If you are searching for a place to escape the fast lane and become the stress-free person you always knew you were, you would do well to find anywhere more welcoming than the sun-kissed Caribbean paradise of Antigua.

This small yet perfectly-formed island has everything you need to escape the strains of life in Britain: copious amounts of sun, golden sands and some of the friendliest people you could find on this earth.

Largely undeveloped, the island boasts 365 beaches -- one for every day of the year -- there are no hotel build-ups on the coast and the highest buildings to be found are only three to four storeys in the capital St John's.

Despite its size -- the island is 14 by 11 miles -- Antigua, which forms part of the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, has a huge range of things to keep you occupied and it is advisable to plan ahead to fit it all in.

Antigua Village -- an apartment resort near Dickinson Bay on the north coast -- is a great base from which to explore and enjoy the island. It also boasts its own fine beaches and restaurants if you don't want to venture out.

The accommodation ranges from affordable studio flats to family homes. All are individually owned and decorated and have beach-front or pool patios.

Wherever you stay in the village you are guaranteed to be no more than two minutes' walk from its expansive and largely deserted beach which offers fine sands, palm trees and the bluest iridescent water.

A choice of water sports are on offer at the beach and all sun loungers and shade spots are free for residents of Antigua Village to use.

If you get peckish on the way, a choice of mangoes, bananas, papayas, Antiguan gooseberries and pomegranates can be picked straight off the trees on the resort's lush tropical gardens.

The premier bar and restaurant in the complex, Coconut Grove, has a relaxed atmosphere. Foodwise, there are fine seafood dishes including tuna, local snapper and King Fish.

One of the most enjoyable experiences of the holiday was a tour of the island's coast by boat. Captain Nash offers sailing trips lasting around three hours along the beautiful beach-lined western coast of Antigua. Several shallow reefs along the way offer the chance to snorkel and catch a glimpse of the superb tropical sea life Antigua has in abundance.

Miguel's Holiday Adventure on Prickly Pear island sums up the whole Antiguan ethos: lounge on a private beach, soak up the sun all day, sip a drink of your choice and taste barbecued chicken, curried conch and local delicacies served by your host. It doesn't come much better than this.

It is best to ask at the reception in Antigua Village if you can join Miguel for one of his famous beach parties, as Prickly Pear island can only accommodate 10 to 15 people at a time.

Holidaymakers who enjoy good food won't be disappointed as the range of quality restaurants for such a small island is amazing.

To sample Caribbean specialities you can't beat Home -- the name is because the owner converted his childhood house into this exotic restaurant.

Spinach gumbo, conch salad, fish, chicken curry and rice and black-eyed peas are on the menu and the more adventurous could try the goat curry, an acquired taste but definitely worth the effort.

Le Bistro, just outside Hodges Bay, is considered to be the finest restaurant on the island and has a full menu compiled and prepared by French chefs. The desserts are delicious.

If you want a break from the sun and sand, Antigua boasts a colonial history that has to be explored.

It was a main sugar cane producer during the slave trade years and the partially-restored Betty's Hope mill and museum near Parham gives you a taste of the harsh conditions faced by the forced-labourers on the island.

Nelson's Dockyard near English Harbour in the south of the island, where Admiral Horatio Nelson set up his Caribbean base in the late 18th century, is a fully-restored working port and national park area.

Many of the original harbour buildings are still in use and the officers' quarters, where the Admiral's men once gathered, is now a restaurant that offers an excellent menu and a great view of the bay.

Finally -- and what has to be the highlight of any holiday on Antigua -- is the calypso and reggae party at Shirley Heights, the highest point on the island above Nelson's Dockyard. In what was once the principal fortification for Royal Marines, there now stands a bar and garden area dedicated to partying away a hot afternoon well into the cool night.

Here locals and holidaymakers get together once a week to drink, chat and dance to the finest music the island has to offer as the sun goes down over the harbour bay. A great evening that has to be experienced and in many ways a fitting high-point to a fantastic holiday.

Antigua is one of the great escapes -- thanks to the combination that's beautiful, the locals are friendly and it has a totally stress-free atmosphere.

TRAVEL FACTS

Graeme Baker flew from London Heathrow to Antigua courtesy of BWIA Airline and stayed at Antigua Village complex.

For information about accommodation at Antigua Village visit www.antiguavillage.net. Booking directly on the website can get you a 10% discount. For inquiries about Antigua Village call 020 8566 8586.

Alternatively, contact your local ABTA travel agent.

Prices for a couple sharing a studio flat start at about £75 a day off-peak (April 15 to December 14) and about £125 a day peak season (December 15 to April 14).

A valid British passport is required for entry into Antigua.

THE ISLE OF ANTIGUA

The island of Antigua is the largest of the Leeward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean.

The nation's population is about 68,000 and its capital is St John's on Antigua.

The island is about 14 miles long by 11 miles wide and is located roughly 17 degrees north of the equator.

The Leeward Islands also includes Barbuda and Redonda (both Antiguan dependencies), St Kitts and St Nevis, Montserrat and Guadaloupe.

In 1784 Admiral Horatio Nelson sailed to Antigua to establish it as a Great British Caribbean naval base.

Temperatures generally range from the mid-70s in the winter to the mid-80s in the summer.

Annual rainfall averages only 45 inches, making it the sunniest of the Eastern Caribbean islands.

Most Antiguans are of African lineage, descendants of slaves brought to the island centuries ago to labour in the sugar cane fields.

The island was named Santa Maria la Antigua by Christopher Columbus as he passed on his second Caribbean voyage in 1493.

In 1967, with Barbuda and the tiny island of Redonda as dependencies, Antigua became an associated state of the Commonwealth, and in 1981 it achieved full independent status.