In seventh heaven in St Lucia

Jan 18 2011 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Echo

St Lucia

With her own private pool, spa and butler – Emma Johnson gets to live like a millionaire at Sandals

WITH temperatures dropping to minus 17 degrees and snow coming down thick and fast, there had never been a better time to get out of the country.

Unfortunately temperatures of minus 17 degrees and drifting snow meant there had also never been a more difficult time to get out of the country.

But when, some five days and two hours late, my husband and I finally landed on the sunny shores of St Lucia thoughts of frozen windscreens and snow-blocked runways melted away faster than the ice in my pina colada.

We were on the Caribbean island to soak up some winter sun and experience the famous “luxury included” couples only Sandals holiday and from the moment our driver picked us up at the airport we were in seventh heaven.

One of the Windward Islands, St Lucia is located midway down the Eastern Caribbean chain, between Martinique and St. Vincent, and north of Barbados.

To one side lies the Atlantic Ocean while the beaches of the west enjoy the calm of the Caribbean Sea.

The base for our stay was to be the Sandals La Toc Golf Resort & Spa situated on the 210-acre La Toc site close to St Lucia’s capital city of Castries.

Sandals calls it the Caribbean’s most glamorous resort and with the half-mile crescent shaped beach, exotic coral bluffs, lush hillsides, and rolling fairways it is difficult to disagree.

On our arrival we were escorted to the butler’s lounge (yes we had a butler, four in fact, but more on that later) to be checked in over a glass of champagne.

It set the standard for the impeccable level of service we would receive over the next seven days.