Review: Cobblers Cove

Alan and Lady Elizabeth Godsal were ahead of their time. When the couple purchased a mansion on the Caribbean coast in 1968 with the intent to turn it into a hotel, little did they know that the property’s color of choice would become today’s hottest shade. Now overseen by their son Hugh and his wife Sam, Cobblers Cove is filled with millennial-pink accents, from the retro, candy-cane-striped pool umbrellas to the '40s-style main building dubbed The Great House, where afternoon tea is served. There’s nothing ostentatious about the set-up, located on a skinny stretch of platinum beach (although sadly this part of the ocean is choppy, making it challenging to go for a swim). With 40 bedrooms, the place is not especially large—two-story cottages flank The Great House in a wide U-shape facing the sea—but it is dressed delightfully like a tropical country club. Little kitchenettes stocked with Barbadian chocolate, plantain chips, and beer are cheery with pastel patterns, channelling a vintage vibe thanks to plenty of original '70s island-made rattan furniture. And the hotel’s refreshed look, with fabrics designed to mimic the fronds and ferns in the lush gardens outside, is the culmination of a five-year update led by interiors expert Lulu Lytle of Soane Britain. In a world where people no longer dress up for dinner, guests here still throw on silk and pearls for lemon blinis and mahi-mahi caught by devoted fisherman Dennis ‘Barker’ Bovell—a fixture for the past four decades. If it’s not already clear, the ethos is low-key grace, hinged on quality that comes from supporting everything that’s local. Despite the many turbo-charged properties that dot this sweep of shore, Cobblers Cove remains cosy, family-owned and downright lovely. —Kat Odell