Cecily and Colin Lees left rainy Britain behind for a new life on the sunny Caribbean island of Dominica, as they explain to Isobel Palmer
Cecily says: “I hadn’t even heard of Dominica when we thought about leaving the rat race 13 years ago and finding somewhere better to bring up our two sons. We were looking for an environment where they could be children a little longer and where our lives could be more balanced.
Colin and I had done some travelling together and had visited a few Caribbean islands – I was born in Barbados and lived there until I was four – and we both felt a draw. He was on his way to do a reccie of a Guadeloupe farm when he read about Dominica in the in-flight magazine. He decided to take a look and fell in love with its beauty and people immediately.
Dominica is south of Antigua and north of St Lucia, and is known as the nature island. It is very mountainous, with rainforest, rivers and hot springs and a tiny population of under 74,000.
I had been in England for 36 years. I was brought up in Coventry and was working in London as a solicitor and commuting every day from Farnborough – we had a regular, non-eventful life.
The island nation of Jamaica has a fascinating history, great music and a laidback attitude, and the island continues to attract thousands of tourists, as well as canny investors. Words Emily Barksdale
