The Ocean Inn is a small intimate property with 10 units - 4 of them cottages, 6 in the main building or great house - located on the hillside overlooking English Harbour & Nelson's Dockyard - what a view! My husband & I have 70 years combined in the hotel/hospitality field, experienced many of the islands, 2 four-cabin catamaran cruises, 5* properties, etc. But, The Ocean Inn is a very unique property. Eustace Potter is the proprietor, his right-hand lady is Annie, his staff is excellent & then there is MIKE! (Mike is a little white dog that follows his master but will give you some time if you continually pet him). We were there for a week - Nov.3-10/07 - and met the greatest people from around the world - Australia, Belgium, England, US & ourselves from Canada. This is not the "Ritz" but beats anything in ambiance & hospitality. You are only a 15 - 20 walk to the beach or to the Dockyard, many restaurants in the area, rent a car, boat or scooter to explore or just enjoy the wonderful pool and verandah plus the congenial guests. There is an honour bar, enjoyable cold breakfast with great coffee & if you really need to, you can do a dinner meal in the kitchen. Our thanks to Eustace, Annie and staff, plus the great guests that made this a very memorable week on a beautiful island. Will add pictures when we get them.

We stayed for three nights before going to St.Maarten. We stayed in a cottage and it was a bit of a struggle with the bags, the view to the harbour more than made up for it. English Harbour tends to close up in the low season, most things in Nelsons Dockyard were closed. The restaurant Trappas at the bottom of the steep hill from the hotel is a top spot. My only fault with the Ocean Inn was, on check out the bill was $10 a night more than quoted, when I pointed it out to Eustace he apologized and changed it. I then noticed that we were charged for four nights instead of three, could of all been a mistake but check your bill!

We were at Ocean Inn for only 4 nights having stayed at Runaaway Bay for 4 nights before travelling to St Kitts for 6 nights and finished our holiday at Ocean Inn. On our first stay on the Island we visited Shirley Heights and the view of English Harbour struck me as the best landscape view I had seen anywhere. I didn't realise at that time that when we were to return to the island the week after to go to Ocean Inn (which we had booked only 3 weeks or so previously) we would have an equivalent view over the harbour.

We had originally booked a cottage in the gardens but on arrival we were offered a larger room in the main building. Annie showed us both rooms and we would have been happy with either but we opted for the room in the house as it meant that we did not have to carry cases down the fairly narrow path.

The gardens are not large but are lush and well maintained. There is a pool which we did not use as we prefer the sea but again it was well maintained and cleaned every day.

The breakfast was more than adequate and some fellow guests were allowed the use of the kitchen to prepare their evening meals. I don't know if this would be available to all guests but it certainly shows how accomodating Eustace, the owner, is.

Courtesy of British Airways, who cancelled our return flight from Gatwick to Manchester, we had to make alternative travel arrangements for the final leg of our journey and Eustace had no problem in letting us use the internet to make the arrangements. On a cautionary note, don't use your credit card to 'phone home. We had to telephone BA about our cancelled flight as it was not possible to cancel the alternative flight that they had put us on via the internet. We had to make 2 calls as the first was cut off prior to finishing, as was the second although I had given sufficient information prior to being cut off. The charge on my credit card on return was £50.00 !!!! I don't know who gets the bulk of that but I will not be doing it again.

To sum up, If I was to stay at English Harbour again I would be more than pleased to stay at Ocean Inn. There are a number of local restaurants all serving good food although probably the best and busiest is Trappas.

We have not long returned from a 2-week stay in this lovely hotel. The view over English harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard is probably one of the best on the island. The garden is stunning – filled with beautiful flowers and lots of wildlife. We even saw a hummingbird a few times.

The welcome we got was exceedingly friendly. Both Eustace and Annie were very helpful, as were the other staff.

The room was clean with enough space for all our stuff and sheets and towels were changed regularly. The bed was comfortable and the air-conditioning worked well.

The breakfast was simple but adequate – you don’t need a cooked full-English in this climate! Location was brilliant, as it was a very short walk down the hill to a number of good restaurants and bars.

We were within easy walking distance of Nelson’s Dockyard, English Harbour and even the lovely Pigeon beach. Nevertheless we hired a car for the 2 weeks so we could venture over the whole island. We decided that the Ocean Inn was the best place we could have been and well situated for getting about.

Would thoroughly recommend this place to anyone who likes to travel independently, is not looking for luxury, but enjoys beautiful places.