Planning a seaside resort on a virgin mountain beside a turquoise bay, Anthony Ayer instead found the ancient stone ruins of a “lost” plantation in the rain forest. Undaunted by a century’s growth of vines, trees, and tangled jungle flora, he and his wife Nancy set out to resurrect the abandoned Estate.

Thus began a year-long adventure: to clear the ragged hillside and reveal the spectacular ocean view; to locate the original manor house, sugar mill, and dependent cottages; to research eighteenth-century design and locally and abroad; to build a new Greathouse as a modern residence, faithfully honoring the footprint and design traditions of old.

Not content to just reconstruct, they created a lavish and gracious home with every amenity: dining gallery, guest house, swimming pool, stables, labyrinth, and rum factory complete with dungeon. All this is told in the Ayer’s first-person-plural account.