The four beautiful and well appointed self-contained cottages stand on a cool and breezy hillside overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the sea channel that separates Dominica from the French islands to the north. Trade Winds, all the way from Africa, loll you restfully in your hammock. From your porch and private plunge pool you look across to the French island of Mariegalante. The lights of its houses twinkle across to you beneath the stars as the sun sets over the deep green Dominican mountains to the west. To your back rises the tallest mountain on the island, Morne Diablotin, 4747 feet high, where you can hike in the Syndicate Parrot Preserve or clamber to its summit through three different vegetation zones.

 

Nearer to your holiday retreat are the hillside farms of neighbourhood villagers overflowing with a profusion of tropical crops: bananas, plantains, limes, grapefruit, oranges, breadfruit and sour sops. There is the scent of West Indian bay leaves, nutmegs and cinnamon among the grapelike vines of passion fruit and the heart-shaped leaves of the staple root crops of dasheen and tannia. Down on the seashore below you waves crash against volcanic rocks and swish among sheltered pools while gentler wavelets spread across the light grey volcanic sand in the cove near the village of Thibaud.

The magical site of Comfort Cottages is on part of your host’s old family coconut plantation that once also produced sugar, cocoa and lime juice. The early British settlers named it Blenheim after the estate of the Dukes of Marlborough which surrounds the splendid Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire in England. Back in the 18th century the plantation was covered in sugar cane and not far away you can stroll among the ruins of the rusting machinery in the factory, the rollers that crushed the canes and the large wheel powered by water from the Blenheim River which flows through the property.

 

Your cottage is conveniently located along the north east coast of Dominica with sites to explore in all directions. Over the hills to the west is the second town of Portsmouth, a seaport frequented by yachts, where you can go up the Indian River, explore the historic 18th century Cabrits Garrison lost in the forested national park, scuba dive or snorkel in the marine reserve, walk through the rainforest at Syndicate in the Morne Diablotin National Park and return via the Northern Link Road which curls through a volcanic crater with bubbling mineral springs and spectacular vistas at every turn.

On another day you may choose to go east along the coast, stopping off at beaches such as Batibou or Hampstead Number One, where part of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. Up the Hampstead River, behind the village of Bense, you can swim in the unusual Chaudiere Pool where a powerful cascade swirls into a large deep basin carved by nature out of solid rock. Continue onwards along the coast to Calibishie and Pointe Baptiste Beach and further to Woodford Hill bay where you can swim off the best coral sand beach on the island. Beyond that you can make a day adventure as far as the Carib Territory with its cultural village at the Kalinago Barana Auté and onwards down the east coast for an island tour.

Or you may just wish to stay put and enjoy the peace and beauty that surrounds you at Comfort Cottages. Lie back in your own pool, swing gently in your hammock, wander through the luxuriant garden and the surrounding plantation, sip a cocktail at the bar, tap at you lap top, try an exotic dish, a fish perhaps bought that morning in a village along the way. Here there are endless natural options. The nature island surrounds you with its many gifts of rivers, beaches, forests, mountain peaks and spectacular views. Here, from the comfort of your cottage, the choice is yours.