“Tobago doesn’t do five-star slick. Many travellers talk of the island’s rustic Caribbeanness; rougher around the edges maybe, but all the better for it… Castara is a good example. This small village on the north coast has a lovely sandy bay, and fine swimming and snorkelling, but there’s not a high-rise or tat-shop in sight. This is just how Steve and Sue Felgate like it. They built Castara Retreats here, a cluster of stylish wooden lodges clinging to the hillside behind, and ensure that their enterprise benefits rather than blights the community. They want to link guests with the village, encouraging them to pop in to Cheno’s coffee shop, buy coconut cakes from the ladies at the bakery, or help the fishermen haul in their seine nets; thanks to patronage from the hotel, locals have set up everything from laundry businesses to tour companies. Over a passionfruit mojito, Steve told me, “We provide the money to stimulate the economy; the local people provide the happiness and the lime.” The lime? Steve tried to explain; it’s chewing the fat, hanging out, having deep conversations, drinks, it’s one of those untranslatable phrases that just, well, is.”

“Tobago has built a burgeoning tourism industry around its image as a mellow alternative to busier neighbours. Showy resorts and tacky clubs are scarce; beaches are unspoiled; nowhere does tourism threaten to overwhelm the community. The novel idea that you can enjoy yourself in a foreign country without infuriating the locals, upsetting their economy and wrecking their environment, which finds expression in the concept of sustainable tourism, is taking off here. I’m spending some time within one of the pioneers of the trend on the island: Castara Retreats, a fetching cluster of wood-built loges set among the village’s hills…. Over a daiquiri on the Retreats’ terrace bar, Steve lays out his creed, he aims to draw, as much as possible, on what’s already there, such as local services and the island’s natural resources. The Retreats should be integrated into Castara’s community, not imposed on it.”