fragrant cedar trees. From this hill one looked down on the diminutive St Paul's church lying on the edge of the wild beauty of Paget Marsh. On the south side of this hill the land rose and then sloped gently down to the south shore beaches. In those days, if you listened very closely, you could hear the clip-clop of horses as they trod the coral road and, in the distance, the sound of the sea.

It's easy to understand why, standing on such an idyllic portion of Bermuda property in the early 1830s, a Bermudian merchant named Charles Conyers chose this site for his elegant family estate. As with the ships they owned and sailed, Bermudians had a tradition of naming their homes and so Charles Conyers named his estate Harmony Hall.

If there was a good reason for that name, that reason has long been forgotten.

One Bermudian suggested that it was not only because of the idyllic setting, but because Harmony Hall was to be the home of the new Mrs. Conyers. Another laughed and said: "By God, I believe `harmony' was what was missing in his marriage!'' Whatever the reason, Harmony Hall was one of Bermuda's most impressive mansions. But when Charles Conyers died his children sold the handsome house.

It was in the early 1900s that the owners leased the property to Mr. Clarence James who, recognising the infant but growing Bermuda tourist trade, set his family of seven children to work, and opened the house to American visitors escaping from the rigours of northern winters. Originally accommodating 12 guests, the James' expanded Harmony Hall for 20 guests.

In 1939 Clarence James' descendants sold the Harmony Hall to A.E. (Bill) Tumbridge and Harmony Hall grew and grew. After building 28 additional guest suites Mr. Tumbridge converted the ground floor of the main house into the famed Gombey Room with entertainment seven nights a week. It hosted such entertainers as Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt, Brian Butterfield, the Gombey dancers, even midgets and hypnotists. In the late 1940s and the early 1950s the word was that the real place for night life, albeit dignified and correct night life, was Harmony Hall.

Mr. Tumbridge had a great love of flowers and Harmony Hall was famed, indeed still is famed, for the riot of year-round colour in the gardens of the hotel.

In 1968 the property came into the world of major tourism when the world-renowned TrustHouse Forte International Hotels (as it was then called) bought the thriving business.

But even leaving the marketing details to one side the fact remains that whether as a family home, a quiet guest house, or as it is today a "tourist's club'', Harmony Club still holds a special place in the hearts of those who visit and constantly return, and in the hearts of those who work for a truly family concern.

But in the mid-1980s Forte Hotels decided to take a hard look at all their tourist accommodations and it was when the critical eye fell on Harmony Hall that one fact became very clear, very quickly. The only way to get the British and European tourist into Bermuda was to grapple with the vexed question of price. To those who studied the figures at Forte's headquarters near London, there was no escaping the hard fact that Harmony Hall was an expensive place to get to and an expensive place at which to stay.

Getting even the most blase and prosperous of British tourists this far was going to continue to the be beyond reality, given the prices that they were expected to pay. And the fault was not in Harmony's profit margin, nor in the way the place was being managed. Clearly, trying to reduce prices in one of the most expensive countries in the world was next to impossible. Virtually everything in the Island had been flown in, whether it was meat for the dining room or slate for the roof. With duty slapped on top of the already frightening costs of shipping, it was clear that not even Forte's brightest accountant could be expected to find a way to lower the cost of a bed-night.

And, of course, Harmony's prices were bound rise along with Bermuda's cost of living. What to do? An all-inclusive vacation was the solution, that was obviously the route to financial improvement. Easier dreamed than done, because it was vital that the figures be worked out with accuracy, that the idea would be profitable. And would Bermuda tolerate it? Those who guarded Bermuda's reputation as at quality resort would surely baulk at the idea of a `day tripper' format for any tourist accommodation -- no matter how carefully the idea was disguised as something other than that.

And there were other considerations. Even ignoring the jealousy of other hotels and guest houses, wouldn't the `all inclusive' idea hit the local restaurants? What was the need to dine at anywhere outside of Harmony if the guest had already paid for their meals? A clever marketing idea for one small tourist accommodation might spread like wildfire and Bermuda's economy could shift.

The negotiations with the Department of Tourism were probably as intense as the discussions with Forte's executives in the UK. That it all came to this sort of success four years later means that radical changes to the tourism industry can be made if courage and foresight are there. PHOTO TREES, flowers and flags grace the Harmony Club's entrance.