Leonardo Blair,
Staff Reporter
Ocho Rios and the St. Ann coastline stretches out below Murphy Hill.- NORMAN GRINDLEY/ Staff Photographer
QUIET!
NO CLACKING of the keyboard, no whirring of the photocopy machine, no yap-yapping from the boss. Nothing. Just quiet.
How many times have you yelled or wanted to just yell QUIET! in the office, at home to your kids, on the bus or in your car? Chances are, you never quite got your QUIET! at least, not the way you wanted it.
Maybe you can find it at Murphy Hill in St. Ann.
This 14-room, 98-acre property is just five miles outside of Ocho Rios. It's not a "getaway" kind of place. It's much more. It's QUIET! You can feel the wind's whisper brush the hairs on your skin. You can hear the breath leaving your nostrils and feel the warming tingle of your soul open up to the rustic quiet.
'Kotch' yourself on the side of the Hill and feel like you've graduated from the minionlike life of the 'townies' below to the Mount Olympus charm of the property. There's a pool, a bar, a fish pond and your room, if you decide to stay here overnight for a negotiable price of $800 for locals and US$30 for visitors.
If it gets a bit musty when you get inside the rooms just crack the windows open. You get the basics. A neat bed spread with clean sheets and soft pillows. Two not-so-modern armchairs and a T.V. you probably won't even bother to watch. The floors are red and clean. The corridors are decorated with a collage of live moths. Remember you are sharing with nature.
The concrete structure of the pig farm is still on the property but you might not recognise it if you are not told what it is.
You eat what you want when you want. Meals are done to order here. The staff complement is small and they never show up unless you want them to. The 24-year-old quiet spot is a perfect place to get in touch with yourself or rekindle dying love. You can even tie the matrimonial knot here for another negotiable price of $25,000.
There is a music system inside the entertainment room if you want to listen to your favourite songs but you can also bring your own tape if you want to take a break from your quiet. The 52-year-old property manager Leslie "Winston" Steer is unassuming and accommodative and has been working on the property before it was converted to a guesthouse. If you are concerned about security, he says, there has never been a security breach on the property because of its remote position in the group of settlements in that part of the parish.
Before you all start packing though be prepared for a bumpy half-hour ride to your quiet. Some sections of the road leading to the property are downright nasty with craters and massive fault lines so be prepared to earn your QUIET!
