Guest Report

[Kiron Mair]

Daisy and I had a wonderful stay in the Crew's Nest apartment of Bayview Villa. It was beautifully decorated and furnished, and the garden and pool were amazing.

The apartment is the perfect size for a couple and would be a great honeymoon suite; equally the whole villa is ideal for large groups, so parents or grandparents could have Crew's Nest whilst the rest of the family take the upper apartments.

As long as you keep the door shut whenever you're outside or in, the place stays nice and cool, with an air conditioning unit at one end near the bed and bathroom and a couple of fans. Worth bearing in mind that you should keep bathroom door shut at night as the high window inside stays open for ventilation, and this could potentially let mosquitos in at night.

There is wifi in the villa, but the router is situated in one of the upper apartments, so the signal is patchy. But hey, you come to an island paradise like Tobago to get away from the outside world so why use the Internet if you can avoid it?

The really helpful addition to the apartment is the use of a local mobile phone for the duration of your stay. This makes it easy to arrange your activities each day. We found that through meeting locals throughout the week who would take us on tours and drop us off places, we could collect phone numbers and details. If you talk to people and are generally inquisitive and friendly, after a couple of days you feel so connected and at home that no forward planning is required. Everyone on the island is incredibly friendly and eager to help out, so you will have no shortage of options for local guides or people to ask for advice or recommendations.

Donicia is the housekeeper and she cleans the apartment every couple of days. She is lovely and very helpful.

The lush tropical garden is a haven for all sorts of birds that come down to bathe in the bird bath and feed - so you're likely to see many if you leave out some food for them. The circular pool is a nice size and is refreshing day or night - the only comment(s) I'd have about this is I'd prefer it to be a bit deeper... I could stand head and shoulders above the water in the deep end, although most of the time we'd be away at the beach anyway; and it does tend to collect a lot of leaves and bugs and so on on the surface each day, but this is hard to avoid given all the trees and plants that surround it. But don't let these comments dissuade you, they are mere observations rather than complaints. There's a pool guy who we didn't meet who maintains it every few days for you.

Overall, I don't think we could have had a better place to stay during our week in Tobago. The price was very reasonable, the apartment comfortable and stylish, and everyone who looks after the place (Dave and Paula the owners, Gillian the manager, Donicia the housekeeper) is charming and helpful.

We fell in love with Tobago last week. We can't wait to come back, and we'd readily stay in Bayview Villa again.