Serenity Hill, Featherbed Lane, Kendal, St John
 

Hi all,

Now that I have finally made up my mind to emigrate to the lovely island of Barbados, another headache arises - place to live...

Been looking around on the net and found the above for sale - a new development in Kendal, St John. Is there anyone who can tell me a bit more about the area in terms of how close it is to St Philip, is it a nice area to raise children especially two boys approaching their teens etc and is it close enough to decent schools, shopping areas etc.

Once again grateful for any info provided...

Re: Serenity Hill, Featherbed Lane, Kendal, St John
 

hi there. me again. I know the area because friend lives in a rental not to far from there and I drive passed it when we go to visit..

It's close to St. Philip, but not much else. It's rural, but the houses are close together (not unusual) The road isn't the best and Featherbed lane pretty much washed out in October during one of our unusually heavy rains. Serenity Hills overlooks cane fields (among other things) and it is open and airy..

it's probably about 20min to most anywhere along the south coast. if the children will be doing activities are being involved in things, it might not be the best place. But.. I don't want to discourage you.. I live in an area that takes me minimum of about 15-20min to get anywhere. we have no flat roads except the main road, so my kids don't own bicycles and we don't walk around the area because it's surrounded by canefields. But I do own a car, and don't mind (usually) the drive.

Re: Serenity Hill, Featherbed Lane, Kendal, St John
 

Sunniebgi

that sounds lovely - I am going to ask my aunt to go and have a look at the house this weekend so that hopefully we can put down a deposit soon once everything checks out alright.

when you say the houses are close does that mean that they are like how they are in England with all the houses literally one on top of the other joined together??

and should I be worried about the canefields in terms of burglary etc??

have you lived in Barbados for a long time now, is there alot for kids my age (4, 10 and 12) to do?

Re: Serenity Hill, Featherbed Lane, Kendal, St John
 

When I say the houses are close, certainly not by London standards.. not on top of each other for sure.. But close in the scheme of things..

knock on wood, we have only been broken into once since living in this house (which we purchased 11 years ago).. sooo I wouldn't worry too much about that type of thing.. Most homes also have burglar bars which can be done in an appealing way, and makes them almost not noticable.

my children are 6 1/2 (boy), 11 & 12 1/2 (girls).. They have done or still do.. Swimming, ballet, jazz, tap, arts & Crafts, gymnastics, football, cricket.. they can take surfing lessons, swim lessons, and the list goes on... during the school breaks there are day camps to attend, usually lasting 4-6hours a day (depending on the camp). of course you pay for these things.. but there is always the Beach (my favorite free activity).

Re: Serenity Hill, Featherbed Lane, Kendal, St John
 

OMG Sunniebgi,

you make me want to hop on a plane now and fly over....your kids are so lucky I can't wait sort out this move now so that my kids can have some semblance of childhood compared to being cooped up indoors all the time in the UK, especially the free activity of swimming which my youngest can't wait to do.

I feel much better now about the crime and barring the canefields surrounding the houses in Serenity Hill it all sounds lovely.

Just need to sort out schools etc and from what I understand that in itself will be a nightmare in terms of them sitting this 11 plus exam (boys are 10 and 12). Would the 12 year old have to do the exam as well or is it just a case of getting him into a school ( he will be entering the 2nd year of secondary Sept 2009).

In terms of government schools are there any that you can recommend. There is only the one school in St John which is Lodge School but don't know anything about it and then I've heard that Christchurch Foundation is good but its in a different area to St John and then there is Princess Margaret in St Philip is that any good?

Re: Serenity Hill, Featherbed Lane, Kendal, St John
 

Hi there,

The 12 year old will have to sit an entrance exam to get into the specific school you want him to go to. Each school accepts students based on their marks on the 11+ so since he's missed the 11+ he needs to sit an entrance exam and scare comparable scores to what the kids who wrote the 11+ last year achieved.

The 10 year old will have to write the 11+. Before writing the exam he can apply to a specific number of schools and he will be placed in a school dependent on the marks he receives on the exam. The top government schools on the island are Harrison College, Queen's College and St. Michael's School. The Lodge school is near the top, but not in the top 3.

Hope that helped!