Jade Mountain

Jade Mountain

On our last evening, James and I decided to have dinner at Jade Mountain – a chic mountain-side hideaway with just 29 rooms.

Jade Mountain is an architect’s dream – literally. The owner (an architect) says he built Jade with none of the constraints that architects are usually given by clients – he was the client.  The result – an angular, industrial style that makes you feel like you are in an evil bond villain’s lair. Each room is reached via a concrete walkway, the entire structure, layered like a cake is held together with steel girders clad in stone. The tops of which have been made a colourful feature.  Every room has its own Jacuzzi and its own infinity pool – every single room also has an unadulterated view of the bay and the Piton mountains. They have three walls so the pool wall is open to the ocean.

A room at Jade Mountain

Our hotel was an hour’s drive away so we decided to take a water taxi. This was a thrilling 30 minute dash around the coast lit by moonlight alone. Our taxi driver had forgotten his lights (not sure he ever had any in the first place) so we felt like smugglers in the night – or perhaps MI5 agents going into a covert op. When we got to the cove, we were greeted by two Majordomos – (it was explained later that as opposed to a butler, a major domo is not supposed to simply cater for your every need but anticipate it).  We were driven up the hill to Jade where I swapped my flip flops for heels (getting in and out of a boat in heels is not easy!)

The walkways at Jade Mountain

The walkways that take us to the top layers are lit with fairy lights that give the whole structure an ethereal beauty. The restaurant is just below the roof terrace and has its own infinity pool and amazing views out to the mountains.  We ate in style, great wine list, all locally sourced produce, some expertly seared locally caught fish.

I wish we could have walked down our own private walkway to our open room looking out to sea but instead it was a quick drive back down the hill, on to our boat and out into the darkness from where we had come but a few hours before – which left me feeling whether or not it was really a bond-esque dream. The combination of excellent wine and all that fresh sea air had us sleeping like babies – until Tom woke us up the next morning at 4am!

That’s the end of our St Lucia adventure. Back to Blighty now and minus nine degrees brrrrrrrr