What keeps him so determinedly at it is the hotel itself. Carlisle Bay is beautifully situated; the public spaces are open, light filled and inviting; and the eighty-eight rooms are what Caribbean hotel rooms should be but rarely are — finely furnished yet also restrained. No splashy prints, no wicker, not a primitive island oil painting in sight. For those who require it, there is air-conditioning and flat-screen television (and needless to say, you will not hear the sound of steel drums playing the extended version of "Yellow Bird"). If there are two words that describe the rooms at Carlisle Bay, they are "sleek" and "soothing." The rooms look onto the beach and have private balconies, and from some you can see the lush hills and the rain forest from the bath.
The decor of Carlisle Bay is a collaboration between Campbell Gray and Mary Fox Linton, who is often described as the Andrée Putman of Britain. "Mary was doing modern forty years ago," he says. "There was no question in my mind that she would be the one to do the design of Carlisle Bay, just as she did for One Aldwych."
Both Fox Linton and Campbell Gray like to describe themselves as modernists, although in Campbell Gray's early days as a hotelier, and in his own residences, he had his fling with period pieces and serious-looking fabrics. One wonders if, years ago, there was a life-changing episode in which he dramatically pulled down the draperies, flung open the bay windows and tossed out half the furniture, just to breathe. That is certainly the feeling one has at Carlisle Bay — of being liberated from the clutter of everyday life. A book, a beach, a little sunshine, a few sunsets and a mind blissfully free of the usual information that clogs it on a daily basis. That's what some people want from a vacation in the islands. And it is those people whom Campbell Gray aims to attract to Carlisle Bay. Many will be British, partly because they are Campbell Gray followers and partly because Antigua has long been a destination favored by the British, a circumstance helped by frequent British Airways flights from London. But there will also be Americans — affluent, demanding Americans who want it (whatever it is) and want it now. We are a force to be reckoned with, as Campbell Gray is fast finding out. Patience? Forget about it. Time? How about right this minute? That makes training his mostly Antiguan staff triply hard. They are sweet, eager to please and almost all smiles, but they are not yet performing at lightning speed. Maybe they never will be. So certain guests will have to cut them a little slack and remember that they came to Carlisle Bay to vacation. On an island. In the Caribbean. And if they can't kick back, they will have to go elsewhere. Campbell Gray is philosophical about this. "What I have done is create a luxury resort hotel for my taste and my style, and hope that others will like it as much as I do," he says.
He's coming close, but there are still the daily tear-your-hair-out frustrations that operating a swank hotel on an island routinely poses — such as the furniture ordered urgently from Bali getting stuck on the tarmac because of an unexpected duty charge. Or the silk cushions from Jim Thompson in Bangkok being delayed at the Delhi airport. An order of four containers "full of stuff" became a shipment of three when one was left at the dock. The Moroccan-made candles had to be shipped to London before they could be sent to Antigua. The tropical plantings were carefully chosen by Campbell Gray and his London-based landscaper, James Holderness, most of them from Boynton's, in Florida, and an expensive irrigation system installed. But the system was nearly wrecked by a forklift operator who was high on ganja. "Then he put the thing in reverse and smashed into a container full of eight huge mirrors," says Campbell Gray. "Shattered, every one of them." How many years of bad luck is that? "I don't know, but I hope it's all his."
Ah, life in paradise. But through all this, Campbell Gray remains remarkably chipper, even if he sometimes has to grit his teeth. What he has done with Carlisle Bay in the course of a few months is extraordinary. The two restaurants, East and Indigo on the Beach, are up and running, and the food is generally excellent. A screening room seating forty-five comes in handy for those guests verging on adult attention deficit disorder. Then there is the New Wave library — a freestanding building done up in a clear plastic called Perspex, its shelves stocked with more than 2,000 fabulous books, many suggested by Campbell Gray's well-read friends and acquaintances. There are also two computer desks with Internet access.
The last important piece of the puzzle to be put in place is the Blue Spa — all 17,000 square feet of it. That has taken the longest, and Campbell Gray hasn't been at all happy about the delay. "I am not a patient man, but I am very trusting," he says. "When someone says, 'It will be done by Friday,' I take them at their word. Friday arrives, and I'm still waiting. No matter; I am a man on a mission. I want this place to be magnificent, whatever it takes. Everyone here tells me to be more accepting of island ways, that it's just the way it is. But I say, 'It's not the way it's going to be.' To succeed in any new hotel venture, you have to be relentless, and I am that. Besides, nobody said it would be easy. If it were, everyone would do it."
What to Know
Carlisle Bay sits on the southern coast of the Caribbean island of Antigua, about a half hour's drive from St. John's airport. All rooms have sea views. On a clear day you can see the island of Montserrat, with its active volcano. Room rates in high season (January 5 to May 2) start at $850, including breakfast and afternoon tea. After May 2, the rates drop to $595. The hotel is closed from September 1 to October 15. 800-628-8929; 268-484-0000; carlisle-bay.com.
There is not much to do on the island of Antigua, pretty and lush though it is. You can drive to the town of St. John's, on the northwestern coast, but what you'll find is an overcrowded, poor little town with not much to buy. To the east of Carlisle Bay are English Harbour and Nelson's Dockyard, where you can glimpse some of the world's most carefully tended pleasure and racing yachts. This is well worth doing. A lovely daytime excursion is the drive to Harmony Hall, an excellent Italian restaurant in Brown's Bay Mill. Its setting, high up and overlooking the sea, is beautiful. The food at lunch is as good as any you would get in Italy itself.
