An Exceptional Caribbean Villa Experience   

 
The Story of Being
Caribbean World Spring 2001

A truly idyllic hideaway, the secret mountainous region of Arnos Vale, Tobago, is the most tranquil of locations.  And where Dr. Auliana Poon and her husband Dr. Christian Potthoff-Sewing have their luxurious home called Being.  Auliana met Christian in England. A German-American, he is a Doctor and Economist in the Steel Industry.

A trained economist, Dr. Auliana Poon studied in Trinidad and Sussex University, England and graduated with a first and second degree.  She received a doctorate in Tourism and Technology in the early 1980s.  This husband and wife team work together in their tourism consultancy business: Tourism Intelligence International. Advising the Tourism and Policy board for the New South Africa in aspects of creating a new type of tourism, they have launched reports disclosing how the British will Travel in 2005.  With that information it’s no wonder they have been successful in building their own perfect villa, where everyday living feels like a once-in-a-life time holiday experience!

Searching to find a cure for the typical boring common holiday home, Drs. Christian and Auliana built the luxurious Being.  It took ten years to format their self-indulgent home to excellence.

Auliana named the villa Being because she wanted to reflect the presence of life; the soul; the spirit; the being.  Trinidadian architect Roger Turton was the person they called to design the dreamy elegant and spacious Being.

Coming from a family of five girls, Auliana wanted a large house, so when eight people are living in Being, one wouldn’t even notice.  Just to give you a perspective – a 100-room hotel would sit well on the five acres of land occupied by Being. 

Wedged four hundred feet above the sea\ into the side of a hill, one cannot see Being from the road. So friends and family can be entertained in total privacy and seclusion.  Due to its location, the sun and the moon can be seen rising and setting, making it a vista beautiful beyond compare.

The swimming pool rests on forty-foot high stilts making it the only pool in the Caribbean that allows a landscape to grow underneath it!  Using an overflow plumbing feature, the swimming pool affords the swimmer an impression of flying across the Caribbean skyline.  Giving the pool the illusion of merging with the sea it also claims an uninterrupted 180 degrees view of the waters below.  Taking a midnight swim to enjoy the stars lighting up the island is so impressive a sight, even the most seasoned of Caribbean aficionados cannot help but be affected by its beauty.

To maintain a healthy mind and body Being also has its own organic food farm.  This means that nourishing coconuts (one of the most vital ingredients of Caribbean cooking), spinach, aubergines, tomatoes, green bananas and plantains are only a stone’s throw from the kitchen.  One of Christian and Auliana's favourite meals is a traditional dish of callaloo (a green vegetable bush cooked with coconut milk) and coocoo (Made with corn meal).  Lovers of fresh fish and seafood, they also enjoy newly caught kingfish, mahi-mahi, redfish, lobster, crab and lambie.  Their neighbour, a Rastafarian gardener maintains Being’s tropical garden.

A healthy conscious pair, Auliana and Christian made Being a ‘Pilates for the Souls’ haven.  Pilates, a special exercise programme is unlike a heavy aerobics regime.  It’s a very gentle type of exercise concentrating on posture, relaxation, breathing techniques and meditation.   After exercising, the best masseuse in Trinidad (who massaged the footballer Dwight Yorke – now playing for Manchester United in England, and the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Team) is on hand.

Being is a very gracious family villa featuring a creative interior that is individual and stylish.  Auliana’s favourite room is the candle-lit master bedroom, whish she and Christian playfully call the Romantic Room.  Built on two levels the room has fourteen doors; many of them open to the sea, others lead onto a private patio, the sun deck or garden.  Netting draped across the ceiling above their huge bead adds a romantic honeymoon feel and the look is finished off with white linen and designer towels.

Passing through one of a dozen courtyards and patios, going from one room to another, offers an incredible amount of freedom.  Each of the king-size bedrooms has a different and individual decorative theme, and uninterrupted views of the sea.  The Caribbean Room has original paintings from local artists, giving the phrase ‘pretty as a picture’ real meaning.

The Blue Bedroom is esoterically designed, fusing heavenly tones of blue together with their symbolic healing properties.  So magnificent is this room that Tui, one of the largest tour operators in Germany, booked Being and filmed it for their own television advertisement, as representing what’s on offer in Tobago, and what idyllic holidays in the Caribbean should be like.

Auliana and Christian spend their time between Tobago and Germany, so for a large part of the year Being is on offer to those who favour living in the lap of luxury.

The villa staff live in separate accommodation and wear colourful Caribbean uniforms to authenticate the ambience.  A resident housekeeper and cook help in any one of the four dining areas.

The Caribbean sound of a steel band adds to the pleasure of sipping mineral water, beer or rum punch from a handcrafted calabash cup (traditionally used to carry water), either inside the villa or out on the terrace.  Even Elton John and The Beatles can be found in the vast music library so if music be the food of love, play on!

Taking a 10-minute stroll to the secluded palm-fringed covered shores of Turtle Beach guarantees temperatures in the late 20s (degrees centigrade).

The beach is a magnificent carpet of golden brown sand.  Turtle Bay is so called because of the notable numbers of egg-laying turtles.  It is fantastic for diving, snorkeling and fishing.  Beneath the crystal clear waters a shoal of young squid, lobster, brightly coloured parrotfish, redfish, eels and crabs make up the tropical coral reef.

For birdwatchers, the parrot, bluejay, yellowbird, dove, blackbird, motmot, woodpecker and cocorico (the names comes from the sound it makes) are all neighbours to Being.  For the more energetic, golf and tennis are on offer.

It is a quick drive in an air-conditioned jeep to the shops, or a short amble to the next village of Culloden, one of the oldest communities in Tobago.  These traditional costume and fashion flair of the “La Belle Creole” Caribbean woman is celebrated, by ladies wearing traditional skirts, white lace and colourful frilly blouses topped with a head tie.

While unwinding in all this hedonistic luxury, Auliana and Christian run Tourism Intelligence International by telephone, fax and Internet from Being.  Feeling totally rejuvenated they have to pinch themselves to grasp it is reality and not a dream they’re living, albeit a dream come true in idyllic surroundings beyond compare.  Inspired by its beauty, even travel Guru Thomas Cook couldn’t resist building a hotel there.

Feeling jealous? Stressed out?  If you’re looking for the privacy and seclusion of a luxuriously blissful and hedonistic holiday home, with all the comforts, amenities and flair of a holiday resort in paradise, then the Being villa is yours to rent.