Petersfield, Westmoreland is named after Peter Beckford who came to Jamaica soon after the English conquest "to seek his fortune" by selling horses. His family became successful and inherited Westmoreland properties including Roaring River and Fort William. However, he got seriously in debt and spent some time in the English debtor's prison, the Fleet, where he occupied himself by writing a two-volume History of Jamaica.

Insider’s Jamaica is for travellers who truly want to experience the island. The ethos behind it is simple; take a break from the ordinary by choosing charming places that are off the beaten path and arrange your holiday in a way that allows you to get out and familiarize yourself with the most enchanting destination in the Caribbean.

We want to encourage more visitors to meet and interact with our people, so as an insider, you get the scoop on the most unusual and exciting restaurants, attractions and local events.

The island’s intimate accommodations are usually family-operated. They all offer the warm, intimate, personalized service that is characteristic of Jamaican hospitality. When you wake up in the morning at Piper’s Cove in Runaway Bay, the owner of the hotel, Daisy Chin, asks with a smile, what you want for dinner that evening, so that she can go to the market to buy fresh produce for the day. At Strawberry Hill Villas in St. Andrew, carpenters and artisans from the surrounding communities handcraft all furniture and fixtures. The owners of Hotel Mockingbird Hill, Barbara and Shireen pride themselves as operators of one of the first hotels in the world to receive Green Globe accreditation. The recognition is certainly well deserved; at Mockingbird Hill, almost everything is recycled or reused, and waste is kept at the absolute minimum.

Every single room of Trelawny’s Hotel Rio Bueno is a discrete art gallery, featuring the works of renowned Jamaican painter and hotelier Joe James among other local artists. At Jake’s, in Treasure Beach, the line between the community and the hotel is so blurred that the first person you see could very well be a fisherman on his way out to sea for the day. More than half the guests who stay at the Bar-B-Barn in Negril and at Mango Walk Villas in Montego Bay have been there before…why do they come back again and again? Go, and find out for yourself, maybe you’ll go back again and again!

If you truly want a break from the ordinary, just bring a spirit of adventure and a desire to make our home yours. Every Jamaican is a lifelong friend you haven’t met yet, and away from the beach, there’s a whole island to discover. Come see what’s inside!
 

Take an interactive journey through the peaks & valleys of an island with it’s own unique culture.

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