Live in Barbados

Only three years ago he was the hunky Spartan whose rippling torso caused an excitable frenzy among millions of women.

But Gerard Butler appears to have succumbed to the calorific excesses of the Christmas period and alarmingly piled on the pounds.

Paunch-ing above his weight: Gerard Butler lets it all hang out on holiday in Barbados yesterday, a far cry from his Spartan six-pack in 300

Butler, 40, was snapped on the beach in Barbados yesterday enjoying a warm and sunny start to the New Year after spending the Christmas period skiing in Aspen and a cold New Year's Eve in New York.

via Gerard Butler packs some paunch on his Barbados holiday as his Spartan muscles become a distant memory | Mail Online.

Love appears to be in the air for Sienna Miller this Christmas as the actress has reportedly invited Jude Law to spend the holiday season with her.

Sienna Miller is alleged to have invited the Sherlock Holmes star to spend the holidays with her and pals at a beachfront villa in Barbados.

via Sienna Miller ‘invites Jude Law to spend Christmas together in Barbados’ – mirror.co.uk.

Justine Picardie has a nice piece in the Telegraph on Barbados’ colonial past, the Coral Reef Club, St. Nicholas Abbey, Fisherpond and Miss Marple…

There is much about Barbados that has changed since its day as a British colony, but as the gin and tonics clink, you can still see why the island became known as Little England, or Bimshire (the origins of which are obscure). Unlike other Caribbean isles, fought over by a variety of invaders, Barbados was under uninterrupted British control from the first landing of sailors in 1625 until the coming of independence in 1966. There seems to be an even greater concentration of cricket pitches and polo fields here than in the Home Counties, and the place names, like the architecture, are testament to its colonial past (Chancery Lane, Clapham, Hastings, Scarborough).

via Barbados: Sun, sea and G&T – Telegraph.

I dug out an old article posted on August 28th that I found to be an interesting read.

It has some stats suggesting the property market has dropped by as much as 30% and also gives a short history of the first settlers to current homeowners detailing a little on the history of who has owned here and the effects on property prices!

What are your thoughts? Accurate?

An amusing article using Allen Stanford as an expample posted on www.bajan.wordpress.com titled, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”

Other sports include netball, left, and cricket, where Graham Hick is one of the star coaches

This is the Barbados Sports Camp, a smart idea dreamt up by the tourist board to attract more people to the island after the summer Crop Over Festival, when the number of visitors traditionally dips. Now in its third year, the scheme is proving a success with almost the full summer quota signed up by the first day.

It’s an attractive idea to kids who dream of seeing their picture one day on the cover of Fifa’s annual computer game – which sadly seems to have supplanted scoring the winning goal in a World Cup Final as the top footie ambition – not least because it is led by British and Caribbean sporting icons. For the parents, there’s the added attraction that it’s free (though you do have to buy a holiday to Barbados in the first place).

Source: Sign up for sun, sea and sport on Barbados

BPL is delighted to inform you the rich and famous still tout Barbados as a favorite!

In fact, on a recent wedding vacation, The Bill’s Ali Bastian, reported in the Daily Mirror that Barbados was the destination for her best holiday ever.

Awesome news for the island as we continue through these tough financial times. With tourism being our number one source of revenue, nothing can beat free press like that.

A number of high profile celebrities often choose to vacation in Barbados. Just a few of the many are mentioned in this article ..

The small Caribbean island of Barbados is a popular place for celebrities and stars to visit. According to Expedia.com (www.expedia.co.uk ), Barbados is the number one place to go to see celebrities. This is, after all, where Tiger Woods came when he married his longtime girlfriend Elie Nordegran. They made the famous Sandy Lane Resort their choice to wed, and they are not the only big names to visit.

Frank Sinatra was a regular here, while the west coast of Barbados, where Sandy Lane is located, is known as the Platinum Coast for the high number of very wealthy people who own houses.  Oprah Winfrey bought a house here, and in a seemingly previous life, so did Britney Spears. The celebrity strip near Holetown is famous for its visitors, including Mick Jagger and Sting.

Source: www.homesgofast.com

One of Sugar Hill’s property owners, Sir Cliff Richard, speaks about why his home in Barbados is the perfect hideaway.

With four months to go before his world tour with The Shadows to celebrate 50 years in showbusiness, Cliff Richard is relishing respite from the public gaze in Barbados, where he can party in private. Unlike those who frequent the flash Sandy Lane resort and pose for the paparazzi – from stalwarts Simon Cowell and Michael Winner to newcomers such as Westlife’s Kian Egan, who got married there earlier this month – Sir Cliff prefers to keeps his social life behind the closed doors of Coral Sundown, his plantation-style villa on David Lloyd’s Sugar Hill Resort, set inland from the celebrity-studded ‘Platinum’ coast.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Just one of the many high profile celebrities who have made Barbados one of their second homes.

The England and Manchester United star and wife Coleen have decided on the Caribbean mansion after recommendations from a number for celebrity friends who have also purchased a luxury home at Royal Westmoreland, Barbados. Many English newspapers have reported that Royal Westmoreland has owners such as Wayne & Coleen Rooney, Joe Calzaghe, Ian Woosnam, Gary Lineker, Ashley & Cheryl Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Steve McLaren, Mike Gatting, Ant & Dec, Michael Vaughan, Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen, to name only a few of the more well known.

Source: www.luxuryrealestate.com