Firefly - Sir Noel Coward's Jamaican home
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 28/Feb/2011 02:42, 34 days ago
A year ago, when we arrived in Jamaica our brother-in-law suggested we find Golden Eye, Ian Fleming's home and Firefly, the home of Sir Noel Coward nearby. We have searched for them on several occasions but until now only found and visited James Bond Beach where Ian Fleming filmed Dr No. Golden Eye and Firefly remained an enigma even though Lonely Planet describes Firefly as well sign-posted on the road and Golden Eye is now a chic guest house with cottages.Last night using our Lonely Planet and extensive research on the internet we were able to hone in on the exact locations of both Golden Eye and Firefly in the neighbouring towns of Oracabessa and Port Maria. Once there, with our newly found knowledge, we still needed the locals for directions. Golden Eye is marked only by a large orange flag, no signs whatsoever. Firefly's "well-posted" sign is off on a side road and not visible from the main road unless you know where to look. One suspects nobody moved the sign after the road was improved and slightly re-routed.First we found Golden Eye which is now a pricey hotel. Rooms run from $500 to $1000 US a night. We had planned to stop in for lunch and were escorted inside the gate by the guard who handed us a cell phone to talk our way in with his manager but we were politely refused admittance. She informed us the restaurant and bar were not open to the public, the only way in was to make an online reservation. Apart from watching a couple of free range chickens strutting about on the well-treed roadways inside the gate, we saw very little.With Golden Eye behind us, we left Oracabessa in the direction of Port Maria in search of the small blue Firefly sign. We knew it had to be visible because Firefly is now owned and operated as a museum by the National Heritage Trust. But once again we drove right past it. It all became easy to spot once we knew exactly where to look. We were told to drive through Little Bay, which incidentally is not sign posted, then take the road up the hill. The only problem was the sign is twisted on it's pole with the arrow pointing in a dubious direction so before we headed off on the wrong severely pot-holed roadway we asked a local for assistance. He was happy to oblige for a small fee and we were able to follow the signs to Noel Coward's Jamaican home.Sir Noel Coward lived in Jamaica for 3 to 6 months out of every year between 1956 and his death in 1973. He died of a heart attack while in bed at Firefly and is buried on the site.Below is his art studio which houses many of his paintings and has photographs on the walls of his rich and famous guests.Below is the small blue open dining room next to the garage where the Queen Mother ate lunch when she visited and below that are the dishes she ate from. Having recently watched The King's Speech and seeing the Queen Mother in her earlier days, I'm not surprised she was comfortable in such unpretentious surroundings.The house is exactly as it was when he died, including all the furnishings so it has that wonderful 1950s feel to it. Below is the desk where he did all his writing in his upstairs studio and below that his living room which includes two grand pianos, back to back, behind the white chair which is turned to face the view out the open windows. Like our apartment, there is no glass in any of the windows, and he was lucky to live there before the need for security bars.One of the really interesting things about this property is that it was originally the hide-out of Captain Henry Morgan, the famous buccaneer who became the first governor of Jamaica. This is his house below which has small slits in the walls for shooting with guns at his enemies. Sir Noel Coward used Captain Morgan's hide-out for servants quarters and today it is used as a restaurant and bar for special events such as weddings. George and I could have sat on the porch for the rest of the day with our guide admiring the panoramic view of the Blue Mountains and the Caribbean below. Our guide wouldn't have minded one bit.Jamaica continues to show off interesting flowers everywhere we go. This one, which was growing along the wall of Captain Morgan's hide-out appears to have a very large tongue which is a flower within a flower.Here I am enjoying the spectacular view from the lawns at Firefly towards Port Maria.The red square is the now filled in swimming pool directly under Noel Coward's writing room. I thought it was a helicopter pad because I couldn't believe he and the Queen Mother drove up that bumpy road. But no, it was his pool.The house below is Sir Noel Coward's first home, Blue Harbour. It is situated 1,000 feet directly down the hill - he used it for guests after he built Firefly. We weren't told how long he lived in Blue Harbour but apparently it became too popular with his friends and he needed private space so he wandered up into the hills one day and discovered the piece of land for sale so bought it. It took a year to build Firefly.We didn't find Firefly as large or ostentatious as we expected for someone so wealthy and flamboyant. And we also found it interesting that as a homosexual he found refuge in Jamaica, a country which is openly homophobic. But the seclusion of Firefly, which undoubtedly had worse country roads in the 50s, and certainly wouldn't have been signposted, would have kept most star-gazers and curiosity seekers away, providing a delightful hide-a-way as enjoyed previously by Captain Morgan in his buccaneering days.So, we've now successfully found Firefly, but to get into Golden Eye, we need to make a reservation. Maybe in the off-season and after winning the lottery we'll be able to get ourselves further inside the gate. Or maybe our brother-in-law can make a reservation and we'll come visit him.http://www.goldeneye.com/site/