The Tennis Court

The tennis court has had an interesting history. According to some of the older folk in Negril, Dr. Arthur Drew  had hired them when they were youths to transport huge stones and earth to fill in the land in order to create a lawn tennis court in keeping with the English traditions and to extend the property by making a seawall. On the various holidays such as Empire Day, the King’s or the Queen’s birthday, he would have little parties for the local children and treat them to ice cream which was quite rare in those days.

After Dr. Drew died sometime in the late 1950s, Leeson Ewen, a hotelier from Montego Bay, bought the property from Dr. Drew’s estate. He had plans of building a hotel on the property and was intent on tearing down the old house but an architect friend convinced him that the house had historical value and only needed some minor upgrades such as indoor plumbing and an attached kitchen. As an avid tennis player he enclosed the tennis court with chain link fence and came to play on weekends with Stella Hart, his sweetheart. Perhaps, coming here with her, inspired him to name the property after a village in Wales. However, did he some how know the meaning of Llantrissant?

The grass was wonderful but in order to be truly playable it required daily watering to keep it a luxuriant green and due to the excessively high water rates in Jamaica it had to be abandoned.  Luckily, the base of the court composed of local red earth and sand makes for a solid playing surface. It, too, requires daily watering, but the water we are using is being pumped from one of the brackish water wells on the property. If you plan on playing on a daily basis, just inform the gardener to wet it down in the morning when he first arrives and then again around 3:00 PM. He usually rolls it once a week to keep it firm.

However, the days of pulling a roller have come to an end. Vincent Commock, an extraordinary engineer, who maintains our generator, has restored a Toro roller from the 1930s. This was no mean feat considering the remoteness of Negril and the precision required to mount a 21^st century engine.

Now Otis can only imagine that he will be driving a big rig next.

When you're not playing tennis, you will find that Negril has numerous other activities to keep you busy including parasailing which can give you a bird's-eye view of the tennis court.

The court is surrounded by a Casuarina hedge to act as further wind breaks and windscreens have been added to improve visibility on either end.