By Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon, CJ Travel Editor

St. Lucia’s Stonefield Estate has announced its rebranding as a health and wellness retreat, unveiling several new amenities in line with its new mission.

The 17-villa boutique hotel on the island’s southwest coast will enter the 2017/18 tourist season with a new fitness center with an indoor yoga studio and outdoor yoga “shala,” as well as the new oceanview Stonefield Escape Spa, which also overlooks Petit Piton.

Additionally, guests dining at the resort’s Mango Tree restaurant will now be able to enjoy customized healthy cuisine, created using organic produce fresh from the hotel’s farm.

“We knew that our location, with its extraordinary natural beauty, seclusion, and serene environment would be the ideal retreat for health and wellness travellers,” said Cybelle Brown, Stonefield’s director of sales and marketing. “The wellness sector continues to grow, we saw this evolution, so it was a natural step for us. Our partnership with leading travel agents in this market has resulted in a series of retreat bookings from 2016 and throughout 2017. It’s taken off at a much faster rate than we ever imagined.”