Movie idol Errol Flynn fell in love with the Caribbean, as have latter-day celebrities Mick Jagger and Jane Seymour.
Now, Flynn's former home there is on the market. Anna Tyzack reports on the lure of the old plantations.
The best kept secret in Jamaica
Legend has it that Errol Flynn let a crocodile loose in the streets of Port Antonio,Jamaica. "I wouldn't be surprised," says his widow,actress Patrice Wymore Flynn. He definitely did not, however, drive his Cadillac into the swimming pool without extinguishing his cigar -another legend still circulating the Caribbean island. "He didn't smoke cigars, or have a Cadillac," she says.
Flynn first set eyes on Port Antonio in 1946, when his yacht was washed ashore on the North Coast of
Jamaica. He declared the surroundings more beautiful than any woman he'd ever seen, and after marrying Patrice in 1950 (they met while filming Rocky Mountain),bought a cattle ranch and coconut plantation on the edge of the town.Unfortunately their life together in Jamaica was cut short - Flynn died in 1959 - but little has changed in Port Antonio since then, with the exclusive Errol Flynn Marina the only major development.
"It's the best kept secret in Jamaica." says Patrice. "There's no development - it's very countrified,without glitzy shopping centres." Her decision to sell the 1,600-acre plantation has thus created a unique opportunity for a private buyer seeking beach front seclusion, or a developer looking to create an eco or agriculture-based resort.
Patrice was equally bowled over by Port Antonio's untouched beauty when she arrived in Jamaica. "It was my first experience in the tropics,"she says. "I thought I'd been taken to the end of the world. We decided to make this our long-term home, but unfortunately time riot out for Errol"
At first they lived on a yacht in the port, then Flynn bought the ranch in the foothills of the Blue Mountains."It's beautiful. It starts at sea level
and goes up to 1.200 ft with some undulating hills and some steep ones," she says. "It's a very diversified piece of land, with three miles of ocean frontage. You always have a wonderful view, wherever you are - and there are no snakes, no bugs and no predatory creepy crawlies. If there were snakes I wouldn't be here."
The estate is priced at $50 million Buyer interest will be focused on the land rather than Flynn's five-bedroom house and separate guest house, says Ken Zelda from
Newmark Knight Frank Capital Group, who is handling the sale.Patrice adds, "Errol started building the house as a surprise for me - I had nothing to do with the design.It's a 1950s California ranch house,which wasn't Errors taste.
"I often wonder if he and the architect didn't go and get drunk together." she says. "All the things that make a house work were forgotten about - there's no laundry or functional parts. But I'm correcting that now, and putting on a separate dining room. It looks out over a splendid view. People always find it quite breathtaking."
WHY BUY IN THE CARIBBEAN?
- Plenty of direct flights from the UK to the largest islands
- Competitively priced properties
- Attractive tax regimes in place on many of the islands
- Capital appreciation and rental returns on quality property in prime areas
- Laid-back tropical lifestyle
- Good beaches, water sports, flora and fauna etc.
- English is widely spoken
- Developing Infrastructure
Errol loved entertaining on the estate: "He had a wonderful talent for saying at 10am, 'Darling, we've got 20people coming for lunch'", says Patrice. "There were no
supermarkets in those days, but someone would always bring over a suckling pig, and someone else some fish..." Among the guests would be film directors Cedric Gibbons and Cubby Broccoli, and Noel Coward.Patrice would play the grand piano,and there would be singing and dancing. "Errol loved music, but he couldn't play the piano or carry a tune vocally," she says.
Errol Flynn saw Jamaica as an escape from the intensity of making films, and he spent his days riding on the plantation with Patrice (she still keeps 12 horses), scuba driving and rafting. "There's an incredible trip rafting on Rio Grande - you can go down the river and shoot the rapids,"explains Patrice. "You feel like you're in the Amazon." And of course there
was the ranch and plantation to run.
"I think in retrospect Jamaica reminded Errol of his early years in New Guinea as manager of a tobacco farm," says Patrice. "He liked seeing it, but having it done by someone else. He was no horticulturist." After his death, Patrice took over the ranch,which she is still running aged 81,having picked up several awards for fanning. "It's a lot of hard work - we work 10 or 12 hour days. Everyone thinks I'm enjoying living in the lap of luxury but I'm not," she says. "I thought making movies was hard work but this definitely tops it"
The estate, which she describes as"small for Texas, big for Jamaica",has 1,500 cattle, but the coconut trees have been destroyed by disease. "I lost over 40,000 trees." says Patrice.
The Jamaican workers are wonderful,friendly and helpful, she says, and the area is slowly becoming more cosmopolitan. "Last week I had a meal cooked by two Rastafarians - it
was a non-toxic lunch. Everything was natural and organic. And then I had a Japanese dinner with sushi and sashimi. It used to be all
suckling pig and boiled green
bananas - good, but not a steady diet," she says.
Port Antonio was an important point of shipment for bananas when the Flynns first arrived. "There was a350-room hotel fully occupied throughout the year. People would come in on banana boats and stay a month before heading back to
England and North America. But the banana industry is not what it used to be," Patrice says.
The Errol Flynn Marina has brought new life to Port Antonio, with32 fixed dockage berths and top-class yachting facilities within a protected harbour. "The port authority has done an amazing job - it's spectacular. It was always within our scope to do something like this," says Patrice. But there is still much to be done to Port Antonio, described by one developer as "old and dilapidated". Plans for a new airport are afoot, which will cut out the two-hour drive from Kingston.
