Dream House | Rustic St Elizabeth cottage filled with old-time J’can charm

The lonely country road snakes its way high through the Santa Cruz mountains, some 2,300 above sea level, to the bracing climes of the town of Malvern, St Elizabeth. Here, we have unwittingly arrived at an anomalous address that by all appearances, is lost in the middle of nowhere.

But the more we linger and familiarise ourselves with the three-acre site, the more we realise that we have stumbled upon an architectural exemplar, echoing a memory of old-time Jamaica with unbelievable components.

Just look around as your senses become overwhelmed by the quaint, roughly hewn and assembled nature of the comprehensive wooden cottage, crowned with its own sleeping loft, watching over the intoxicating outdoors. The slightly elevated, timber ground floor sleeping section intersects with a bathroom, living and dining space, built-in bar, and a kitchen – actualising a snug atmosphere.

The interior is casually appointed with locally crafted furniture and accessorised with Jamaican relics and all manner of hanging wall items.

A columned porch greets you at the front, with a back patio roofed in bamboo pieces for you to kick back and jubilate.

Spending time on the outside here awakens your inner being, with countless melodious sounding birds, two mesmeric fish ponds, a bamboo walk, a vegetable garden, and the sight of rabbits and chickens.

For further outdoor entertainment and pleasure, a cascade of emotions overcomes you with an open-air bamboo enclosed shower, an alfresco dining area, a bar and barbecue grill, and a fire-pit seating section. Don’t miss the sensational old bath tub (with a coal pot underneath it) for heated, herbal bubble baths, with water shooting from an overhead bamboo directly into it. A true cathartic experience!

Who resides in such a place, may we ask? Two sisters, who lived in New York, USA, one a nurse, the other, a restaurateur, both retired home to Jamaica. They had eagerly joined their other sister here, searching for and purchasing this lot, spending two years constructing on it.

The trio overcame a point of distress during the COVID pandemic when they thought of shutting down the building site indefinitely. But with faith and conviction they didn’t, but endured.

We thank them for the imagination and courage shown in this architectural accomplishment.

Barry Rattray is a dream house designer and builder. Email feedback to barryrattray1@hotmail.com and lifestyle@gleanerjm.com.