We travel to the Caribbean for an authentic West Indian experience: a small inn or villa setting with a private pool; a patio or balcony from which we can lose ourselves gazing at the Caribbean Sea, feeding the birds, reading, sipping early morning coffee before breakfast, laughing; alfresco dining (is there any other way?) to savor the culinary delights unique to the West Indies; a few days of indulgence and relaxation.

The Golden Lemon Inn and Villas on the northern end of St. Kitts satisfied every one of our requirements. Arthur and Martin, our gracious hosts, and the staff treated us royally, yet afforded us the privacy we craved. Each evening we would gather at the brightly colored sofas on the dining room veranda for pre-dinner cocktails and appetizers, candlelight shimmering through the pottery sconces, then proceeded to our flower bedecked table for a leisurely dinner, Bach and Brubeck in the background. The capable West Indian staff prepared and served the meals, cooked with a local flair, and catered to our every need. Many of these employees have been at the Golden Lemon for decades. We knew everyone’s name after a few days and by the time we left a week later had become friends.

Simple inquiries about local ingredients were answered with gastronomic memories. For example, we inquired if cristophene was in season and the answer came in the form of the stuffed cristophene served the next night as an appetizer. A question about the breadfruit tree in the breakfast garden materialized in the form of an incredible breadfruit and leek soup. In fact the soups were all to die for: peanut, conch, lobster bisque, white potato curry, pumpkin, carrot and celery; we could not pick a favorite.

The Golden Lemon is the oldest continuously inhabited property on St. Kitts, built by French Huguenots in the 1580s. The owner, Arthur Leaman, bought the property fifty years ago, gutted and renovated it while maintaining much of its historic origins and improved it to its current level.

Thank you to everyone associated with the Golden Lemon, from Solomon who brought us to and from the airport and spent a day with us exploring old plantations, to Carol, Vernetta, and Cynthia who took care of us in the dining room, and finally to the amazing Orelia who maintained our villa and met our every need (including making a beer run to a local grocery for us, and wishing my wife a Happy Mother’s Day in fresh petals on our bed) and making our holiday there so memorable.

We came home renewed, rested and ready to go back again…..

The Golden Lemon is not for everyone. If you are into casinos, fighting for lounge chairs with hundreds of guests, carousing until late at night, food that you could get anywhere, or a cookie cutter beach resort that could be anywhere, DO NOT stay here. Please go immediatly to any big resort chain.

However, if you appreciate history, graciousness, meeting interesting people, and excellent service, if you can appreciate that your bit of Paradise is set in the real St. Kitts, and not the piece that is surrounded by new development, timeshares and generic resorts , you should consider the Golden Lemon.

The Golden Lemon has been around for many years. The decor is beautiful, and has the patina of antiques mixed with island ambiance. If you stay in the villas, you have your own plunge pool and place to relax, read and be alone. There is a sense of history and graciousness here that I have not found in all my travels. You feel like you are a guest in someone's old beautiful island compound.

The food was superb. The soups and breakfast porrige amazing. Every meal was terific. The cooks have been there for a long time. There were different choices every night. They could write a cookbook.

The beach is on the Atlantic side. It is black lava. The beach was not dirty. It is an active beach where you will see local fisherman and children playing. Everyone, including the locals are friendly. You are in a real village, not walled off in a generic resort. Go get a Ting from Miss Gumms up the street. You will not forget her.

I found the service to be excellent. We did not rent a car, we were there to relax, and it was hard to leave the beauty and peace of the inn. We did take a trip to town and to Frigate Bay to snorkle. The Inn provided an excellent guide to take us there as well as to Fort Brimstone. He was a pleasure to be with, knew everyone on the island, was able to share the local history, and even stopped to get me some frangipani flowers from a local tree.

We met interesting people, including the very gracious Aurther and Martin. They came down for cockails, and one night invited us to dine with them and their good friend who has an art gallery on that side of the island. The staff was superb. Most of them have been there for a very long time, some almost their entire lives. They have interesting stories to tell.

I am puzzled by any of the bad reviews I have read. I have never had a more relaxing enjoyable beach vacation. Leave your computer and blackberry at home and enjoy the beauty of this gem.

My wife and I wanted to get away from it all for a few days. And we wanted to do so in the Carribean where often it can seem like one giant theme resurant or that you are just a walking ATM for the locals. St. Kitts was perfect especially since we stayed away from the hideous Marriott that with some help from some condos has ruined a beautiful chunk of the island. The Golden Lemon was also perfect. It has seaside compound in the little town of Dieppe Bay. The long time owners Arthur and Martin join you for drinks each night and make you feel like a guest in the best sense of the word. The food is quite good. The rooms are spotless. The Duke of Orange (the house cocktail) rocks. We had our own little pool as well as having the beach front mostly to ourselves as well. The town of Dieppe bay was totally friendly -- we grabbed a beer at the local bar/convenience store and the locals bought us a couple more rounds. And despite being at the far end of the island, you can pretty much get to anything in short order because the island is so small. We got into Basseterre, hiked the rain forest, saw Brinmstone Hill, etc. and we were only there for a few days.

Pros: can do as little or as much as you want, very relaxing environment, nice owners, good food, beautiful view of Statia and Saba, nice little town. This is a place that people come back to again and again (we met some folks who had been coming to the Lemon for 15 years)

Cons: Owners ready to retire and in process of selling. For their sakes, hope it goes through. But new owners could wreck the place, or might bring some new vigour and even improvements. All that's TBD. If you are a beach lover, the water is right there, but no sparking sand and the reef is in poor condition. More of a lawn chair/jump in to cool off kind of deal.

Having read the mixed reviews we wer not sure what to expect at The Golden Lemon...
Well a sour lemon would be a better name.
Im not sure where to start there was so much wrong with this place.
The staff on arrival let us drag our luggage to our cottage ( it took two trips to carry our luggage to the cottage as we were spending 3 weeks in the east and west indies). Ok so its not a 5 or even 4 star place but the staff standing around could have at least offered to help.
On arrival at the cottage (actually they call them villas) we found fairly basic but fairly recently decorated rooms with nice warm colors. Actually the decor was pleasant and minimalistic with no tvs which we prefer. The room was quite clean on arrival but daily room clean up was poor and after a couple of days we felt the need to do a good clean up ourselves. I should say we are not sloppy people by any means but service here was bad.
The private pool was refreshing but tiny and not really worth it as the main pool in the garden beside the main house was quite nice.
Food was awful beyond beleif, i dont know where to start. Its best to have a very basic breakfast in your villa or room. Avoid the main restaurant, even if you book inclusive of meals...lifes too short.
The beach is a volcanic beach which is fine and has a real natural look which is nice. I dont expect or want the beach to be combed but an occasional removal of detritus would make it more pleasant. (you know, you are walking on a potentially nice beach and you come across all sorts of plastic bottles and other rubbish).
We booked on the basis of their website and felt mislead that this is a nice inn with good service. Its not.