It gets even better.
Mull over a community where cars are banned and golf carts putt the distance from shop to spa, from tennis court to swimming pool from underground tunnel to condominium. The roads that meander past what used to be rab land will forever allow Barbadians to take the occasional glimpse of how the other one-quarter live. Gates and guards will be installed by two public accesses to announce and admit invited guests only.
Luxury club
Of course, entry will be allowed for what will turn out to be elite Barbadian tourism workers. But this luxury club is not just an opportunity for Barbadian workers to earn a dollar. It is also open for monied Barbadians to live royally. In the same way that about 20 per cent of Sandy Lane is now owned by Barbadians, it is hoped to interest Barbadians in living there.
After a tour across the fields and hills you quickly realise that while the Royal Westmoreland Golf and Country Club is in Barbados, it is really also out of this world.
True, you will hardly ever see a Leyland bus up there. But you could find a black belly sheep because there are plans for a hill-side playing field with open options - even opportunities for a game of cricket or an open-air concert - whatever may be the preference of residents.
It will be marketed as a resort community of people whose names are unknown, but whose bank accounts are probably in Switzerland.
All the expertise to design this hill-borne bastion of luxury is being imported, but the intricate interpretation of these visionaries is being done by a band of bright Barbadians, many of whom now traverse the hills and gullies mostly on tractors and in trucks and the earliest beginnings take shape. The Westmoreland project is now nothing but random red clay carvings, connected by muddy workmen's paths and interspersed with knobs and knolls of greenery.
But imagine, if you can, 22 palaces in custom-built seclusion on this expansive compound, the only restriction on their magnificence, the size of the buyer's purse. That's a picture of just the first phase. Add to that other phases on the 480 acre lot, with increasing numbers of custom-built homes as well as a selection of specially-designed options of different sizes, all with their touch of elegance to complement the club.
The "little people" who yearn for this luxury can buy homes starting at US$200 000. A special advantage of each home owner is the opportunity to be located nearest to the recreation of his or her choice - be it a spa, a tennis court or nearby the greens.
Last week the airwaves in Barbados were hot with anger over the importation of special sand and special grass for this elaborate resort. Why was it necessary to import the special sand and grass? The specifications of the project help to put those questions into perspective. The Royal Westmoreland Golf and Country Club will be one of kind. And there will be no compromises on quality. If it is not specifically what is required for Westmoreland, it will not be used.
1995 finish
The US$400 million project, is to be completed sometime in 1995. In December, the first word that paradise has been perfected will be spread by the international up-market media. Next year, the investors are hoping to lure stars shinier than those in the naked sky above Westmoreland. One mentioned was retired basketballer, Michael Jordan, who will be offered the chance to play golf on a course designed by the man considered to be the genius of golf course creations -- Robert Trent Jones 11.
Jones is not the kind of artisan who levels his playing field and starts from there. His specialty is to lay in a challenging turf that moulds itself around the existing landscape -- environmentally mated. For Westmoreland this includes gullies, caves, cut-rocks and wide open spaces with thousands of trees, some already on location, many now blossoming in a nearby nursery.
The world-class links in this project are the centre-piece of a development that will bring unmeasureable dividends to Barbados, investors contend. More than a playground for the rich, Westmoreland, intends to be "the" playground for the rich. This state-of-the-art facility has been designed to incorporate local coral stone, be mutually tolerant of the environment around, breathtakingly beautiful it and safe. From whichever tee the likes of Sir Garfield Sobers deigns to tap his ball, he will be able to enjoy a panoramic view of the sea, a rare privilege for the world's elite golfers who travel the universe to play on world class courses.
At Royal Westmoreland they get this perpetual view of an inviting, shimmering silver-blue ocean in the near distance and much, much more.