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I am a business consultant, principally serving cross border financial services clients. In 2014 my family and I took a year out to build our vacation villa at Cooten Bay in the British Virgin Islands.
Outside of work, family comes first and my boys, Tom, Ben and Joe respectively work in Property, Film and Professional Squash. Heather, who I have been married to for 30 years, does charity work and helps all of our lives run smoothly. Additionally I spend time at Tortola Sports Club, where I play squash and I work on BVI Olympic Committee and Old Government House Museum matters as the Treasurer of both organisations. |
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The family saw the hillside where the villa is located when we first came to live in the British Virgin Island in 1995.
We decided that if development lots ever came on the market, we would build our dream villa here in Cooten Bay. That finally happened 19 years later in 2014. |
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The Chapman family, which is Mark (husband), Heather (wife), Tom, Ben and Joe (3 sons) have been involved with the Surfside Garden dream from inception to the day our first guests arrived in late 2014.
Every facet of the villa has been hand-picked, uniquely designed or tailor-made by one of the family members, from the chimneybreast, to the chandeliers, to the indoor/outdoor stone spa bathroom, to the stone and tiled patios, to the panoramic windows, to the french doors, to the gourmet kitchen and even down to the spectacular surrounding lush vegetation and fruit trees. We collected stones, rocks and boulders from the property as we built it and fashioned them into pillars, walls, pathways, and both bathrooms are entirely constructed of stone, making for the most natural environment imaginable. For the four years preceding the build we nurtured a vast array of fruit trees, palms and shrubs, ready for the day in 2014 when we would landscape the property. We designed the villa for Caribbean living - no air conditioning, just the sea breeze and fans in every room to circulate the air - no pool, just the ocean a few meters from the front door. Panoramic windows along with french doors to brighten and lighten the indoor features. |