I reason, after gorging on an array of
delicious local fruits). I read my book
while letting my food go down, before
having a walk along the coast and a swim
in the warm sea amid brown pelicans
dive-bombing for fish, then get ready
for lunch at the Sea Breeze bar – a
delicious shrimp salad.
A couple of days later, I head inland to
the second of my homes for the week, the
Hermitage Plantation Inn (hermitagenevis.
com), which sits amidst lush greenery on
the slopes of the 985m volcanic Nevis Peak
and is built around the oldest existing
wooden house in the Caribbean (circa
1670). I fall in love with the colonial style of
the place and oh-so-quaint ‘gingerbread
cottage’ I’m staying in, complete with
four-poster bed and veranda overlooking
the swimming pool.
By this point in the trip, I realise I’m only
using my mobile phone to take pictures of
this incredible island – my life in London –
with hectic, desk-bound job – really does
seem like another world. The other thing
that hits me from the start of my trip is
how smiley and friendly the islanders are- 'you’re only a stranger once’, as they say.
DAYS GONE BY
The island’s history isn’t confined to the
plantation inns, however. Horatio Nelson
met and married local woman Fanny Nisbet
on the island; and US founding father
Alexander Hamilton was born here (he of
musical Hamilton fame). I read up on this,
plus the slave trade, religion, rum making
and lots more in the Museum of Nevis
History in the tiny capital, Charlestown.
To bring it to life, and since the island
measures just 36 square miles – meaning
the 20-mile perimeter road can be driven
around in about an hour – I join a fun, 4x4
Funky Monkey Tour (funkymonkeytours.
com), and take in the major sites in half
a day, heading off the beaten track at
times. Look out for the shy green vervet
monkeys that were introduced in colonial
times, and take in the wild donkeys and
roaming goats and sheep as you go.FANTASTIC FOOD
All this holidaying makes you hungry, and
the food is excellent everywhere I go –
from the refined dining at the Relais &
Chateaux Montpelier Plantation and Beach
(montpeliernevis.com) to Golden Rock’s
(goldenrocknevis.com) famous lunchtime
lobster salad, and the Caribbean flavours
at Bananas (bananasnevis.com). Then
there's the fresh seafood of the Yachtsman
Grill (yachtsmangrill.com) and the down-to-
earth Wilma’s Diner (wilmas-diner.business.i l
FACT FILE
● BA has two flights per week
from Gatwick to St. Kitts, with a
brief stopover in Antigua.
Nevis is a 10-min water-taxi ride
from St. Kitts. Visit ba.com/
stkitts for the best packages.
There are also daily flights to
Antigua with BA and Virgin, with
TradeWind Aviation connections
to Nevis twice a week.
Visit nevisisland.com for more
information about the island.site) in Charlestown, where a sign proud
swings outside proclaiming that Wilmah
‘cooked for the Royal Family’. Indeed,
Charles, Diana, William and Harry have
all been to this discreet island at various
times. What strikes me about all the
food is how so much of it is locally
produced or sourced, and beautifully
fresh and unprocessed. If you’re
a foodie, you can book your trip to
coincide with the fun and flavourful
annual Nevis Mango and Food
Festival that takes place in July.A BIT OF ACTION
To help work off some of the amazing
culinary delights, I hire a guide to takem
up Nevis Peak. The exhilarating climbis
way more scramble than hike, with plent
of fixed ropes to help you ascend and
descend the root- and rock-strewn muddy
trail (nevisnaturetours.com). I can testify
to the fact it’s an excellent workout!
There are some great views as you go,
but panoramas from the top are not
guaranteed as the cloud tends to sit there.
In fact, it’s said that Nevis’s name is linked
to this cloud: the story goes that when
Christopher Columbus caught sight of the
island in 1493, he mistook the cloud sitting
atop the volcano for snow and named the
island Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, or
Our Lady of the Snows...
If cycling is more your thing, you can bike
round the island, do some mountain biking
or do a site-seeing cycling tour, as I did,
with Bike Nevis (nevisisland.com).
Of course, there are plenty of
watersports on offer, too. Head to Oualie
Beach on the north west of the island,
where the water taxis land from St. Kitts,
for a good selection of activities, includingYoucouldevensignupforoneof
the annual sporting events (Nevis to St.
Kitts Cross-Channel Swim in March; Nevis
Marathon in September; Nevis International
Triathlon in November). We defy you not
to do some limin’, too – aka chilling out,
it’s seriously hard to avoid on Nevis... ■Emma visits the oldest Anglican church in
the Caribbean while on a cycle tourThe scenic weekly BBQ on the
Montpelier's private beachPHOTOGRAPHY: Emma Lewis, Anna Allen-Jones