Set the scene
Tucked alongside Antigua’s north coast, the place the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean, Jumby Bay is a 300-acre island with dreamy palms that slow-dance within the breeze. These body modern villas and grand old-world structure, pepper a wild, undulating centre roamed by Persian sheep and flank a manicured fundamental seaside of the identical identify. Here creamy sand suggestions into calm Caribbean waters, the place mottled turquoise and aquamarine hues rework into molten silver come nightfall. Afternoons are made for contemporary Piña Coladas, languid sun-worshipping and offshore adventures on motorboats absolutely stocked with snorkels, fins and native beer. Frigate birds soar within the sizzling sky and sunsets paint cloud edges in dramatic crimson strokes. The island’s extra dishevelled seaside, Pasture Bay (a hawksbill turtle nesting haven from June till November) is fringed by wayward bushes and wild flowers – a scene, one imagines, not far faraway from the one Christopher Columbus sailed into in 1463.
What’s the story?
Passed between numerous landowning households all through the centuries (notably the Jarvises and the Henzells), Jumby Bay was sliced up into personal beachfront houses and estates, then later right into a sequence of villas run by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. The island quick turned a magnet for high-profile visitors searching for Caribbean bliss and privateness in equal measure. The Jumby Bay Island Company was fashioned by the householders in 1998 and in 2017 it appointed Oetker Collection to take over the hotel administration, upping the ante with first-rung service whereas honouring the island’s historical past, low-key rhythms and the expectations of its beau-monde clientele.
Spread out and simply accessible on bikes parked exterior villas or on-demand golf buggies, the hotel features a spa and wellness space the place pre-breakfast yoga lessons happen underneath a white pavillion surrounded by tropical vegetation; The Estate House, a splendid nod to a bygone period of gin cocktails and grand pianos; the Jumby Bay Veranda which spills onto the principle seaside in a rush of bougainvillaea, palms and aloe vera; the farm the place a kitchen backyard provides the eating places with contemporary herbs and greens; tennis courts galore and an elevated pool space with superb sundown views over the bay and contemporary mango and papaya to nibble on. What might learn like a resort is in reality a car-free island utopia, mild on the clichés that beset many Caribbean hotspots.
What can we anticipate from our room?
Flooded with pure mild, the rooms have sky-high beamed ceilings that create a way of infinite area, so that they really feel immensely personal with out being fenced in. All three room classes have sea views and outside baths and showers, whereas the beachfront suites have seaside entry and the bigger pool and property suites have personal swimming pools. A bamboo glass cupboard doubles as a mini-bar and intelligent little touches abound: hand-painted shells on pillows at turndown, lens cloths for studying glasses by the mattress, a ceramic stool for Champagne coupes by the outside bathtub.
How concerning the food and drinks?
Local elements are spun into international favourites akin to Middle Eastern garbanzo for breakfast or foie-gras terrine for supper, whereas additionally celebrating conventional Creole dishes. Breakfast consists of a mixture of American classics (pancakes, berry and mascarpone waffles), Antiguan specials (salt fish with fritters and plantain) and Gen-Z hits akin to energy-boosting breakfast bowls of farro, poached eggs and smoked salmon, buckwheat crepes and smashed avocado. But the spotlight is the bespoke smoothie bar, with a lip-smacking collection of fruit, seeds, milks, yogurt and nuts, all blended collectively every morning.
For lunch head to the Veranda restaurant for contemporary squid and calamari, palm-heart ceviche, fish tartare, connoisseur pizzas and burgers, or the Poole Grille for prawn salads, fish tacos and maybe a magnum of Whispering Angel. For afternoon tea and old-world advantageous eating with a jazz soundtrack, The Estate House veranda pulls in a heat breeze, and dishes akin to lobster and ravioli, and mushroom and truffle velouté with brioche strips wrapped in Italian lardo are served on vintage crockery. Wednesday sees a extra informal (however no much less beguiling) set-up when a Caribbean-themed night time performs out alongside the seaside with flames, barbecues and tropical cocktails.
Anything to say concerning the service?
No request is an excessive amount of effort and workers put on infectious smiles (presumably as a result of they work in bona fide paradise). Take benefit of the helpful time distinction (4 hours forward of the UK) and rock up for breakfast at 7am; come too late and it begins to get a little bit busy. Activities akin to kayaking previous mangroves to close by islands, waterskiing, crusing and snorkelling journeys to Bird Island are led by a convivial staff of characters, who share their enthusiasm for Antigua’s wildlife and their information of close by secret spots in addition to their spectacular water-sports expertise.
What kind of individual comes right here?
The mixture of European and American jet setters visiting the island are all very well-mannered, unbuttoned and too profitable for keeping-up-with-the-Jones shenanigans.
What’s the neighbourhood scene like?
As far because the personal island goes: quiet, idyllic, groomed (even Miami-preened) in locations, fantastically bedraggled in others. Flowers and greenery sprouting from each nook and crevice appeal to hummingbirds, a cacophony of morning birdsong and a cricket soundtrack by late afternoon. With car-free roads to jog down, tall grasses to roam via and shallow waters to wallow in, there’s little cause to go away, however ought to guests get itchy toes, the catamaran (complimentary to and from the jetty at Winthrop’s Bay for arrivals and departures) can whisk them to mainland Antigua in quarter-hour for epic hikes alongside jungle-clad mountains or the excitement of historic, yacht-fringed cities akin to English Harbour.
Anything you didn’t love?
If your agenda goes past fly-and-flop (onto a pair of water skis at finest), it’s value spending a day or two exploring mainland Antigua for a dose of tradition. If, nevertheless, your agenda is strictly that, you’re in the proper place.