Moroccan-inspired Toucan Hill villa sits atop the highest point of Mustique. Its owner, Tatiana Copeland, descends from a memorable musical lineage; Sergei Rachmaninoff was her mother’s uncle, and she is named after his daughter, Tatiana. Together, we watch the sunset. “I never miss the chance to see this,” she remarks, gesturing to a panoramic view that incorporates both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea in 360-degree vistas. The sun, buttery yellow, is edged in violet as it falls into the sea. It looks so large I expect to hear a splash as it disappears into the ocean’s edge. Gerret, Tatiana’s husband, a member of the duPont family of Wilmington, Delaware, has just mixed us drinks to sip around the pool. “It never gets old, it’s our ritual and our home — but we love to share it,” he adds, just as the last bit of daylight leaves a golden glow on the roiling water in the distance.
The Copelands, as some of Mustique’s original guests, first visited the private Caribbean paradise in the 1980s and fell in love with the island, particularly once the Copelands established a friendship with Princess Margaret, sister to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. “We fell in love with the place,” Tatiana recalls, noting that she continues to be enamored with its laid-back elegance, clubby ambiance, and island-wide penchant for joie de vivre. Smitten, the Copelands returned many times for repose, always renting a home, usually one owned by a celebrity. “I believe at some point, we’d stayed in every villa on the island,” says Tatiana. “At last we felt the need to build our own villa — and our dreams came true.”
Available for groups of up to eight to 10 people, Toucan Hill cares for guests with an attentive full-time staff of seven including an estate manager, butler, and chef. The four luxurious air-conditioned guest suites – “Toucan,” “Pasha,” “Sultan,” and “Palm” feature private terraces and balconies, king-size beds, spacious dressing rooms, and ensuite bathrooms. The Master Pavilion Suite is available on special occasions and offers unsurpassed luxury and intimacy with its own infinity pool surrounded by lush gardens. Moorish arches and stars, gleaming tile work, bubbling fountains, mother-of-pearl inlaid tables, silver furniture, precious gems, lanterns, and rich fabrics imbue Toucan Hill with an element of magic, elegance, and fantasy.
The Mystery of Mustique
One of the Caribbean’s best-kept secrets and most elusive destinations, 1,400-acre Mustique, owned today by the five decade-old (plus) Mustique Company (which itself belongs to the island’s various homeowners), has drawn artists, royalty, rock stars, CEOs, and every manner of jetsetter for decades.
A deliberately unconventional, even eccentric and idiosyncratic destination — to everyone’s delight — Mustique manages to be exclusive yet welcoming, vibrant but peaceful, traditional and simultaneously avant garde. The three-mile-long island gets buzziest in high season, when the population expands to only 1200 residents or so. Don’t expect golf courses, helicopter landings, casinos, nightlife, or a cruise ship port. Living life at a slower pace, people drive around in golf carts (called mules), ride horses, take bikes, or walk bumpy roads to the island’s few restaurants and shops. Summoning old-school Caribbean vibes, Mustique seems appealingly lost in time. Tortoises meander over lawns, tree frogs croon at night, dogs and goats roam freely, while everybody waves a heartfelt greeting when you pass. Likely, you’ll be invited to a neighbor’s (Mick Jagger, perhaps?) Mahjong party or asked to join a picnic on the beach with new friends — think Daniel Craig or Harry Styles.
For those seeking seclusion (nobility and celebrities find solace here), further-flung Mustique, accessed by private air shuttle or by chartered boat, fits the bill. Unoccupied nooks and hideaways around the island beckon. Possibly you’ll find yourself alone on its most popular sandy crescent — pristine Macaroni Beach. But Mustique stands out as a social hub most of all. As frequent Mustique visitors will tell you, there’s always an organized party, soiree, or fete afoot. Don’t miss the all-island cocktail party on Tuesday nights at Cotton House (the island’s sublime hotel). You might sashay up to the bar with the likes of Bryan Adams or Tommy Hilfiger. (When I was there, I clinked glasses with a coterie from the Guinness family.) Legendary Basil’s Bar on the water also perpetually welcomes the see-and-be-seen crowd for lively music and beach fare.
The Mustique Backstory
Mustique was developed with the permission of St. Vincent and the Grenadines when Scotsman Colin Tennant (later the 3rd Baron of Glenconner), bought it on hopes and dreams (plus the equivalent today of a million pounds) in 1958. At the time, it had no water, few inhabitants, and a plethora of roaming cattle — not to mention an army of mosquitos. No matter, with Don Quixote-esque clarity of purpose, Tennant vowed to build a kind of blue-blood Bohemian commune, a haven for fellow members of the haute monde to escape the dull reality of convention, a spot where desires and whims, both hedonistic and ordinary, could be realized. Tennant’s tropical utopia took off once he gave Princess Margaret a plot of land as a wedding gift. She immediately hired the eccentric stage designer (and artist) Oliver Messel to create her villa, which she called Les Jolies Eaux. More homes by Messel followed. Then, a slew of lavish mansions in other styles went up. The Copelands’ Toucan Hill — with its Moroccan palace design, a place inspired by romance and built for pleasure — exemplifies the trend.
Across the island, during the 1960s and 1970s (and beyond), the parties — sybaritic and clandestine, costumed and nude, quirky and quiet — made headlines. Photos of the time capture a kind of Alice Through the Looking Glass destination for pleasure seekers. These images hint at debauchery and scandal, experimentation and glee. This was a safe place, an escape from the ordinary that many of the island residents and homeowners craved. But many serene-minded guests came, too. Like visitors today, they sunbathed, built sandcastles, sipped rum punch, picnicked on the beach — and slept off a season of hard work. Both vacation-style options attracted an international coterie of legends — many of them like Mick Jagger and Tommy Hilfiger — built homes. Today, on Mustique, the mood is more tempered, yet still glamorous, and artfully understated.
“Things are a little different on Mustique these days,” says Tatiana, though she has a twinkle in her eye that implies otherwise. Times change. In some ways that bygone Boho era has come to a close. The decadent parties have been toned down with other interests —such as wellness, music, and gastronomy. Though Mustique’s founding pioneer spirit underscores every aspect of the island, it also draws travelers for events such as January/February’s Mustique Blues Festival. In May, the island will hold its first ever Wellness Week, a seven-day festival that will promote scores of wellbeing-oriented activities from hiking to yoga, from meditation to spa treatments and kayaking. As for the Copelands’ Toucan Hill? Peerless and magical, its setting, staff, and stylish abundance ensures that guests will experience both the old and the new Mustique. A feast for the senses, there’s no other villa on the island like it. Just wait until you glimpse that sunset.
Feature photo, courtesy, Alex Amengual
