Quantum of Solace

Ian Fleming first came to Jamaica during World War II. He was on an assignment from the British government, sent by Naval Intelligence to investigate German U-boat activities in the Caribbean Sea.

But the novelist’s fertile imagination quickly sought solace from the drudgery of war. Fleming became captivated with the island’s natural beauty and would live the rest of his life here. Somewhere within his creative circuitry, the first impulses for a new work of fiction began to fire. He would go on to create a roguish spy named Bond, James Bond, and trace his adventures through 14 novels — all of them written at a majestic house he built on 15 acres overlooking the village of Oracabessa Bay on the northeast coast, a former donkey racetrack that became his home and creative refuge.

Fleming sketched his dream house and built it in 1946. He called it GoldenEye, appropriate in that Oracabessa roughly translates to “golden head” in Spanish. But Fleming also suggested the name might have been an homage to Carson McCullers’ novel, Reflections in a Golden Eye, or even a code name for a World War II contingency plan he helped develop to protect Gibraltar from invasion.

Nevertheless, what started as a relatively simple house plan grew larger and more extravagant over the decades as Fleming added rooms to the property and carried on his love affair with Jamaica, its people and vicariously through the exploits of Agent 007. Fleming said he delighted in “the blazing sunshine, natural beauty and the healthiest life I could live.” The island, the secret agent and the author became inseparable. Fitting that Dr. No, the first Bond movie, was shot in Jamaica.

GoldenEye soon also became a refuge for heads of state, literary giants and Hollywood stars. The list of guests includes Errol Flynn, Katherine Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Truman Capote, Princess Margaret and Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

Fleming died in 1964, and GoldenEye languished until reggae superstar Bob Marley bought it in 1976. Shortly after, Island Records founder Chris Blackwell bought it and has owned it ever since. In October 2010, GoldenEye, 20 minutes east of Ocho Rios, reopened for business in a new incarnation after an ambitious three-year redevelopment project. It now boasts 80 private villas — some of the most exclusive lodging on the island — two restaurants and a supermarket. A new generation of celebrities has frequented the property in recent years, including rock stars Sting and Bono, models Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, and actors Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan, who played Bond in the film GoldenEye.

Though newly renovated, GoldenEye remains acutely in touch with its past — and with Ian Fleming. His original desk remains in his villa, black-and-white photos from decades ago abound and large bamboo-framed canopy beds are reminders of the spirit with which the home was built.