From a vantage point overlooking Blue Harbour’s half-moon cove, our vacation villas command an incredible view of the Caribbean, the Blue Mountains, Cabarita Island and Port Maria Bay. With its lush scenery and cool sea breezes, Blue Harbour Villas Inn is an ideal destination for vacations, family reunions, weddings and honeymoons.
Visitors will find an endless array of activities. Explore nearby attractions like Ocho Rios, James Bond Beach and Dunn’s River Falls. Or indulge in shopping, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, deep sea fishing, boating excursions, hiking eco-tourism and Jamaican nightlife.
Blue Harbour Villas Inn is available to rent by the villa (Grande, Chica, Rosa and the newest addition or the entire estate. All food, beverages, transportation needs and daily maid service are provided or can be arranged. www.blueharb.com
Blue Harbour Villas can accommodate from 2 to 20 guests.
Villa Grande is the hub of the property and the largest of the three villas with two top-level bedrooms and large verandas with sweeping views in all directions. IsBlue Harbour Villa Grande equipped with two bathrooms, kitchen, pantry, living and dining area including media room and Noel Coward library.
Villa Chica is a 1 bedroom secluded villa closer to the sea and pool. It has its own walk-in closet and bath.
Villa Rose is located directly south of Villa Grande, it offers 3 rooms. 2 share an extra large bath while the other room (Noel's studio) uses the common bath in Grande or the bamboo bath outside Rosa.
Many of Noel Coward's original furnishings are still incorporated in the decor of the villas. Each room opens to one of the large verandas with sweeping views of the coastline and the cooling air of the trade winds.
The entire estate fully staffed with its three villas and amenities is available for rental to one party at a time or by the individual villa. We can accommodate singles, couples and groups up to 14 comfortably with privacy. We have accommodated slightly larger groups for weddings, reunions and retreats.
Blue Harbour offers the services of a staff chef who specializes in Jamaican and Caribbean cuisine. The meals consist of plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as fresh seafood, poultry and meats. All of the food is locally produced and is mostly organic. We can also prepare American and European style cuisine as well as vegetarian, vegan and anything else the guest’s request.
Jamaican and Caribbean cuisine
We serve three full, healthy meals a day and can alter the menu to whatever the guests desire, the scrumptious dining on our outdoor verandas with their sweeping views has become a favorite part of the Jamaican vacation experience.
Villa Grande is the main house where most of the activity occurs. It is a two story grand structure. It houses the kitchen, a bathroom, dining area, living room, pantry and eating veranda on one level and 2 rooms.Villa Grande
Villa Grande has a large veranda that offers scenic outdoor dining and lounging and an indoor dining/lounging area with television, VCR, and plenty of books to choose from in the Noel Coward library.
The top level consists of 2 bedrooms with two beds each. The first room has two double beds, a walk-in closet. The second room includes Noel Coward's original furnishings of his four-poster pineapple bed and sleigh bed.
Villa Chica is more secluded and is a large single bedroom villa with two double beds, walk in closet, full bathroom and a large veranda. FrenchVilla Chica windows open to the veranda with its hammock and lounging chairs offering a full view of the coast and the Blue Mountains. Villa Chica is furnished in a vintage art deco style and was a favorite of actresses Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn and Patricia Neal and is a perfect romantic getaway.
Villa Rosa is a large family style villa with four bedrooms, with a large full bathroom and an adjoining bathhouse.
Two of the bedrooms are extra large with three beds in each and there is a small adjoining bedroom with two single beds and an attached studio bedroom with a double bed. There is a large veranda with a hammock and lounging chairs and a sweeping view of the sea. Villa Rose is situated close to the pool and the beach.
