A week in Barbados

Elaine’s Birthday week in Barbados

A few months ago, Elaine and I attended a charity ball in Leeds held by the gambling industry in support of MND charity

Elaine, spotted a 7-night accommodation in a villa in Barbados in the auction, which, she assured me, was a winning bid and would be superb to celebrate her pending seventieth birthday treat. Sure enough, it was indeed the winning bid, so here we were heading off to Barbados to celebrate.

Day 1

3.30am alarm to ready ourselves to be picked up by our partners in crime, Guy and Katie for the flight from Manchester to London Heathrow, then onto Bridgetown in Barbados.

The flight was straight forward with a couple of bevies over breakfast at Heathrow, ready for the 8-hour flight to Barbados.

I can't tell you much about the British Airways flight as I slept for the majority of the 8 hours, only waking to be fed and watered.

We picked up our pre-booked open topped car, which at the time of booking seemed like a romantic thing to do, with wind swept hair blowing in the Caribbean sun and wind. Romantic bubble quickly burst as it couldn't fit our luggage! After a little bit of banter, bordering on abuse from the ladies, we employed the services of a taxi to transport the luggage to our villa.

The villa was spectacular with bifold doors across the whole front opening onto an outdoor barbecue area and swimming pool. Beyond the pool was uninterrupted views of the Sea.

As Barbados is 5 hours behind the UK, we were all pretty shattered so decided to go to the local supermarket for provisions of the superb Banks Beer and pizza for dinner.

Beer consumed, pizza polished off and a swim in the still 27-degree night, we hit the sack

Day 2

Today is Elaine's birthday and to celebrate, Guy & Katie had booked the Lone Star restaurant on the beach for breakfast. A 5-minute drive from Westmorland Hills where we are staying to the Lone Star beach did not disappoint

The restaurant is exquisitely situated on one of Barbados's most beautiful of beaches. It's just how I envisaged a Caribbean beach. Pristine white sand, clear turquoise sea and lined with palm trees and sun drenched.

The service and food at Lone Star are wonderful and the ambience is breathtaking. They made a fuss of Elaine too, which was a great start to her big day.

After Pancakes, smoked salmon, omelette and fruit, we took a few short steps to spend the afternoon on the Lone Star beach.

Late lunch at a beachside shack along with beer and wine to fill the afternoon was the epiphany of paradise! Definitely one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever lied on in the whole world!

Back to the villa for a quick change and a drive to the other side of Bridgetown to Champers Restaurant for Elaine's birthday dinner. Champers, a fine dining experience is perched right on the sea front where the waves crash on the shore below.

The meal did not disappoint and the ambiance and food were superb.

Day 3

Today we were all awake at the crack of dawn because of the 5-hour time difference with the UK. Swims before breakfast in the villa pool then we headed out in the hire car.

We headed over to the East coast (about an hour drive) to Crane beach. This side of Barbados gets the full force of the Western Atlantic Ocean and the landscape along the coast line is much more rugged than the Golden Mile of the eastern coat. Majestic cliffs, quite rough seas on the day we went, golden sands but with lots of sea weed!

Crane beach is quite difficult to find, but with the help of the locals we managed to park the car and find a cliff top staircase to take us down to the beach. We were the only ones there apart from a local man hiring out sunbeds! 

Just behind the beach and situated in a copse of palm trees, we found the obligatory beach bar that belongs to the cliff top hotel and resort. Perfect for lunch off the wind-swept beach.

I was the only one who went for a dip despite the sea weed, after which we up sticks and headed back to spend what was left of the afternoon on Brandon's beach, just near Bridgetown’s docks. This too was a lovely beach with golden sands and turquoise clear water. 

On our way back to the villa, we decided to stop off back at the beach bar on Lone Star beach to have an ice-cold beer and watch the sun set.

An evening swimming in the villa pool with Guys Spotify music and still around 30 degrees, was a perfect end to the day.

Day 4

This morning we decided to explore the beaches further north of us towards a place called Spieghtstown. We ended up at a fantastic and beautiful resort called Port St. Charles. Just over the bridge through the resort was a restaurant, bar and pool called Pier One, overlooking the resort.

Port St. Charles is very similar to Sotogrande in Spain if you've ever been. Beautiful apartments and villas, all with a dock out of their front door to moor your boats and yatch.

The guys behind the bar at Pier One were fabulous and said if we bought drinks we could use the facilities of the sunbeds and pool for as long as we wanted. You didn't need to ask us twice!

So, a day of enjoying the turquoise water of the sea from our deck, ice cold beer and a particularly long leisurely lunch was the order of the day!

