Flamands Blue Villa an update.

My wife Caroline and I first vacationed on St Barth not long after Cat 5 Hurricane Luis in '95, and we were amazed how quickly the island recovered from this event. A couple of trips later we started looking for a rental villa and settled on ours in Flamands which met all our search criteria.
For us, it's been an excellent 17 year adventure and we've made lots of friends (including many on this Forum) we never would have met otherwise.

Flamands Blue is up on the hillside; however, we experienced IRMA damage to a portion of our porch roof. Experienced, loyal staff arranged to have the villa assessed, repaired, cleaned and painted inside & out and we've been in phone contact almost daily since the storm.
While the painting is complete on the inside, our contractor requested we leave the exterior scaffold up for a few days while he touched up the outside.
We're looking forward to the season with new/repeat guest bookings, and we're coming very soon on vacation.
I'll be posting additional photos along with updates from our trip; these are from today, November 20th.


ALWAYS good natured Didier up high on the roof installing a couple of specialty pieces before the scaffold comes down. The gardens are coming back and our person is planning to finish additional plantings under the deck later this week.

Looking down from the upper terrace on the former Hotel Isle de France, now Cheval Blanc and former Taiwana hotels which are being combined.
Work is commencing there now and we'll be observing the progress.

Wishing you another successful year as you put the finishing touches on your house.

Looking good Jeff!

. . . reflecting happy stories on the island (we're blessed to count our experience in the same category). Glad for you, Jeff . . . and hope that neighbors of each of us, with worse damage, will recover soon.

D

great photo's. the villa is looking great Jeff. I see dda is working hard as usual, it took him 3 days just to get that scaffold up, which is coming down tomorrow.

You are ahead of the game, as a lot of the rental villa's on St. Barths are not up to speed yet. The island is indeed coming back. The flowers are blooming at an incredible rate, I think the wind excites the plants.

I hope you have a great season, as you have one of the nicer villas on this island/with a beautiful location and with the new work, Flamands Blue Villa is looking like a new villa again.

The villa looks great, Jeff. How could it not with Didier on the job! Good luck in the upcoming season.

julianne said:

The villa looks great, Jeff. How could it not with Didier on the job! Good luck in the upcoming season.

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hello Julianne, this is dda ( the real didier..lol), I hardly ever post, but I do appreciate your kind words. It was my pleasure to work for Jeff & Caroline, they have a great villa. I have worked on many projects, mostly roofs since the devastating storm Irma. It was nice to be able to take a break and go inside to enjoy the air conditioning while working at Villa Flamands Blue.

I am sure you have been busy non-stop since the storm, Didier. The island is lucky to have your talent and work ethic. See you in February!

We're almost complete, thanks to outstanding staff!
Porch & roof repairs, new gutters, painting, ready for some finishing touches & new light fixtures this week.


DDA carefully removing the scaffolding

Since new gutters in the repaired area would not match existing, we decided to install new ones all around

finished project + some paint touch ups and landscaping... Voila!

desperado said:

hello Julianne, this is dda ( the real didier..lol), I hardly ever post, but I do appreciate your kind words. It was my pleasure to work for Jeff & Caroline, they have a great villa. I have worked on many projects, mostly roofs since the devastating storm Irma. It was nice to be able to take a break and go inside to enjoy the air conditioning while working at Villa Flamands Blue.

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Absolute agreement that folks are fortunate to have you working on their buildings, Didier.
Great work. Be sure to be safe up there! Best to you and Diana. -Peter & Sue

Looks great Jeff. Liz and I looking forward to our annual visit and stay at Flamands Blue during first week of February.
Bill

. . . looking great, Jeff! I hope that you and Caroline have a wonderful visit at the Villa! Sorry to be missing you.

Fantastic! So glad your villa is on the mend! Great job Didier!

dda appreciates all the kind words. everyone on the island is working hard right now. the island is coming back for sure!

Yes, the island is healing bit by bit every day and Didier’s handy work is helping set things right again. Thanks for all you do.

Caroline and I returned last evening from 8 nights at the villa, and our first Guests of the season arrived a few hours after our departure.

The people of our favorite island could not have been more welcoming.
I might add that we dined well, too...

I'll be posting a trip report---we are fortunate to enjoy this place!

True, we are blessed. I am amazed that everyone survived.Some have left and vowed not to come back...a hurricane with tornadoes was a knockout punch for them. But I too feel fortunate to be here and to see so many welcoming happy people. Tired, but grateful an still working to make things better.