Located close to the island’s secluded and ruggedly scenic east coast, Bayleys has 15 bedrooms: five in the main house, four in a single-storey block in the grounds and six in the coach house, which also houses the recording studio.

Getting the latter up and running meant removing the trees that had grown straight through the roof, then raising the floor, creating a second storey and stripping layers of plaster from the walls to reveal the original stone.

The changes created the perfect acoustic environment. Elvis Costello, Dave Stewart, Julio Iglesias and the Happy Mondays all recorded there. Memories of the day that Sting arrived unannounced at the garden gate bring a fond smile. Fresh from disbanding the Police, he had flown in to check out the studio for his debut solo album in 1984, The Dream of the Blue Turtles.

“Sting walked into the studio, clicked his fingers a few times, said ‘Great vibe, great vibe’, ran outside, jumped in the swimming pool fully clothed, then went straight back to the plane wet,” Grant chuckles.

The back of the album cover shows the singer leaping around on Grant’s terrace, a distinctive mahogany tree in the background. It has been known on the estate ever since as “Sting’s Tree”.

Topping the list of visitors towards the end of the 1980s were the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards christened one of the rooms in the studio block the Voodoo Lounge — a name that was to grace one of their albums years later.

Overhauling Bayleys took “millions” and an initial task force of 60 men. Grant flew over the foreman who had overseen construction at his previous home in Islington, north London, along with a cabinet-maker who spent the next three years doing all the woodwork.

Other tasks included laying a new terrace using marble sent from Italy, clearing acres of overgrown land and rebuilding the gardens with hundreds of tons of earth.

Pink and white bougainvillea bushes now grace the grounds, which include a tennis court, and there is an orchard that Grant planted from scratch, with mango, pomegranate, cherry, avocado, and a fruit from Costa Rica that “looks like Marmite and tastes like ice cream”.

Inside the main house, stately chandeliers drip from the ceilings and the parquet floors gleam with polished greenheart and purple-heart wood shipped from Guyana.

In the corridors stand trophies commemorating Grant’s 40 years of musical achievements, which began when he formed the Equals in 1965, with whom he scored his first No 1 hit, Baby Come Back.

“I have arrived at a time in my life when I have done what I consider is the best that I can do for this place,” Grant says, stressing that he wants Bayleys to pass into responsible hands that will continue to preserve its history.

The £19m price tag has raised eyebrows on Barbados, where an old plantation estate of that size might usually fetch half the amount. Porters Great House, a plantation home on the west coast, just north of Holetown, was on the market for about four years at £3.5m before it sold last year.

Built in 1735 and latterly owned by brewery heir Murtogh Guinness, it needed work and is smaller than Bayleys, with six bedrooms and set on 23 acres — but, unlike Bayleys, it is right on the sea.

Grant and his agents, Island Villas, argue that there is more to Bayleys, however, than bricks and mortar. Lynn Hambrick of Altman Real Estate, another agent on the island, agrees: “It may sound a lot, but then you can’t put a value on that kind of history.”

Grant laments the fact that the government of Barbados has failed to snap up the property and take it in hand as a national treasure.

“I’ll be sad to leave, but it’s like my relationship with art,” he adds. “Years ago, I wanted to collect art; today, I realise that it’s better to see art. You don’t have to own it to appreciate it.”

Bayley’s Plantation is for sale through Savills (020 7016 3740, www.savills.co.uk) and Island Villas (00 1 246 432 4627, www.island-villas.com)

ON THE MARKET

An eight-bedroom villa, on the Royal Westmoreland Golf Resort, Nicoli comes with a pool and tropical gardens. For sale with Island Villas (00 1 246 432 4627, www.barbados.org) for £3.3m

Warawee in Gibbes, on the northwest coast, is a two-bedroom house with a self-contained one-bedroom cottage and plunge pool, for £816,000 with Hamptons, 020 7244 4740, www.hamptons.co.uk

A three-bedroom flat with a sea view, in the Terraces in Christ Church. For sale for £237,000, to be completed in autumn 2006. Waterside Properties, 02392 777 073, www.watersideproperties.co.uk

One of 36 in Clermont Green near St James, a two-bedroom town house is on the market for £116,000. It comes with use of communal pool and gardens. Savills, 020 77016 3744, www.savills.co.uk

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