Read up on the characters, setting and plot that make Jakes singular, lyrical and altogether memorable. From us to all, one love.

CHARACTERS

The Legend: The late Perry Henzell co-wrote and directed Jamaica’s first major motion picture that burst reggae into new international consciousness. According to Rolling Stone, The Harder They Come has the best movie soundtrack of all time. The legacy endures, all over, just right.

The Architect: The wondrously inventive Sally Henzell is a set-designer, poet and artist to the core. With nary a lick of architectural education, she’s built up the island’s most iconic properties. Each comes to her in a dream, of the earth and undulating with fearless color.

The Activator: After his mother opened Jakes, Jason saw in her audacious idea a business opportunity. He proved the untouristed south coast could indeed become a true destination. Then came his own big vision… building the region’s preeminent Sports Park across the street.

The Educator: Jason’s wife Laura imagined a driftwood-enclosed yoga deck above the sea and a world-class spa with island aromas below-and made it all happen. She recruits top yogis to Jakes and teaches herself. Plus, she opened a brilliant primary school for area youth.

The Enricher: Jason’s sister Justine works to sustain and protect her father’s artistic legacy. And along the way, she enhances the world with her own films and ideas. She is a producer behind Calabash, the powerhouse literary festival that’s rendered Jake’s an artistic pilgrimage.

SETTING

1660’S SHIPWRECK SWEETSPOT: When a Scottish ship sank close to Treasure Beach, its sailors swam up and stayed. They married beautiful Jamaican women, originating a concentrated genetic jackpot of gorgeous Jamaicans with Scottish surnames, light eyes, reddish hair and remarkable skin. Locally, we call dem “Reds’.

“IN THIS PARISH WE WORK, NOT SHIRK.”: The slogan on an old sign welcoming people to St. Elizabeth promises both the best of St. Bess and a population set apart by steadfast ethics and efforts. Able farmers and fishermen instilled the reputation, and we make it stay.

ARID PARADISE: The Santa Cruz Mountains naturally shelter Treasure Beach from the reams of rainfall that soak the north, so our tropical sanctuary grows both cacti and broad acacia.

BIG FISHING: The fishermen here fish like they have for centuries: with nets, traps, pots and dugout canoes. And 60 miles off the coast is a fertile bank called the Pedro Cays, where the trade’s most diehard make their home and sail in the sea’s bounty daily.

FARM FRESH: Our parish is the island’s supplier for fruits and vegetables, growing everything from sweet melons to scotch bonnet in abundance. Farmers cover their rich red soil with blankets of guinea grass to keep the minimal moisture-and then tenderly tend the rows.

Approximate Population: 3500
Clotheslines: 3500 / Dryers: 0
Community Organizations: 8

Temperature: 85°, every day
Rum bars in the middle of the ocean: 1
All-Inclusive Chain Hotels: 0

PLOT

Sally Henzell contains multitudes. She’s a bona fide set designer, window dresser, poet, muse, painter, planter, builder, stylist and most recently, architect.

In 1991, she bought a little mud and wattle house in Treasure Beach, just down the road from where she spent her childhood summers.

Sally says, “Now this little parcel of land was well known to me. It was where we ended up having walked down the reef with Daddy so that he could shoot our breakfast in Barracuda Hole and where on the tiny beach we could meet up with the neighbouring kids and play.”

She soon turned her little house into a restaurant and people started coming. Sally had a lot of friends who wanted to stay over. So she built some groovy rooms, which then attracted groovy people.

Sally reminisces: “My son Jason, who had a perfectly good job at a bank in Mobay came to see what ole flipperty-jibbet Mummy was about and saw a potential that was a far larger ambition than mine.”

Jason bought more land. Sally began to build one bespoke cottage after another. Then she visited Barcelona to see Gaudi’s work: “Everything he did mattered, when he built a house he also built the furniture, put on the doorknobs and possibly the street lamp opposite with the ornate bench underneath it.”

Sally returned and built more, differently and beautifully, above and beyond. And Jakes became everything it is. Community maker. Love cultivator. Here is where the heart is.

Jakes is located on the south coast of the island, far from the hustling bustle of the north coast, in a sea level, rain-shielded valley surrounded by mountains. So anywhere you go from Jakes is up. Bike through pristine, patchwork farmland, hike to views that will dumbfound you, workout with TRX slung from the yoga deck’s rafters and go through circuits at the Sports Park. It’s all here. Come workout hard and relax right. Come get fit and let go.

Cycles at Jakes Hotel, Jamaica

ONE LOVE : ROOMS

Once upon a time, the late writer and director of Jamaica’s first major motion picture, The Harder They Come, Perry Henzell, told his epically creative wife Sally that she would build things. True dat.

In the past 20+ years Sally’s designed every indelible inch of the Jake’s property. Each room comes to her in a dream, each wildly unique, of the earth and undulating with fearless color. Welcome to a fantastical, magical realist feast of eclectic structures, beside the Caribbean Sea’s most lovely and lashing waves.

This is your personal cinema vérité. Find the abode that most rouses your soul.

HOME AWAY: COTTAGES

Our cottages are homes away from home. One, two, three and four bedroom abodes offer earthy luxury and Sally Henzell’s signature eclecticism. Think sprawling, one-of-a-kind beds, antique furniture, ceiling fans and louvered windows shaded by bamboo blinds. Peek-a-boo glass bottles are notched liberally into the walls and shell fretwork abounds.

Come rest yuh head and relax into the seascape, all together now.

BIG DIGS: VILLAS

Laidback luxury. Exquisite eclectic. All have stupendous sea views, access to private beaches and amenities galore. Located trots down di road from the Jakes property, our villas are laden with sumptuous comfort and one-of-a-kind cool—each perfect for families, retreaters and couples. Seaweed is three properties in one, and can be rented to one or two parties at a time, assuring proper privacy and unforgettable vacation vibes.

Browse these deluxe digs and select the villa that best matches your desired vibe.

Jake’s Treasure Beach – Jamaica

OUR STORY