Get in
[edit]This is one area of Barbados where you need a car (which you can hire at the airport or in Bridgetown). Buses are slow and mostly serve radial routes from the city, with not much running cross-district. Bus # 6 runs from Bridgetown Fairchild St to Bathsheba, and Bus # 3 runs from Bridgetown Princess Alice to Belleplaine and St Andrews Church, both routes hourly, daily. Bus # 1E crosses the top of the island every couple of hours daily from Speightstown on the west coast to Belleplaine and Bathsheba.
Get around
[edit]As above.
See
[edit]- 1 Farley Hill is at Benny Hall on Highway 2, straddling the boundary with Saint Peter. The 19th century mansion is now a ruin. It's set in Barbados Wildlife Reserve; brick paths lead through four acres of mahogany forest. Adult B$30, child B$15, which includes admission to Grenade Hall Signal Station.
- 2 Morgan Lewis Windmill in Savannah, Saint Andrew, is an 18th century sugar mill restored to working order, and in use one Sunday a month in the sugar harvest season Feb-July. It's one of only two functioning sugar windmills in the world, the other being Betty's Hope Mill in Antigua. It's open for visits daily 9AM-5PM.
- Long Pond is a river estuary in Belleplaine, Saint Andrew, cut off from the sea by a sandbank to form a brackish lagoon with bird life; in dry season it's a mud flat.
- 3 Andromeda Gardens, Foster Hall, Bathsheba, St Joseph. Daily 9AM-4.30PM. Attractive garden ranged over the hillside, created from the 1950s by Iris Bannochie, and gifted to the Barbados National Trust. With pleasant cafe. Adult B$30.
- 4 Malvern Great House is a rambling 17th century mansion; it's nowadays a centre for complementary medicine but is occasionally open for public tours. It's at Malvern, Saint John, on the boundary with Saint Joseph.
- 5 Clifton Hall in St John is often booked for events such as weddings, and can only be toured by special arrangement.
- 6 Sunbury Plantation House, 6 Cross Road, Bowling Alley Hill, Saint Joseph. Elegant house dating back to 1660; refurbished late 2018 as most original fittings had been lost in a fire. It's not large enough to absorb crowds so you need to swerve the cruise tour groups. B$25.
- 7 Hunte's Gardens are in Coffee Gully off Hwy 3A St Joseph, open daily 9AM-5PM.
- 8 Flower Forest is off Richmond Road, St Joseph, open daily 8AM-4PM.
- Green monkeys (Chlorocebus) are often seen in this region. They're an Old World species, native to sub-Saharan Africa but introduced to the Caribbean during the slave-trading and colonial eras. They spend their days on the ground and sleep at night in the trees. Don't feed them, they're cute from a distance but pesky up close, they damage crops, and one of them blacked out the whole island in 2006 by shorting a power line.
- 9 Harrison's Cave, Welchman Hall, Saint Thomas, ☏ +1 246 4173700, fax: +1 246 417 3709, [email protected]. Daily 8.45AM-3.45PM. This is an impressive limestone cave, richly decorated with stalagmites and stalactites. The standard tour takes an hour, is suitable for all ages and is on a tram (think rollercoaster car without the sickening plunges). Various more immersive tours are available, booking essential, for example the "eco-adventure" taking 3 hours, adults only, price B$200. Standard tour adult B$60, child B$30.
- 10 Coles Cave is a well-decorated karstic cave. It's a tougher proposition and you need to be fit and agile.
- Saint Joseph Church: the original Anglican church, built circa 1640 (origins disputed), was yet another casualty of the hurricane of 1831. The present building dates from 1839 but is now a sad ruin.
- 11 Gun Hill Signal Station, Fusilier Road, Gun Hill. M-Sa 9AM-5PM. The station was built in 1818 by the British as a look out point. Well restored, the lookout tower provides a panoramic view of the western side of the island. A statue of a lion carved out of a single block of stone sits below. Adult $B12.
- 12 Codrington College is an Anglican theological college, built 1714-1745, nowadays part of the University of the West Indies. It's twice been wrecked by hurricanes and once by fire but remains a graceful structure, though its history as a college has veered between the shameful and the shambolic. You can visit daily 9AM-6PM and are welcome to attend services.
- 13 Conset Bay is an attractive bay and small fishing village.
- 14 Culpepper Island: Trinidad has Tobago, Antigua has Barbuda, Grenada has Carriacou; but Barbados' best attempt at a sister island is this uninhabited speck on the map. It's all of 40 x 30 yards in extent and 30 yards from shore, so at low tide with a quiet sea you can wade out to it. The Arawak Indians have claimed sovereignty over it, but to date there's no sign of encampment, casino, or other ritzy development.
Do
[edit]- Surfing: off Bathsheba is the reef-break of Soup Bowl.
- Bathsheba beach, dotted with colossal boulders, is generally too rough for swimming, take local advice before venturing in. And hold onto toddlers with a grip of iron, as the waves can pluck little ones off the beach into the seething foam and undertow.
Buy
[edit]Frankly, no. There's a convenience store Cleaver's Hill supermarket by the junction of Hwy 3 and the east coast road, open daily 8AM-8PM, but mostly folk head into Bridgetown for their big shop.
Eat
[edit]- Naniki is up in the hills in a breezy, lush environment. It offers Bajan food including a selection of vegetarian dishes and seafood. Great views, you may wait a long time for your food. It's in Surinam off Hwy 3, open Tu-Su 12:30–3:30PM.
- Village Bar at Lemon Arbour [dead link] is an informal lunch spot located in a tiny village. Open Tu-Th 11AM-5:30PM and F S 10AM-10PM. Bajan cuisine such as Pudding & Souse, fried or barbecued pork, chicken and fish, and sea cat at reasonable prices. 200 yards west of Four Roads, Saint John.
Drink
[edit]Along this coast are Old Brigand Rum Shop on Hwy 3 in New Castle, daily 8AM-8PM; Bay Tavern in Martins Bay, daily 10AM-6PM; and Dina's Bar in Bathsheba, daily 11AM-5PM.
Sleep
[edit]- 1 Eco Lifestyle & Lodge (formerly Sea-U Hotel), Tent Bay, Bathsheba (Turn off as road climbs from beach to Andromeda Gardens.). Ten rooms in main building & cottage all with Atlantic views, set in tropical garden. Bajan-style restaurant is open to non-residents.
Go next
[edit]- Public transport returns you to Bridgetown, where the riverfront promenade and the historic Garrison Savannah are the top attractions.
- Western Barbados has the most sheltered beaches for family bathing.
- Southern Barbados is a built-up resort strip with water sports.