This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
(Top and bottom left) Local contractors have been used to build the resort; (top right) One of the gardeners at Kittitian Hill


The tourism model used by the large international


resorts is not dissimilar to the plantation model of


yesteryear: one of maximum extraction and exploitation


bed boutique hotels and 75 villas. The 18-hole championship golf


course, Irie Fields, has a couple of interesting USPs: it will be one of only three organic golf courses in the world and the management claim it will be the world’s most edible golf course, with 75 acres of the 200 acre course being farmed.


“There are three issues with golf


courses which we’ve tried to avoid,” explains Kempadoo. “The water usage, the pesticides and fertilisers and the land use. Nobody really talks about how much land golf courses tie up. We came up with the idea of resolving this by farming the areas around the golf course with edible plants.”


More than 100 different varieties of mango have been planted and other specialities grown there will include avocados and signature rare fruits.


ISSUE 3 2014 © cybertrek 2014


Sustainable sourcing and farm-to- table are two other threads running through Kittitian Hill. Kempadoo believes that within five years, the island will export more than it imports. To this end, even crops of chocolate and coffee have been planted. Some cereals, oils, wine and red meat will have to be imported, although there is a discussion about whether or not to even offer red meat, since it’s not authentic. Apart from a few popular labels, all the wine imported will be natural and organic. The culinary team is being put together to define the restaurants. The highest culinary experience will be farm-to-table restaurant The Table, which will open in 2015 and is influenced by other farm-to-table restaurants like Roganics in London. The others will be simple, based on


healthy and local ingredients. The staff will eat their meals in one of the restaurants; rather than having a staff cafeteria hidden away, Kempadoo wanted to make the staff part of the action with a cas- ual, local food restaurant. “We’re not going for discreet Asian service,” says Kempadoo. “Our people are too naturally gregarious for that.”


MANGO WALK Kempadoo has high hopes that the spa, Mango Walk, will become a signif- icant destination spa. Slated to open at the end of 2015, he says it will offer unusual spa treatments. The spa team is currently research- ing all the local and regional indigenous treatments in order to offer a menu which is rooted in the history and culture of the area – with


Read Leisure Management online leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital 49


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