The Fairwinds Villla - TWO + weeks! How blessed we are to enjoy such experiences and to enjoy then with people who mean so much to each other - making memories.

Main entrance to Fairwinds driveway:

Fairwinds Villa pillar:

Driveway Up:

We exited the cars and stood in the driveway. Aside from the pool, the first thing I noticed was the large round-about in the driveway that was filled with exotic trees, plants, flowers and a few lizards. It is really large - maybe 12 feet or more in diameter. It looks like a secret garden if you peer inside…but I didn't dare venture in since I wasn't sure what was living in there.

Roundabout:

First view of Pool:

Pool:

We walked around to the pool entrance and noticed that the door was open and someone was inside. It was then that I realized that it was only about noon and we were EARLY! Whoops! I hadn't even thought of this before and had been so excited to arrive. We were greeted by the villa's caretakers, who were busy working on the villa to prepare it for our arrival. They seemed to be finishing up and things looked perfectly in order, but they were washing the exterior of the glass sliding doors. They were very friendly and welcoming - a married couple. After a friendly discussion, they went back to work while we explored the villa.

Pool entrance powder room:

Kitchen:

The villa is designed with two pavilions - one being the Master Retreat, which is HUGE. It could actually serve as its own house - but it doesn't have a kitchen. The Master Retreat (MR from here on) is very close to the main house - maybe about 10 paces from door to door…..so not a far walk if you want a cold drink in the middle of the night….but I do think a small fridge over there might be a nice touch to add. The MR is designed on two levels with the upper level being only a couple of feet higher than the lower level - so not a lot of steps to climb. There is a huge walk-in closet with a large mirror inside (this is more like a dressing room). There is a laundry room that is nice and has a window to the pool.

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Master Retreat Bed area:

Master Retreat Bed area with view of North Deck:

Master Retreat sitting area:

Then there's a bath area….not a room…but an entire area that is the bath area - very open. In the bath area there's a good sized water closet with the toilet inside and a window out to the ocean. There's a very large double vanity sink with lots of room for toiletries - and a large mirror over the whole thing. There is also at least one ceiling fan in this area - maybe more - I cannot recall exactly how many.

Ok, then there's the SHOWER - this was another jaw dropper when everyone saw it - It is hard to describe so I'll have to show you my pictures of it - it is a shower ROOM - enclosed in stone and glass - but open at the top so you do not feel closed in with the opening and the glass around and because it is so unbelievably huge (there's a good deal of stone work in this house - and indoor fichus trees) and also some kind of huge (maybe 10 feet high X 4 feet wide) curved Plexiglas window. Inside the shower-room are two shower heads - but there's really room for maybe 8 people to shower in there - SERIOUSLY! lol. There's also another window out to the ocean in the shower room. Also, in the bath area, there's a door that leads out to one of the decks - I would call it the MR North Deck because it is private to the MR, cannot be seen by the rest of the house, and faces North. From this deck, you can view West (you can see the tip of the Peterborg point from this deck), North (Hans Lollick) and East (BVIs, St John, cays).

Master Retreat Vanity Bath area:

Master Retreat Shower Room Exterior:

Master Retreat Shower Room view:

Master Retreat Water Closet:

Mom on deck of Master Retreat West Deck:

Master Bath full area view with door to North Deck facing Hans Lollick:

That was just the BATH area!

Just a couple steps down from the bath area is the sitting area and bedroom area - This room is very large and has ceiling fans and lots of sliding glass doors - I think there are 5 or 6 sliders in this area, plus lots of windows that all slide open. The sliders open on the MR North deck (described in the bath description) and what I will call the MR East Deck. There's a king bed (mom and dad said was comfy), a small table with two chairs in the bedroom area….and then the sitting area with a pull-out sofa and two other comfy chairs, coffee table and dresser with stereo system/CD player (and CDs offering various kinds of music). We did try to pull out the sleep-sofa one night when I was going out and mom and dad were going to babysit my daughter in their room, but we couldn't get it after many tries out and the metal looked pretty old and rusted- so I don't think anyone should plan on using this unless the owner replaces it.

Mom and dad reported that they would lie in bed each morning and watch the sun rise over the BVIs. The owner later told us that he tested the window size and position while lying in bed and designed windows so that the down-island sunrise view could be experienced from the pillow. It worked perfectly. There are also blinds in case you want to block out the sun for some extra sleep or if it is too bright. There are also sliders on this wall, which have vertical blinds on them for the same function. These sliders lead out to a large shaded deck. It is really one of the best decks for shade. You cannot view the BVI from this deck while sitting down because it has boulders and trees on the far East side, but it does offer a perfect North view of the ocean and Hand Lollick just across.

The kitchen was a delight - seriously. Anyone who has read my many "foodie" posts knows that I love to cook. I know that many of you stay as far away from the kitchen as you can on vacation. But, for me, it is therapeutic and relaxing. At one point, I owned a catering business that handled several Philadelphia museums, so I do alright in the kitchen. I can say that this villa was very well equipped - plenty of platters, Tupperware, seasonings, baking pans, new cookie trays, lots of fabulous non-stick fry and sauté pans (that really didn’t stick and allowed me to flip omlets). There is large sink as well as a wet-bar in the island area. There are TWO ovens, a stove (gas - hallelujah!) and a microwave - all looking new to me. I think the website description reads that there is a Jennair, but there is not. There used to be, but it was commercial grade and was too hot for the average user, so the owner has since replaced it. There is also a coffee maker, toaster oven (we used this for bagels each morning), a slushie maker!, a Cuisinart food processor, etc. There are outdoor tablecloths for the deck tables and plenty of placemats - plenty of flatware and stemware - and plastic wine and margarita glasses for poolside sipping - excellent.

There is also a Weber gas grill by the pool, which needed a little work since the flames were all on one corner, but the owner arrived on our final day with parts to replace the burners, so all should be well if he replaces the burners. We bought fresh fish from the Frenchtown fish market and salmon from Gourmet Gallery in Havensight. Leftover salmon was used on bagels with cream cheese, red onion and capers for breakfast - yummmm!

Across on the other side of the great room was a few steps up to the main foyer area (main door, which we never used since we used the pool entrance) and a spiral staircase to the upper level guest suite as well as the entrance to the main level guest suite. In the foyer was a sofa, a lamp and a book case with books about stargazing and cooking. Perfect! There was also a large etched glass window.

Staricase in large foyer:

There are two very large guest suites - one atop the spiral staircase and the other on the main level. Eash has its own large bath and its own balcony. There are celing fans and A/C in each room, plus a walk-in closet in each room. There are plenty of windows and two sets of sliding glass doors in each guest suite. Only problems I could find:

1. lightbulbs in bedside lamps were too bright - needed to be 3 ways with low level-light for people who want to read late at night or early in the am while someone else sleeps aside them. I tend to awaken at 4am and read til 6 or so. Lamps were too bright. Simply lightbulb changes will fix that.

2. Fans were missing pullchains and were stuck on slow. On nights when winds were non-existent, I had to use A/C because there was no way to create good air circulation. I would have been happy with a fast fan breeze, but couldn't create one without a chain to control speed.

Other than that, these rooms were perfect.

Upper Guest Suite - my home for two weeks since my daughter was delighted with the spiral staircase.......kids will be kids!

View from the bed of the upper guest suite and facing the doorway:

Next installment - waking up in this glorious place! The misty view of sunrise over St John, the BVIs and the cays......with pics. Green islands in blue water with gold sunrise accents - like jewels in a crown!