Noel Coward
Noel Coward, the multi-talented British playwright, actor, songwriter raconteur, first visited Jamaica in 1944 on a two week holiday. The and peace of mind he found in Jamaica caused him to refer to it as his "dream island" and he vowed to return one day. Four years later he rented fellow author IanNoel Coward enjoying the pool at his Blue Harbour Villa residence. Fleming's estate, Goldeneye (as in the recent 007 movie by the same name), located on the north shore of Jamaica in St. Mary's province. During a six-week stay at Goldeneye he became even more taken with the island and he combed the immediate area determined to acquire an estate of his own.
His search for a suitable property kept leading Coward to a place he called "a magical spot" ten miles down the coast from Fleming. It was situated on a slope that lead to a rocky beach and commanded an incredible view of the sea, the Blue Mountains, Cabarita Island and the nearby fishing and marketing town of Port Maria. The property, marked by a small "For Sale" sign was allegedly prone to landslides. Upon further investigation, it was found to have a solid rock foundation, perfectly suitable for building. Coward purchased the eight acres, tucked around a cove in the shape of a half-moon, for a song. With his architect Scovell he began planning the construction of his Jamaican retreat, which he dubbed "Coward's Folly". The building schedule was set and he left the island.
Upon his return to Jamaica a year later a two story villa and two guest cottages had been constructed and much of the landscaping had been completed. Inspired by the view of the surrounding Caribbean, Coward named his sanctuary "Blue Harbour".
Coward settled into his new Jamaican house and sent invitations to all his friends. He had a swimming pool built at the edge of the sea into which fresh saltwater could be pumped and then drained. Almond trees and coconut palms provided abundant shade from the noonday sun.
By the early 1950's Blue Harbour was in full swing, staffed by a cook, a chambermaid, several gardeners and a chauffeur. Coward began to play host to a wide spectrum of noted artists, actors, celebrities, socialites and dignitaries. The guest list included Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, David Niven, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontane, Errol Flynn, Alec Guiness, Marlene Dietrick, Katherine Hepburn, Mary Martin, John Gielgud, Claudette Colbert, and Patricia Neal to name a few. They flocked to Blue Harbour and Coward's gregarious personality, some for the day and some for the month as house guests. Jamaica was the place to be and Blue Harbour was an obligatory stop on the North Coast cocktail circuit.
Swarmed by visitors and feeling an urgent need for privacy, Coward began to seek out a retreat away from his retreat. With much foresight he had already purchased another beautiful tract of land called "Lookout", located on a lush hillside one thousand feet above Blue Harbour. Lookout had belonged to Sir Henry Morgan, the infamous buccaneer and first governor of Jamaica. Morgan had constructed a small fortress-like house from which he could spy on any stray galleon that deviated from the main sea route which looped south from Cuba, ninety miles away. He considered the Bay of Port Maria his private domain and seized any ship that wandered into his waters. Noel Coward and Sean Connery during the filming of Goldeney at the Blue Harbour Villa.
In 1956, Coward renamed Lookout "Firefly" after the peenywallys or lightning bugs that would congregate and illuminate the night sky. On the grounds, he designed and built a new house geared to suit the needs of one person: himself. He would now divide his time between the bustling social life at Blue Harbour and the peaceful solitude of Firefly, where he would write and paint and enjoy his "room with a view".
In the 1960's Jamaica was booming as the jet set turned into it's existence. Fleming's international spy-thrillers had gained popularity and film crew arrived at Goldeneye to shoot "Dr. No" with an unknown actor named Sean Connery. Fleming took the name of his hero, James Bond, from the author of a classic ornithological tome called "Birds of the West Indies".
Coward has achieved further success performing on American TV and doing his cabaret act in Las Vegas, where he was championed by Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank Sinatra. In 1965 Elizabeth the Queen Mother visited Blue Harbour and Firefly, where she had a lobster mousse for lunch. Winston Churchill paid his respects several times to Coward and was quoted as saying, "An Englishman has an inalienable right to live wherever he chooses".
After all those delightful years in Jamaica, Noel Coward died there on March 26, 1973 and was buried at his beloved Firefly. His grave overlooks Blue Harbour and his memory lives on.