Wealthy Britons are discovering paradise in Barbados and Grenada

From The Times

November 14, 2008

Simon Cowell and Lord Lloyd-Webber have already bought villas at the Cinnamon 88 development

Lorna Blackwood

Many of us are facing a dark winter: the global financial crisis, soaring energy prices and a crumbling housing market. For a small echelon of society, however, such woes barely intrude, and when the days become damp and dreary they simply decamp to the Caribbean.

Barbados has captivated the British and Irish since the 1930s. Back then, the Guinness family would winter at their villa on the west coast, Noël Coward entertained Winston Churchill and Claudette Colbert threw parties while David Niven mixed the cocktails.

Seventy years on and not much has changed. The sheltered, palm-fringed beaches of the west coast - renamed the Platinum Coast - are still the hub of the social scene and the location for the island's prime properties. Probably the most famous of these villas is Alang Alang, the home of the property developer Mike Pemberton, who freely admits that he spent six years designing and building his Caribbean paradise.

Such dedication has been rewarded by movie stars wanting to buy it and fashion photographers using it for cover shoots. But it is not for sale. “It's my home and I love coming back here. Every time I return, I have a huge smile on my face when I step through the door,” Pemberton says.

However, things are looking up for those admirers of the Indonesian-influenced home. Pemberton and his business partner, Robin Paterson, in their guise as the developer Cinnamon 88, have bought 32 acres of the Platinum Coast.

With the help of the Four Seasons Hotel brand, they have started building a luxury beachfront development, consisting of a five-star hotel and 35 luxury villas, in Clearwater Bay. Famous names who have already bagged a villa at Clearwater Bay include Lord Lloyd-Webber, the FormulaOne team owner Eddie Jordan and the pugnacious XFactor judge Simon Cowell - who is taking two.

The houses range from $11.5million (£7.3 million) to $40million and stretch to 18,000sqft. They are being built to the same design as Alang Alang, using aged teak doors from Indonesia, sustainably sourced wood floors from Brazil, indigenous Caribbean coral stone and chandeliers found in the flea markets of France.

However, some may find Barbados too glitzy. There is certainly a show-biz element to the island, with paparazzi camped out at the airport and on beaches over Christmas.

Cinnamon 88 has realised this, and following from the success of its Barbados development has bought 500 acres on the comparatively untouched Caribbean island of Grenada. Here the mood is definitely more laid-back. Grenada is a volcanic island, 13 per cent of which is rainforest; the Cinnamon 88 development includes a sanctuary for the endangered Grenada Dove.

The site includes a Four Seasons hotel, 170 private villas, a private island and the wooded slopes of Mount Hartman. It also has a golf course, tennis academy, marina and spa. Prices for the villas start at $3million - considerably lower than Barbados prices.

Buyers on Grenada are more concerned with privacy. Twelve plots have already been sold, three to Goldman Sachs executives, proving that the pain of the credit crunch is not being felt by some people.