I would highly recommend a day here if pure relaxation, great food and a general chill is the order of the day! Excellent place!

Weary of doing bugger all, we headed back to enjoy the facilities of our excellent villa.

Day 5

The weather forecast today looked like a series of summer rain showers. Still 30 degrees but supposedly overcast with rain.

Unlike Yorkshire when they say rain, they mean it, here the rain dries before it hits the pavement!

Despite this minor inconvenience, (not), we decided to explore Bridgetown and of course the obligatory shops!

Having spent 30 years of my working life in retail, it's not my idea of fun but nevertheless, the ladies wanted to explore, so we did! Personally, I didn't rate Bridgetown as a town/city but it would have been remiss to not explore which we did.

We also stopped off for a quick look at Kensington Oval Cricket ground and take some pics. By all accounts we shouldn't have wondered into the stadium via the open front gate and had our collars felt by a security guard for doing so! Anyway, once Guy and I were escorted from the premises and the front gate bolted, we laughed at getting some great photos, without taking the official tour.

Our next stop was Lime Grove shopping area of Holetown. A high-end menagerie of brands, we strolled the precinct and had a late lunch in a superb cafe.

Next stop was back at the villa for an afternoon swim and music before getting ready for our evening meal at a divine restaurant called Tides.

The decor, ambiance and atmosphere were magical and romantic.

Whilst the food was nice, I think for a high-end fine dining experience, it was a little disappointing. The crab and fishcake starters were like bullets and quite tough and our main courses had too much going on, on the plate for me. Too many differing tastes on one plate! Nevertheless, it was a lovely experience, but one I would think twice about repeating.

Day 6

Today we had booked a Tiami Catamaran lunch cruise going from Bridgetown at 9.30am for 5 hours. I’m always a little weary of such trips with so many people, however this one was actually superb. 

The weather was quite overcast and we weren’t sure what it would do but it turned out lovely and just right for being on a boat.

Our first stop was for some snorkelling over a wreck. The ladies decided they would stay on board to enjoy the lashings of wine the bar steward was pouring down their necks, whilst Guy & I took the plunge. Go Pro in hand, I swam out to the wreck and what greeted me below, was thousands of fish swimming majestically! And if that wasn’t enough, a beautiful and prehistoric turtle put in an appearance! I suspect being fed by guides from the multitude of boats was a great incentive for him to appear, however I was mesmerised by how close and friendly it was. I got some great footage on the Go Pro which you can see on my video.

The last to get out of the water, we were provided with an incredible lunch by the great crew of the catamaran. These things can be hit and miss, but there was no miss on this lunch! It was excellent! They also don’t advertise it, but the bar is completely free and flowing.

Next stop was the beach on Sandy Lane in Holetown. Another great opportunity to dive (ok, bomb!) from the side of the boat into the crystal-clear turquoise waters. A fabulous afternoon was had by all and we left feeling it was an excellent and great value way to spend a day. Would highly recommend and do it again.

Back to the villa for a late afternoon swim and change for our night out at one of the local bars.

Karaoke was the order of the night and I can honestly say we haven’t laughed so much for ages! Banks Beer, chicken and fries, some excellent singers and some bloody awful ones too! One lady was insistent on keep getting up to sing Whitney & Celine songs (so, massive vocal ranges) and she was tone deaf! Massive courage to her and she was having a ball.

Day 7

Today was our last full day, so back to our favourite beach next to Lone Star restaurant just 5 minutes down the hill from us. Beach beds secured, multiple swims in the gorgeous crystal-clear waters, leisurely lunch in the beach bar, followed by more snoozes, swims and chats. It was so chilled, we stayed there until dusk.

Quick change at the villa then back down to the Lone Star restaurant for our 8pm reservation for dinner. As with breakfast on our first day, the evening meal was just as excellent. I think this is my favourite place to eat in Barbados (as well as Champers) and our final evening meal overlooking the beach, was divine!

Day 8

All packed up and checked out of the villa with our luggage left with security on site, we headed down to the beach bar for lunch and our last chill overlooking the superb beach and glistening sea.

Of course, we had to book a taxi to take our luggage to the airport and the convertible car was a complete waste of time anyway because apparently when you pull down the roof, it messes your hair!!! So, luggage checked in, hire car returned, we settled down in the airport for a couple of hours before our British Airways flight back to London Heathrow with a quick turnaround for our flight up to Manchester. The return flight is overnight, so it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

Back home in Brighouse by 2pm after picking the boys (Milo & Romeo) up in Leeds.