We stayed at Ellen Bay just a month ago, for two weeks. We had more than a room, we had a real apartment with two big rooms, big bath, kitchen, dining room and an amazing private terrace just in front of the sea. Chippy and Bernadette (the owners) were simply wonderful, always ready to give you any information you should need, suggestions and even to buy fresh fish directly from a fisherman friend of them. The guesthouse is a pearl up on a green hill just outside of tourist tours and resorts. What else to say? Just go...Thank you for everything, Michele and Simona (Rome, Italy)

Bernadette and Chippy who own Ellen Bay Cottages, and their family, went out of the way to make our stay enjoyable. Everyone we met in Seatons village was friendly and we didn't feel out of place at all in this quiet part of Antigua. If you want a relaxing holiday sitting on a balcony shaded from the heat of the day then this could be the perfect spot for you.

Booking our holiday ourselves to the other side of the world was a little daunting. Would we find the location and would they be expecting us? But from our initial enquiry to Bernadette through her website, we were confident that all was arranged as she responded quickly and clearly.

Chippy collected us at the airport and told us a little about Antigua as we travelled to Seatons. He even stopped at a larger supermarket on the way back so that we could stock up on groceries. We have learnt a lot about the area from this friendly family. As part of our stay Chippy took us out on his speed boat. We swam while he caught some brightly coloured fish. He then cooked these as part of a BBQ lunch the next day for all the guests. It was a lovely party. At the end of our stay we were also given a lift to our accommodation on the other side of the island.

The studio apartment was well equipped and everything incuding the important air conditioning, worked. Because the weather in Antigua is so hot we didn't go out everyday but were able to make use of the shady outside space provided. Early every morning we walked the few yards down to the jetty and watched the lovely tropical fish swimming in the clear water and then wandered through the grounds of Stingray City to talk to their parrots.

The local shop sold basic cooking ingredients and cartons of fruit juice. The eggs were very good. The locals sold fish from the jetty. The market in St John's also had a limited range of foods on offer but was no cheaper. Be prepared to eat a repetitive diet.

The local bus service was very good but unless you were catching a bus at 7am into St John's it was a 20 minute walk to the main road. We swam from the jettly next to the apartment but for a day at the beach we would recommend going to Long Bay. This is a 90 minute walk, or 20 minutes to the main road, 10 minutes by bus, and then another 30 minute walk. Fine if you make an early start. The beach at Half Moon Bay is further and the walk from Freetown is very hilly. We also walked to Betty's Hope which took us 50 minutes each way.

Nelson's Dockyard at English Harbour is well worth a visit but arrive at 9am before all the visitors from the cruise ships over run the place. There is very little to see or do in Antigua apart from enjoying the sun and the beaches. If you want a slow paced holiday then Antigua is for you and we would recommend Ellen Bay Cottages.

We stayed at Ellen Bay for three nights, which we booked as a 'Book one, Stay two' package through the Anchorage Rooms in English Harbour - we had a free transfer between the two places, and a free transfer at the end of our stay at Ellen Bay too. I was trying to search for 'budget' accommodation in Antigua ie. not a resort, and the ability to do some independent travelling away from the touristy crowds.

We stayed in the Studio apartment, which was well equipped and allowed us to cook plenty of our own meals with random local ingredients we could find on our travels, supplemented by the occasional fish caught by Chippy on one of his fishing trips. The village shop is good for picking up bread, jam, drinks, milk, rice, fruit and veg, so we only picked up other bits when we saw something different elsewhere. The shop is less than 5 mins walk from the apartments.

I would disagree with other reviews that say that you have to have a car - it probably depends how long you stay and what you like doing, and what your budget is. We didn't hire a car, but took the buses into St Johns a couple of times, which worked out very cheap, and efficient, perhaps we got lucky on the time of day, but we never waited long for a bus (buses are apparently a little bit harder to catch between about 10am and 2pm). There are also buses travelling in the direction of Long Bay, although we didn't catch one, we walked which took us just over an hour at a reasonable pace (with a decent wind to keep the heat off!). We had tried kayaking round using Chippy's kayaks, but the wind was against us, so gave up (on a calmer day it probably would have been a ~1 hour relaxed paddle). Lots of the buses will pass through the village itself (ie within ~200m of the apartments) but a safer bet is to walk to the main road which is ~15 mins walk. You could also probably walk to Betty's Hope in much less than an hour, but we didn't visit it.

According to Chippy the place by the shop does Caribbean barbecue food at the weekends (we weren't there over a weekend), so if you fancy eating like the locals you could try that to break from cooking (we ate at one of the local barbecue restaurants in English Harbour and the food was good value and tasty).

So to escape the crowds this is a great place, great value for money (considering the cost of most of the hotels in Antigua) and very peaceful. Chippy is very helpful and endeavours to make your stay as easy as possible.

Stayed for a week in the studio apt. The apt was clean and comfortable and affordable. The location on the Atlantic side of the island was nice, quiet, peaceful. It was also located right next door to Stingray City on one side and Paddles kayaking adventures on the other. You could walk to either if you wished. It was only a 20 minute ride to the other side of the island, and maybe 25 - 30 mins to the English Harbor area. I was very happy with the accomodations and would recommend to others without hesitation. The owners are really nice people too! I would recommend renting a car, and I would say get an SUV as many the roads can be rugged on parts of the island. There's a lot to see on Antigua and the freedom of wheels was great! However, I had a very bad experience with Avis, so I'd steer clear of them.