Spring Hotel

On Sundays Mac and I often went with my parents for lunch at Spring Hotel, a lovely old Inn located on the east side of the Island.  For the adults the draw was the delicious curry lunch and a chance to socialize, for Vanessa and Rachel it was the swimming pool located below the restaurant.  For children brought up surrounded by the sea, a fresh-water pool was an exotic treat and Spring Hotel had the only pool on the Island. Their friend Sheridan was another attraction, they usually played with her before lunch at her family’s house behind the hotel.

Spring Hotel was built on a plantation established by British settlers in the 1800’s and the ruins of the stone sugar mill are still there. The sugar cane no longer exists, fruit and vegetables are grown instead.  Set amidst tall coconut trees and colorful bougainvillea the Hotel was a peaceful retreat, and I always loved going there, especially for the curry lunch.

Candace Leslie from America and her Bequian husband Roosevelt (Rosie) Leslie ran the hotel back then, and together they made the Sunday Curry Lunch a special event. The guests gathered around the bar and chatted while the buffet table was prepared, and the aromas coming from the kitchen would have me salivating well before it was time to eat.

The stone dining room was cool and gracious, a welcome respite from the heat of the sun.  The large tables would be set with care and adorned with tropical blossoms from the hotel’s garden. I loved the large cushioned chairs set around tables near the bar, we would sit in comfort with cold drinks and greet the other guests as they arrived.  We usually knew most of the patrons, they were ex-pats with homes on the Island or people who visited Bequia every year. It was all very colonial and civilized, a bit old-fashioned but I enjoyed it.

The food at those Sunday lunches was always fabulous and inventive – Candy had a flair for using local ingredients to enhance the side dishes and titillate the taste buds!  The local beef was curried and cooked to perfection, not always an easy task on Bequia, and the vegetables, grown on the hotel’s plantation, were delicious and fresh.  I always had the lime pie for dessert, it was like a tart lime sorbet topped with toasted coconut, a perfect way to end the meal.

After lunch we would venture down winding stone steps to the Hotel’s swimming pool, where Vanessa and Rachel would play happily with other children for the rest of the afternoon while the adults lazed on lounge chairs. One day a cow from the plantation wandered onto the pool deck, where it managed to slip and fall into the pool!  The poor animal floundered and panicked, it took quite a bit of time, commotion and effort to rescue it.  For weeks after-wards the children talked about swimming with a cow at Spring Curry Lunch, it had definitely been the highlight of their day.