Islands have held a fascination for Michael Rasmussen ever since he read Treasure Island as a young boy.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, the Aboyne-based architect grew up in Hong Kong in the 1960s where his late father, originally from Banff and Aberdeen, was an executive with Shell.
“Hong Kong was an idyllic and exotic place to spend my teenage years,” he said.
In Autumn 2006, Michael suggested to his wife Kathleen that they might invest a legacy in a holiday home.
Initially, their search began quite close to home at a fisherman’s cottage 20 miles south of Aberdeen.
Michael, 66, said: “The sky-high property prices of oil-rich Aberdeen ruled this out”.
“The Orkney island of North Ronaldsay was next, but this was ruled out as too cold, too stormy and too difficult to get to, but had attractions as we had relatives in Kirkwall.
“Next was the Spanish island of Tenerife and the village of Los Gigantes. This was a contender but it was ruled out as there was too much property for sale, confirmed by the recent collapse of the Spanish housing market.”
It wasn’t until a holiday to Grenada in the West Indies that the Rasmussens finally found a potential location.
Michael said: “In December 2006, we rented out a friend’s villa at Lance-Aux-Epines, St George’s, Grenada, West Indies, and even the address was romantic.
“I rose at dawn on my first day and could not believe the view. Every morning of our three-week stay, my wife and I walked to a rocky outcrop to watch the sun rise. I fell in love with Grenada and its people as the scenery reminded me of my childhood.”
The family then decided to try and find their own dream villa on the island and spent the next three weeks searching for the right site or home.
“This was immediately post hurricanes Ivan and Catarina but nothing we saw was suitable,” Michael said.
“We were looking for a site with an ocean front and great views in a prime location with privacy and good access.”
Michael said “desperation was setting in”, and with only four days left of their holiday, they had still not found anything suitable.
“Then on one morning walk, I noticed a tiny hand-painted sign – Lot for sale – and a phone number. It was not ocean front but it was in a good area.
“‘It would do at a pinch’ I told Kathleen. I called the number and to cut a long story short, the lot was the exact same ocean front place we walked to every morning to watch the sunrise – kismet or what?”
“We did the deal on a handshake and flew home just before Christmas 2006, the proud owners of half an acre of Grenada. Happiness.”
Next, Michael and his family set about hiring a lawyer to arrange their residency papers and interviewed local architects to act as project manager.
“This was essential as I run a busy practice in the UK and would not be able to visit more than twice during construction,” he said.
“Lennox Archibald, of Solid Designs, was appointed and came well recommended and qualified.
“Friends in the UK and Grenada said that work rate would be slow and costs would rocket out of control if I was not there full time, but I disagreed.
“Architecture is my business and the secret is do your homework and appoint the right team. Even if I had been there full time, I would still have employed a local Grenadian as he has the contacts and local knowledge to fix things.”
Having got everything in order, Michael could then move on to the design of the house – which he said he wanted “to be right”.
The design inspiration were the West African villages of his early childhood. Inside, he wanted three good-sized bedrooms all with ocean views and en suite facilities, a Caribbean Great Room containing sitting and dining areas, a kitchen with high ceiling, ocean and garden views and direct access to the pool.
The house would also have a moon tower to watch the sun rise and set and the moon out over the ocean, a swimming pool and deck and sunbathing area, a tropical garden and secure off-street parking.
While Michael has had ample experience building houses in the UK, this was his first in the Caribbean, which came with its own set of challenges – including building a home that would work with the climate.
“I dislike air-conditioning, so I used the north-east trade-winds to cool the house,” he said.
“All east-facing Caribbean islands enjoy this breeze, but it can be intrusive above two miles per hour and with it comes salt spray and high humidity.
“This was the most difficult part of my learning curve to master and it required carefully selecting suitable materials.
“I addressed this by listening to local builders and designing out as much metal as possible.
“The final design moved the house back from the ocean edge and introduced rocks on the windward side to deflect the trade-winds up and over the house. We added a high walled garden to leeward in the “wind shadow” of the house. This has worked very well – the house is cool all day but the plants in the garden are able to flourish.
“The garden was also an essential part of the design,” Michael said, “but Kathleen and I did not know the local plants so we employed Mr John Criswick, a renown Caribbean garden designer, to plan L’Hirondelle’s tropical garden. John has no less than five Chelsea Flower Show gold medals for his work on the Granada display so is well qualified. John’s garden is full of colour, scent and birds – just what we wanted.”
With the design completed, Michael and his family flew to Grenada in Spring 2007 to interview and inspect the work of four contractors before making a choice.
Mike said: “We appointed Ian St. Bernard – ‘Judah’ to his friends – the Rastafarian CEO of Best Quote Construction. Judah and his team were great to deal with – we had so many laughs not understanding each other.”
Construction then got underway with project manager Lennox e-mailing a weekly progress report.
In order to support the local economy, Michael ensured that imports were minimal or from neighbouring islands so all the furniture, kitchen, closets and most of the light fittings were commissioned from local crafts people.
But it wasn’t completely plain sailing. Towards the end of the project, they did encounter some problems.
“There were some supply difficulties unique to an island economy. For instance, I specified greenheart timber for the doors and windows and there was a shortage that delayed their completion and installation”
That was more than five years ago and Michael and his family have enjoyed their holiday home as much as possible every year.
But now they have decided to put his beloved Grenadian home on the market. Price is on request in the region of £715,800.
So what has become their favourite part of the dream home that they built? What will they miss most once they leave their Grenadian paradise?
“That’s a difficult question, it just depends on the time of day,” Michael said.
“I think my favourite would be the master bedroom because of its position. It catches the sun rise with the sun coming up over the ocean and it comes up at the same time every day at 5.15am. It sets at the exactly same time at night, 5.15pm.
“So you can lie in bed and see the sun rise out of the ocean, through the gently blowing net curtains and then look out the patio doors and see the blue-green distant mountains and sit with a cup of tea – magic.
“And believe me, I am not a morning person, but it’s astonishing when you go to a place like Grenada, you actually can’t stay in bed for more than half an hour after the sun’s risen. It completely changes your lifestyle.
“In the afternoon, my favourite place is not so much a room, it’s the tropical garden terrace. You can sit in the sunshine surrounded by hummingbirds, butterflies and scented flowers and we even have a tame iguana who visits from time to time.
“And then in the evening, by far the best place is the moon tower. You can go and have a gin and tonic and watch the sunset with the rare green flash as the sun sinks into the ocean.
“But it will be the people we will miss the most – so friendly, obliging and with a wicked sense of humour”
The sale of Villa L’Hirondelle also includes a garage, carport and store and is fully staffed with housekeeper, gardener and pool attendant.
It is located just 12 minutes from the international airport, five minutes from the beach and around five minutes to a score of restaurants.
The house also has excellent business opportunities in the form of letting potential.
Contact: www.spiceisle caribbeanvilla.com