Plantation punch: soaking up the best of the Caribbean at the Montpelier, Nevis

I have found the perfect way to begin a holiday, and it involves a zippy motorboat, ice-cold bottle of beer in hand — with plenty more resting in the cool box below — while the salty air whips away all memories of the life you’ve left behind.

Truly, the journey to the Montpelier Plantation is a crucial part of its allure. Oh, and the fact that it sits on a pristine Caribbean island helps, of course.

Nevis lies just two miles from the resorts of its better-known sister isle St Kitts. It’s rather more rustic, with lush rainforest and a towering volcano, smaller, more sedate and almost perfectly circular with just one road weaving round its spectacular coast.

The hotel itself is perched on a hill in the quiet southern corner.

As the name suggests it’s built on the site of a former 18th-century plantation — for history buffs, it’s the very one where Horatio Nelson married Fanny Nisbet in 1787. From the perfectly manicured gardens there are spectacular views down to the distant sea, while the pool sits in the shadows of the magnificent Mount Nevis.

Other guests braved the sweaty day-long hike to its summit, and regaled us with harrowing tales over pre-dinner cocktails, but in true British fashion we chose to spend our days in a rather more sedate manner: basking in the sun.

For Montpelier’s private beach is an utter delight. It’s a bumpy 15-minute ride to the coast from the hotel, but the cheerful minibus trip merely adds to the appeal — mainly because you can spend the travel time dreaming of the all-too-refreshing rum punches that a bartender will be all-too-regularly delivering to your cabana, while you unwind by gazing at the distant peaks of St Kitts.

We found our packed lunches of shrimp wraps and freshly baked oat and raisin cookies delicious, but a short walk along the blistering sands in either direction lead to some excellent shore-side snacks. Our favourite was a 20-minute stroll to Pinney’s Beach, where ‘Sunshine’ served up his signature potent ‘Killer Bees’ cocktails, the recipe for which he insisted on keeping a secret.

Mixed under the bar to avoid the gaze of prying eyes, they are exceptionally moreish – but if, like us, you give in to the temptation of a third, be warned that you will be in urgent need of a nap on your return inland. Thankfully, all of the hotel’s 19 rooms are light and lovely, several with wrap-around verandas and cool, sparse interiors.

But the real treat at Montpelier is the food, and most nights the restaurant thrummed with a quiet buzz from the residents of nearby hotels who flocked there to eat exquisite spiny lobster ravioli, wahoo ceviche and squid ink fettuccine. A private dinner in the candlelit 300-year-old sugar mill is a particularly unforgettable experience.

All too soon it was time to return to the seas for our journey home, and this time the beer on the motorboat tasted a little less sweet.