St. Nicholas Abbey

January 19, 2011 · Filed under Barbados · Tagged Jacobean, mahogany, orchids, rum, sugar cane

 

The MIL is visiting, so I am (desperately)  searching for things that I can see and do with her.  The beach had filled a lot of days during the week, but a car this weekend allowed us to get around the island and see some sights.

We had been advised by lots of people to see St. Nicholas Abbey, it is listed on all the tourist websites, so on Sunday, we finally made the drive.

It was built in 1658, and is one of only three Jacobean houses in the Western hemisphere, the others are Drax Hall (also in Barbados) and Bacon’s castle in Virginia.

SNA (as I am now calling it), is one of the islands oldest surviving plantations. The plantation is over 400 acres of sugar cane, and has a huge number of mahogany trees. When we were there, I was talking to an employee about the trees, he had recently cut up 200 dead ones, sawed them into planks that were stacked in one of the barns.

The plantation has nothing to do with a church but the name comes from owners who combined ‘Nicholas Plantation’ (the original name), ‘St. Nicholas Parish’ (where the brides family lived) and ‘Bath Abbey’ (where they were married). I love to read how other people came up with their house names, reminds me of how we came up with Kilbourne Grove.

This is such a beautiful house, very airy and bright. The Drawing room’s cedar panelling was added in 1898 to protect the house from dampness and is oiled once a week (I shall have to step up my wood oiling at Kilbourne Grove), yikes! 

There were a number of Sailors’ Valentines around the room, popular souvenirs from the 1860’s. Amazing how much time they would take, no internet, tv etc. to distract you from glueing all these tiny little shells together.

I need one of these! It looks so snuggly.

In the Study, the Gentleman’s chair has adjustable tables, a book holder, reading lamp, back and foot rests. All I need is a little bell to call Ian when I need a drink, lol.

Look at this beautiful staircase.

 It is chippendale and has a different pattern on each flight,  love it.

The upstairs is not open to the public, this is where the owners live, so we headed outside to see the gardens.

The tree just outside in the stable yard is over 400 years old.

It is a Sandbox Tree, (Hura crepitans) which is indigenous to the caribbean, and it is huge, I couldn’t fit it all in my photo.

On the other side of the courtyard, the old stables had been turned into a museum, gift shop, and cafe. As you entered you received a rum punch, delicious, (I was tempted to walk back and forth several times, lol). 

They also have a small distillery where they produce rum in small quantities. I was surprised to find out it is similar to making maple syrup, boiling down the juice from the cane, until it is thicker.  They used to do it with a series of kettles, but now have a bit more modern system.

10 tonnes of cane=3000 litres of cane juice=60 hours of fermentation=20 hours of distillation=260 litres of ethyl alcohol=2 barrels of rum for aging=700 bottles of rum after 10 years! Suddenly I appreciate that rum a lot more.

 There were lots of lovely gardens everywhere, and tons of orchids. I saw some unusual growing methods for them, from tying them to a stake,

 to this metal cage,

and of course growing in trees.

And lots of great containers, from concrete that had moss and tiny ferns growing on it,

 to old metal kettles.

It is fascinating to see how rum was made and what one family has accomplished in bringing this plantation into the 21st century.

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