Cobblers Cove, Barbados

The beach stretches up to the restaurant, an al fresco dining terrace where dinner is served accompanied by candlelight and the murmur of the sea. The cuisine? A fusion of local dishes and European classics, prepared by a team of award-winning French chefs and complemented by excellent wines. This is the Cobblers Cove Hotel in Barbados.

Beyond the terrace are the tropical gardens, laced through with 40 suites. Created by English interior designer Pru Lane-Fox, they comprise air conditioned bedrooms and fan-cooled sitting rooms, with balconies opening out onto extensive seascapes or garden panoramas. The Camelot and the Colleton suites even have their own, private plunge pools.

This is definitely tropical luxury…with a very civilised, English influence.

Which means, of course, that this Barbados hotel pampers its guests in luxurious beauty and body treatment rooms. There is a well-equipped gym, a tennis court, and the excitement of the Caribbean itself - Cobblers Cove offers complimentary water sports.

Or you may prefer to simply spend your time idly combing the beach, or lounging beside the pool; watching an orange world through closed eyelids, as the deep warmth of the Barbadian sun chases away every last memory of the English winter.