Welcome to Provender House, a five-bedroom villa perched above the pink and white sands of Windermere Beach on exclusive Windermere Island. Provender is the secret hideaway where Prince Charles and Lady Diana spent their honeymoon in 1981. Privacy and seclusion guaranteed. It is rare to see another person’s footprints in the sand.
All the main living and sleeping areas have wonderful views of the ocean, with glass sliding doors opening wide onto balconies and sun porches. No better beach and ocean view is to be found anywhere in the Bahamas. The Windermere Club, with tennis courts and swimming pool, is a five-minute walk from the house. Club membership is included with the rental.
The heart of the house is an open-plan living room and dining area, with a pretty Italian tiled floor throughout. Glass doors slide wide open onto balconies and a porch overlooking the beach. Ceiling fans and sea breezes ensure the air conditioners in every room are rarely needed. The kitchen is fully equipped. The five bedrooms can accommodate nine people, comprising two king bedrooms, two twin-bedded rooms (which can be converted to kings), and one single-bed room. All bedrooms have a full en-suite bathroom. All bedrooms but the single have views of the beach. The sound of the sea will lull you to sleep at night. An extra camp bed can be provided for a child, to allow a party of ten to use the house.
There are balconies and a porch with loungers overlooking the ocean and a wooden sun porch at the back, a perfect place to barbecue your catch of the day! (Barbecue provided.) Steps lead down directly from the house to the beach.
The nearby Club at Windermere (five minutes walk) has a swimming pool and tennis courts available all year round, and a bar and restaurant open November to May. Membership of the Club is included in the rental. As well as the spectacular Atlantic beach below the house, there is also a more secluded beach cove nearby (five minutes by car) with warm shallow waters, ideal for small children.
The nearest supermarkets are 20/30 minutes drive away, as are a good selection of restaurants, some in the local simple style, others offering a high standard of cuisine. A cook and/or babysitter are available if required. A daily four-hour maid service is included in the rental. The caretaker is very helpful in organizing fishing and boating trips, etc.
Provender comes equipped with two kayaks, a windsurfer (for adult or child), and bicycles. There is an outdoor shower for rinsing off the salt and sand after a day on the beach. Other amenities include air conditioning, a landline telephone (phone cards can be purchased for long-distance outgoing calls), broadband wifi, and satellite TV. A yoga teacher and beauty therapist will make house calls.
Windermere Island is for the exclusive use of the owners and renters of the small number of villas situated on it. It has long been the favoured destination of those seeking peace and privacy (the British Royal Family amongst them). Eleuthera itself is one of the outlying “family islands” of the Bahamas, famed for its unspoilt, uncrowded beaches with pink sand and clear turquoise waters. The pace of life is leisurely, guaranteed to be an antidote to the stresses of modern day living.
Eleuthera is a prime location for the sport of bone fishing and the exceptionally clear waters are perfect for snorkeling and scuba diving on the nearby reefs. The adjacent Harbour Island (ninety minutes by car and water taxi), popular with film and rock stars, is famed for its pretty colonial-style buildings – well worth a day’s visit.
Places to visit on Eleuthera itself include the spectacular Glass Window Bridge, the Hatchet Bay Caves, the Rock Sound ocean hole, and Preacher’s Cave. The brightly painted houses of the local 'settlements' echo all the colours of the island.
