Places to Visit in Nevis


Plantation Inns of Nevis
by Suzanne Gordon

Travel back in time to when the hills were blanketed with sugar cane, when travelers on horseback stopped by for afternoon tea, when the barrels of rum and molasses were loaded on ships and carried back to England.

This was the life on the sugar estates, and today the flavour and beauty of some of these old structures comes alive in the five plantation inns on Nevis. Steeped in history and
located in some of the most beautiful parts of the island, the inns experience on Nevis is incredibly unique.

The biggest changes this year are underway at the Golden Rock Hotel, which was sold in 2006 to New York painters, Brice and Helen Marden, who immediately fell in love with Nevis during their first visit. The Mardens, along with owner/manager Pam Barry, who still retains part ownership, have exciting plans for this gracious mountainside retreat.

The first is to reconstruct the hotel’s dining room, which is an extension of the main stone building, formerly the estate’s kitchen.

Helen Marden said that she hopes to offer the hotel to artists and writers as a retreat because of its inspirational beauty.

There are four other plantation inns on the island, all in the hills, except for Nisbet
Plantation Beach Club, located on the north coast of Nevis. Each has its own special
appeal and beauty.

Hermitage Plantation Inn exudes old-world elegance in its handcrafted cottages, fourposter beds, and hammocks. Elegant meals served on its outdoor veranda outlined with twinkling lights are unsurpassed as are the planter’s breakfasts known for their tasty homemade sausage and warm muffins. The Hermitage Plantation Inn started as a wooden West Indian house—believed to be the oldest wooden house in the Lesser Antilles—which the owners
developed into an inn. They replicated several West Indian cottages around the property using handmade fretwork, porches and verandas. On the porches are hammocks; in the rooms, mahogany beds. Hermitage offers its guests horseback riding on its own horse as
well as carriage rides in antique carriages.

The great house at Nisbet, once a planter’s home, is the perfect backdrop for beachfront setting and the lively beach restaurant Coconuts. A series of individual cottages line a long grass promenade that reaches down to the sea. Besides a wonderful beach, one of the prettiest on Nevis and a beach bar/restaurant and pool right by the water, you can just relax in one of the many hammocks that connect the
coconut trees along the beach.

Back in the hills, the Old Manor Hotel is built of stone and surrounded by bits and pieces of the sugar machinery. There are remnants of the old factory and beautiful examples of the
wonderful volcanic stone that is used throughout the island. The hotel offers 12 comfortable rooms and a large indoor dining room with a terraced dining area.

The Montpelier Plantation Inn and Beach Club offers a soft, quiet five-star experience in a beautiful hillside setting. Montpelier Plantation Inn is the quintessential British hotel in
the Caribbean mode though now owned by an American family. They serve afternoon tea daily as well as intimate prefix dinners in their elegantly transformed sugar mill. Their finedining restaurant is highly rated. Montpelier’s guest rooms are in cottages surrounded by beautiful gardens. A large outdoor mural decorates the hotel’s huge pool. This is the place where Princess Diana stayed when she visited Nevis. The inn has its own beach property for guests to use during the day as well as for weekly beach barbecues.

Staying in a plantation inn is truly a Nevisian experience not to be missed.