Ins & Outs of Barbados 2020

EXPLORE  195 INS Andromeda Botanic Gardens Above: This is the only RHS partner garden in the Caribbean. Built on the slopes of Bathsheba by Iris Bannochie, who planted over 80 species of trees and hundreds of plant varieties from all over the world. She left it to the Barbados National Trust in her will. A journey through this enchanted seaside garden reveals surprises around every corner and your visit is enhanced by a very good café. Open daily 9am to 4:30pm. (246) 433-9384 andromedagardens.com WIRRED - Walkers Institute for Regenerative Research, Education and Design With Walkers Sand Quarry coming to the end of its mining life within the next couple of years, owner Ian McNeel has taken an inspired visionary approach. Ian, the founder of Walkers Institute for Regenerative Research, Education and Design (WIRRED) has spent the last 6 years transforming a sand mine into a food forest using regenerative agriculture and permaculture techniques. Ian and his wife Julie are also the brains behind the Barbados Slow Food movement. Not only will the project have hundreds of fruit producing trees such as banana, breadfruit, avocado and mango, but Walkers Reserve will also be a stunning recreational area on Barbados’ picturesque Scotland District on the north-eastern coastline. It will be interesting to watch the McNeel’s plans unfold over the coming decade. Coco Hill Forest Above: Spend a couple of hours walking in this beautiful 53-acre tropical forest, which is home to beautiful old native trees with thousands of fruit trees, surrounded by vegetables, herbs and spices. With traditional vertical forest planting, Mahmood Patel grows coconut, banana, mango, avocado, paw paw, guava, coffee, cocoa, pineapple, ginger, turmeric, lettuce and basil, to name a few. Guided hikes and tours are very interesting and great fun. The area also has a fascinating geology with seams of manjak, a wide variety of different rocks, a mud plume and spring sources. The whole experience leaves you relaxed and invigorated - maybe it’s the forest bathing! To book tours and hikes call Mahmood Patel. (246) 235-4926 Turner’s Hall Wood This 72-acre (30 hectare) stretch of original forest is the only pre-settlement vegetation in Barbados. Although the sale of wood from the forest is recorded by deed in 1663, the forest has been preserved by subsequent owners under the eye of the St. Andrew Vestry. The 19th century owner, Sir William Fitzherbert, was so determined to preserve the forest that he refused the lucrative offer of an oil company to sink wells within the wood. Turner’s Hall once boasted a boiling spring where natural gas bubbled up through a pool of water and was ignited for the amusement of visitors in the 17th and 18th centuries - “the greatest natural curiosity in the island”. The natural gas is tapped today by the track leading to the forest. Arthur Maynard, a retired agronomist, lives at the entrance to the wood and gives informal tours. (246) 248-4809 Coco Hill Forest Photo Logan Thomas Andromeda Botanic Gardens Photo courtesy Andromeda Botanic Gardens