BARBADOS

IN BARBADOS, the respected British hotelier and developer Mike Pemberton is tending 5,000 palms in an inland nursery. Pemberton, fondly known as Mr P is dressed in the uniform of open-necked shirt and shorts beloved even of visiting stars, such as Simon Cowell who frequents Sandy Lane on the island's exclusive east coast. Mr P has just months to cultivate – or acquire – the 20,000 needed for the lush Clearwater Bay development of 36 Four Seasons villas and a resort and spa. After three decades on the island, and with the prestigious Glitter Bay and Royal Westmoreland projects behind him, Pemberton considers no detail too lowly in ensuring the transformation of the last, great site on the bewitching Platinum Coast.

Barbados has many island rivals for foreign currency, but few come close for prime property or attracting the global rich and famous who like to occupy it. Clearwater Bay will go some way to meeting a chronic undersupply of luxury villas for sale and rent, since developers discovered that healthy returns were to be had in condominiums priced for younger professionals. Demand for prime property shows no sign of abating despite the pressure of price rises of 20 per cent in a year. Sam Mahon, of Bajan Property Services, says: “Ninety per cent of this business comes from British buyers, or people exiled there for tax reasons: a lot of our bread is coming from the City. But Americans need the comfort of a brand like Four Seasons and we expect to see more of them now.”

The first phase of eight beachfront villas, priced from $16 million (£8 million) for 9,500 sq ft, has sold out. Trade is brisk on the second phase, priced from $10m and set on the first of three terraces being carved by Chinese contractors from the 32 acre coral-stone site. Smaller, but no less luxurious, villas and three final beachfront sites, will be on sale from Christmas – expect no change out of $5m for the former and $19m for the latter. Buyers will pay about $30,000 in annual service charges, to include the part-time attentions of a butler, gardener, chef and maid.

Savvy buyers can keep their villa in the rental pool, a first for Four Seasons. Prices should reach $7,000 a day – of which owners will take 60 per cent. Robin Patterson, Pemberton’s business partner and the former head of Hamptons estate agency, says buyers so far are content to entrust their homes to the upscale chain. They are perhaps taking their lead from Pemberton, whose Far East-inspired dream home is the template – and showhome – for the scheme. The Four Seasons residences will share with it open-air living spaces, under Balinese-style pavilions. Coconut wood pillars and coral-stone-rendered walls frame vast expanses of waxed merbau flooring (and, in Pemberton’s home, a collection of antique French glassware, furniture and linen). The been-here-forever landscaping will feature an infinity pool at its centre. Mahon says: “The Sandy Lane resort has a slightly better location but Four Seasons will set new standards of luxury finish on the island.”

Pemberton and Patterson have pocketed a reported £42 million with the recent sale of Park Place, near Henley-on-Thames, after a planning battle scuppered plans for a country club. But – rival property kings, take note – they are establishing a new club in St James’s, London, and are lining up large-scale Latin American sites. And the first properties have been sold on the sheer promise at their 253-residence Four Seasons scheme on the 544-acre Hog’s Island site in Grenada. The luxuriant island and neighbouring bay, which has defeated several developers before them, is a natural home for their brand of relaxed ultra-luxury. This is world domination, one palm at a time. www.cinnamon88.com, 020-7321 0880

For an expert guide to buying a holiday home abroad, go to: timesonline.co.uk/overseasproperty

To search for properties in Barbados on propertyfinder.com click here

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