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Ronald Tree welcomes Sir Winston Churchill to Heron Bay
Heron Bay by Henry Fraser Reproduced from ‘Historic Houses’
Ronald Tree and Adlai Stevenson
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Ins & Outs of Barbados
the rich and famous in search of Paradise, both from Britain and North America. But the real catalyst for the explosion of our West Coast (or Platinum Coast) as the resort of high society and the well-heeled was the arrival of Sir Edward Cunard, shipping magnate, who fell in love with Barbados and built one of the earliest villas in St. James – his fine Italianate mansion, Glitter Bay – later the site of Glitter Bay Hotel, but sadly demolished last year. He invited his friends, Sir Winston Churchill, Parliamentarian Ronald Tree, Oliver Messel, the famous English theatre designer, and many others. Ronald Tree and Oliver Messel, who was also a friend of our most famous local hotelier Victor Marson of the Ocean View Hotel, Sam Lord’s Castle and Miramar (now Royal Pavilion), were to make Barbados their home, and in doing so make Barbados a haven of the rich and famous. Ronald Tree was the son of wealthy American parents, an RAF pilot in the First World War, a Tory MP (1933 – 1945) and Adviser on American Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to successive Ministers of Information. His home, Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire, provided a safe weekend retreat for Sir Winston Churchill during the war. It was in 1946 that he rented Sir Edward Cunard’s Glitter Bay, fell in love with “Little England” and literally, “the rest is history”! He built his mansion Heron Bay close to the Sandy Lane beach - and it was said that his guest list looked like Burke’s Peerage. His many famous (and rich) friends included the Astors (William Waldorf "Bill" Astor II, 3rd Viscount Astor was an English businessman, Conservative Party politician, and a member of the prominent Astor family); Lord Kindersley, Horace Noble who built Moonfleet, Investment banker Henry Breck, Lord Rothschild, Lord Bernstein, who built Leigh House and Sir Roderick and Lady Brinkman who built St. Helena, all in Sandy Lane. It seems he simply told all of his wealthy friends “Come and build a villa in Paradise, and live the good life”! Heron Bay itself is a masterpiece, designed by the famous English architect Sir Geffrey Jellicoe, who had designed Ronald Tree’s gardens at Ditchley Park. It is said to be modelled on Palladio’s Villa Barbaroso or Villa di Maser in the Veneto, Italy, and is built of coral stone blocks, imported woods and marble. The beach front boasts magnificent columns and a double staircase leading to the drawing room, a huge double cube. This central block is flanked by dependencies which curve towards the sea. Some 20 acres of beautiful gardens contain both formal plantings and exotic tropical trees. The house is now owned by Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford. Eventually he’s said to have despaired at a house always full of visitors, put together a group of like minds and bought the entire Sandy Lane plantation, built the Sandy Lane Hotel and encouraged his many wealthy friends to come, buy and build their own villas. He was able to acquire the services of Robertson “Happy” Ward, who designed the hotel and many of the villas, and so the exponential growth of this exotic paradise of luxury villas and luxury hotels developed. The Sandy Lane Resort, of course, has become internationally famous, one of the acknowledged very top resorts in the world, and playground of “everyone who’s anyone”, from Royalty to Pavarotti, Michael Winner to Tiger Woods.