79 In 1972 Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, bought Strawberry Hill, a beautiful and historical mountain plantation estate nestled 3,000 feet atop of Jamaica’s glorious Blue Mountains. A place where Blackwell often visited as a child for an afternoon tea, this quiet retreat and secluded oasis would become home to one of the music industries most revered producers. Some years after the devastating passage of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, and the subsequent damage to the original property, Chris Blackwell commissioned Ann Hodges, a Jamaican Architect specialising in restoration architecture, to build him a cottage on the property and develop Strawberry Hill into a boutique hotel and spa with 14 Colonial inspired villas, a magnificent wood bar, infinity pool and an excellent Jamaican fare restaurant. Guests who stay today at this truly invigorating mountain retreat will be blown away by the sweeping views down to the centre of Kingston and the surrounding tree-cloaked hills which are a hiker’s paradise. A History of Island Records Take a tour through Rock and Reggae music history at Strawberry Hill as you admire walls decked with photo memorabilia, gold and platinum discs of music legends of the last four decades ranging from Mick Jagger and U2 to reggae’s Peter Tosh and the godfather himself, Bob Marley, who recuperated here after being shot in 1976. Getting High in the Blue Mountains Strawberry Hill, Irish Town, Jamaica
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