence. So, apart from any food shopping, or sightseeing tours, you could quite contentedly spend your entire visit at the resort.
Marie provides complimentary transfer from the airport, so it would be viable to use this property without a car. However, as I say in every holiday accommodation review that I write, your holiday and enjoyment of Tobago will be enhanced tremendously if you have your own transport.
Architecture
Seagrape Villa is a duplex villa. Here in the UK we would more commonly refer to it as a semi-detached villa. Marie lives in the other half of the duplex.
Marie’s villas are part of what was originally called the Palm Tree Village development. This comprises ten duplex units, providing 20 housekeeping villa apartments adjacent to a small hotel. The development is nearly completed and you are unaware of ongoing work because it is all very low key and taking place behind Seagrape, out of sight and hearing.
The project was sold before completion and has now become the Inn On The Bay. Marie worked for the hotel and had first pick of the choicest units when they became available for sale. Her two units are located just inside the grounds, handy for the hotel, but almost completely separated and isolated from the main development, which you can hardly even see. Some of the villas are privately owned, but the majority belong to the Inn.
The villas are of extremely unusual design. They are octagons with a small add-on extension to house the kitchen. The ground floor consists of nothing but a simple utility/laundry room; all living accommodation being on the first floor. This arrangement provides views over Rockley Bay and ensures that the villa catches the cooling winds that blow in from the Atlantic Ocean.
Many of the villas are finished in extremely vivid contrasting colours, such as purple and yellow. This gives the development and extremely individual and distinctive appearance that you will either love or hate. Fortunately, from my point of view, Marie’s duplex is painted in more sober colours like the others along the front row.
Accommodation
Seagrape Villa has two en suite bedrooms, a lounge and kitchen, plus a substantial wrap-around wooden deck.
The octagonal shape of the building means that the rooms are visually interesting (but hell to measure). The octagon is basically sliced into two equal halves, with one side housing the two bedrooms and the other side the main living/dining room. The kitchen is an extension off the living room. The back wall of the kitchen is the common wall joining the two halves of the duplex.
Living Room
The living room is around 30m2 (325ft2), being 8m in length and 4m in width. The room is newly decorated and finished in white, which gives the attractive brightly coloured chair cushions immense impact. Combined with the white net curtains, the décor almost appears to have been designed as a set for one of Marie’s weddings. Not that this is in any way a criticism. The overall look and feel was attractive, bright, light and cool.
The room is simply but tastefully furnished with a range of casual seating grouped around a cable TV. There is an elegant wooden dining table with four chairs.
Two sides of the octagon have floor-to-ceiling French windows that provide access to the balcony and keep the room nice and light. The living room is not air-conditioned and does not have ceiling or floor-standing fans; the simple expedient of leaving one or more of the French windows open ensures that the room is cool at all times.
Bedrooms
The two bedrooms are virtually identical. Each measures 4x 3.6m (approx. 14m2/150ft2) at the widest points. They feature twin single beds in a side-by-side arrangement. Additional furnishings include a bedside table and lamps on both sides of the beds, a dressing table and mirror and a built-in wardrobe of reasonable size.
The bedrooms are fully air-conditioned and each has the convenience of their own en suite bathroom comprising washbasin, toilet and walk-in shower.
The property had just been re-decorated, so everything was in immaculate order. Similarly, all bathroom and kitchen fittings appeared to be in excellent condition.
The apartment is serviced four times a week, with towels being changed every other day and bed linen every third day. Guests must remember to bring their own beach towels.
Kitchen
The kitchen is large enough, and well-enough equipped, to handle the most demanding of catering. It has a large fridge with separate freezer compartment, toaster, kettle, electric stove with four rings/grill and oven, and a more-than-adequate supply of crockery, cutlery, glassware and kitchen utensils, etc. Once again, everything is in excellent condition and well-maintained.
Marie provides a complimentary welcome meal for new guests and this will be waiting in the kitchen on arrival. This is very thoughtful, because most international flights arrive in the late afternoon or early evening. After a long journey from Europe or North America, most new arrivals will just want to chill out. The meal simply requires reheating and will be many visitors’ first taste of the Caribbean. Marie can also arrange for the kitchen to be stocked with essential supplies and groceries.
The Deck
A wide wooden deck wraps-around two sides of the villa. This is furnished with a table and chairs, sun umbrella and a liberal supply of cushioned sun recliners.
The deck looks out over Rockley Bay and represents a most pleasant place to sunbathe, dine or simply to relax (‘lime’ in Tobago parlance). Being only a couple of hundred metres from the beach, guests must remember to apply lots of sun cream; the salt-laden breeze blowing in from the ocean will ensure you tan (or burn) a lot faster than you might imagine.
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