HARRISON FORD and Calista Flockhart were sipping cocktails in the beach bar of the hotel on St Lucia, he looking suitably gorgeous, she looking like a pencil with hair. When she disappeared to the ladies, Ford winked and handed me a card with his phone number on it. Actually I made that last bit up, but it could have happened if I had not just emerged from the sea, looking a fright with bedraggled hair.

Lots of celebs are thinking of buying a home there. It was the first place that the singer Charlotte Church looked at when she took control of her multimillion fortune. She is still thinking about it, but Lord Glenconner has one already and the actor John Malkovich has his eye on a secluded villa on the island. Buying a Caribbean bolt-hole is not new for Brits. They have been here since between the wars, Anthony Eden on Barbados, Ian Fleming and Noël Coward in Jamaica, and more recently Mick Jagger and Lord Lichfield on Mustique. All were attracted by the climate, the islands’ distinct characters, the food and the people. St Lucia itself is dotted with “pitons”, essentially volcanic mountains.

The downside for the not-so-rich has been that celebrities have pushed prices skywards on certain islands, so homebuyers are having to explore elsewhere. St Lucia is not exactly a bargain but homes there cost just over half what you would expect to pay on Barbados, for instance.

The Foreign Office says that there are 17,907 Britons now living in the Caribbean and more are being tempted to buy there every year, lured by the weakness of the US dollar. One of the latest developments is at Calabash Cove, on the island’s north coast, where Premier Resorts is building 23 Bali-style cottages nestling among the flamboyant trees and with views of the beach. The cottages, made of teak and mahogany, have ornate fretwork to let in the breeze, a spacious bathroom with sunken bath and air-conditioned bedrooms with muslin-draped beds.

There are outdoor power showers, a plasma TV, and a hammock and rocking chair on the broad deck, and there will be a restaurant and discreet leisure complex with horizon pool. “We think the cottages will appeal mainly to wealthy empty-nesters or double-income couples without children,” Graeme Grant, Premier Resort’s genial boss, says. Just as well, really, since no one under 18 can stay there. “We wanted to emphasise the aspect of peace,” Grant says. The cottages are being sold under a fractional ownership scheme, with five-week lots going for just over £60,000. Grant rejects suggestions that fractional ownership is just timeshare under another name, because buyers will have their property rights to the land recorded with the land registry. “Americans are perfectly happy with fractional ownership. They have been using it for years to buy planes, yachts and property. Some Americans buy into four fractional ownership deals — a ski resort, a log cabin, somewhere hot and so on — then spend their year in four places instead of just one.”

The British, however, being rather neurotic about leasehold, might be happier with Premier’s other £68 million development on St Lucia, the adventurous project at The Landings, in a 19-acre plot also on the north coast. Here there will be 228 flats and penthouses, built overlooking the beach or marina, so all have water views. Properties there start at £240,000 for a one-bedroom apartment, rising to £640,000 for a three-bed penthouse with its own plunge pool.

Russell Grainger, chairman of Music Zone, a CD retailing company, and his wife, Jane, were so impressed with the island when they visited last month that they splashed out on a four-bedroom villa at Marigot Bay and a flat at The Landings for themselves and their young family. “We had been looking to buy in the Caribbean for a while and looked at Antigua and Barbados first, but they were not such good value. What impressed us about St Lucia was that it was so lush and tropical with lovely beaches and lots to do, not just watersports. You can hike into the interior to see waterfalls and go mountain biking. We also like the food. We have eaten all over the Caribbean, but the choice and quality of meals on St Lucia is the best we’ve found.”

At The Landings the Graingers have chosen a beachfront penthouse, which they are considering renting out, but which will probably be used by family members as well.

Encouragingly, most of the people behind The Landings, including Frank Heaps, the Canadian who initiated the project, are buying places on the island for themselves. If I had a quarter of a million quid about my person, as Harrison Ford probably has, then I might just be tempted.

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