"The Jamaican government is targeting Port Antonio because it hasn't been built up like other areas,"says Kea Zaklin. "And everyone involved is keen to see the land used in an aesthetic and sensible way,making use of the natural features".
Case History
Derek Bishton from London bought a seafront villa in Montego Bay on a quarter-acre plot three years ago. it cost him considerably less than a One-bedroom flat In central London, although it took him a while to find it: "You can spend a lot of time looking for a property like this simply.because of the scarcity". It was built in the 1930s as a beach house on the Lyle sugar estate,and Derek and his wife have transformed It it to an elegant second home for upto 12 people, with pool This season he will begin letting it out on a weekly basis for $2,000per week (December-May) and $1,800 (June-November), "I anticipate rental return will be good because Jamaica Is extremely popular with North Americans and there is a huge demand for properties that aren't on large developments". Derek has found it easy to run the property from the UK: "There is a tradition of absentee landlords out there, and everyone in Jamaica has a mobile phone, so staff are easy to contact" www.beachhousejamaica.com
Montego Bay, three hours' drive along the coast from Port Antonio, is already experiencing a property boom thanks to a new airport and highway.
Properties in The Palmyra, an unfinished five-star development on the 17th century Rose Hall plantation,have doubled in price since this time two years ago. It is located next to the Ritz-Carlton, on 16 acres of
waterfront land, and properties will feature ocean views, a private butler service and high speed internee It is one of Jamaica's first luxury apartment/ villa developments and there are plans for several more in the area.
"There's so much demand —Jamaica's property scene is exploding," says Ragni Trotter from the Resort Properties Group,developer of The Palmyra. "The authorities out here are really getting their act together — our airport is the nicest in the Caribbean, with 300 flights a week?
According to Trotter, Jamaica's appeal is its contrast to other Caribbean islands. "It's totally different. 1 was stunned when I saw the Blue Mountains — they're huge.It's very hilly and green but there are also beautiful beaches." The Palmyra will feature the Caribbeans largest spa, as well as access to three golf courses.
Demand for traditional plantation houses, surrounded by their own land, is also increasing, not only in Jamaica but in St Baits, St Kitts and Barbados. "Plantation houses have historic appeal and are perfect for anyone wanting privacy — particularly if they're high-profile," says Lisa Winning from Quintessentially Estates. The British aristocracy have been buying Caribbean properties for years. and more recently Mick Jagger,Ralph Lauren and Jane Seymour have all enjoyed the "grand style" of Caribbean living. "If you want to entertain, these houses are perfect as they come with staff, and staff quarters and they're not as expensive as key areas of the South of France,"says Winning.
Quintessentially has around 30plantation properties on its books,although most of them aren't on the open market. "They retain their value much better than properties in developments as there is always less supply," says Winning "And with the pound being so strong against the dollar, they are a bargain at
the moment."
Plantation properties with around six axes will cost up to £15 million,and running costs are around £50,000per year. A five-bedroom house, with high ceilings and large reception rooms and three acres of lawned gardens on Barbados is for sale for £2,938,928 www.quintessentiallyestates.com. It includes a large terrace with gazebo for dinner parties and a pool surrounded by rocks and tropical vegetation. There is a separate cottage with balcony views across the Sandy Lane golf course.
Patrice Wyndham Flynn hopes the buyer of her estate will not forget its origins as a ranch and plantation_ "It would be suitable for a destination
development around agriculture —still maintaining that colonial feeling of living around a plantation,"
she says.
The property possesses all the privacy and seclusion of Old Jamaica that first drew Errol Flynn to the island. "Port Antonio is really unique
and Flynn's estate is renowned in the area," says Zakin. "It's a logical place for a luxurious, eco-friendly resort — and there's a perfect space for a golf course."
"It should he used like Errol and 1used it — for rest and relaxation," says
Patrice. It's very relaxed, very informal— and there's lots of rune"
The Errol Flynn estate Is for sale through Newmark Knight Frank Capital Group (00 212372 2062).
Caribbean Hideaways
St. Lucia - £2,450,000
A six-bedroom house with 4.5 acres on the golf course of the Cap Estate, Inspired by the designs of Oliver Messel. The house gives 360-degree panoramic views over St Lucia's hilly countryside. In the landscaped tropical gardens is apool, guest house, staff quarters. Savills: 0207 016 3740
Barbados - £3,567,630
Hill View, an estate and vineyard on the cliffs in St. Philip, comprising 53.5 acres of rolling countryside, with panoramic sea views and cooling breezes.
Vineyard. stables and three-bedroom house. Knight Frank: 0207 8611060
Barbados - £2million
Golden Eye, a five-bedroom furnished house in St. James with three-quarters of an acre and a large pool, near Sugar Hill & Royal Westmoreland, with
fantastic sea views. Open-plan accommodation on the ground floor, with an equipped kitchen and formal dining room,
Savills: 0207 016 3740
Jamaica - £230,000+
Lock-up-and-leave properties in the Palmyra development on the Rose Hall plantation will cost from £230,000 to £2 million. World-class leisure
facilities are to include access to three golf courses and the Caribbeans biggest spa.
00 1 876 953 9787;
