Botanical Barbados: Andromeda, Flower Forest and Hunte’s Botanic Gardens

This post was always going to be a never-ending visual overload of garden and flower photographs, offering something of a Barbados flora fix – taken from the three botanic gardens I managed to visit:

• Flower Forest
• Andromeda
• Hunte’s Gardens

Just to say – all of these botanic gardens had a few instant things in common, including:

1. They’re all an oasis of birdsong, plants, flowers and trees
2. They’re a perfect escape for some solitude, quiet time, meditation time
3. They’re a handy escape for some shade from the harsh heat of the sun
4. You can idle and wander the day away, sitting and absorbing at your own pace
5. You’re going to see unique plants and flowers that you’ve probably never seen or heard of before
6. You’ll feel a deep sense of calm and relaxation if you allow yourself to switch off (don’t go when you’re in a rush or on a tight time limit – avoid doing an organised excursion, do it at your own pace)
7. Each garden has plenty of seating areas dotted around various nooks and crannies, so you’ll have not trouble finding somewhere to hide, and be still
8. Once you enter these garden’s there is no time limit – you can stay as long as you like…well until they close. Though I’m sure I saw something about Andromeda being flexible and staying open later to suite your needs if necessary.

It’s worth mentioning that they all have a small entrance fee.

Barbados Flower Forest

I learned so much during my private tour of the Flower Forest garden – or should I say pharmacy filled with beautiful flowers.

Flowers that produce delicacies for birds, ready made bird seed, and other wildlife to enjoy, a flower known as ‘ginger shampoo’ which is spongy to squeeze and oozes a water with a strong ginger smell – good for your hair apparently.

I got my freshly picked supply of bay leaves for all that bay leaf tea we talked about earlier…

I left feeling deeply relaxed.

The tranquility and peacefulness of this place really pulls you in. The part of us that naturally wants to disconnect from the artificial things in life and become enveloped in nature really kicks in.

I could have stayed there all day and probably have ended up asleep at some point. I heard that some people stay all day reading a book and don’t want to leave – not surprising.

My guide said he tries not to sit down for too long or close his eyes (as tempting as it is) since he’d probably end up in a deep relaxed sleep in no time…..no sleeping on the job!

 

At the end of your visit, you’ll receive a much needed complimentary cold drink 👍

Andromeda Gardens

This is the one I got lost in – and the biggest of the three gardens, I think.

On entry I was told you can move through the Andromeda Gardens in a U shape and exit from the other side of the plot.

I must have gone around the same trail about three times trying to find the ‘other’ way out, and ended up going back via the trail I entered with. Lots of people get lost at a certain point in the garden and it sounds like this was the case yet again – some better signage might help.

I fed back to the staff that it was ok getting lost since each time I went around I spotted something I hadn’t noticed the previous time and ended up slowing down again; maybe getting lost is the way to go!

There were quite a few quaint spots with benches to sit on and soak up all the beauty and peacefulness, little cute bridges and no end of interesting plants and flowers – all labelled. Anyway – there’s more than enough here to give you a taste!

Some kind of giant strawberry looking thing – above!

Hunte’s Gardens

This is the one you’ll probably hear about the most as it’s pushed hard to tourists in Barbados. It is beautiful, but smaller than the two above, and much more tourist heavy.

When you enter, the sound of the birds is accompanied by soft tones of classical music playing gently in the background all around the gardens.

There are also some very quaint antiques and personal items to admire in the ‘house rooms’ of the garden.

The owner (Anthony Hunte) will make you feel like you’ve come around to his house for a social, rounding visitors up around the sofas when you enter the house/shop, to talk to you about the garden, tell you how he built the place up and the financial decisions he made to get it off the ground  –  before prompting everyone to ask him questions and then ask you all where you are from etc…..a group session of sorts, and a neat sample of his own line of rum if you can handle that in the high heat of the day.

With around ten people seated, Mr Hunte recounted that his family came to Barbados in the 16th century and worked for people on the plantations. His father was born on a plantation and they were a big family, with grandparents and uncles.

Mr Hunte said it was hard to buy anything or make money back then unless you were part of a big conglomerate, but in 1990 he was able to buy the plot we were all sitting in after selling everything he owned including a shop in Bridgetown, that had sold plants and a nursery – and putting all his eggs into one basket – Hunte’s Gardens came into being.

Mr Hunte commented that he doesn’t see any need to go into Bridgetown anymore – the island’s capital.

Bridgetown being the heartbeat of the island where it’s everyday people hustle and bustle each day to make a humble living. A part of the island where you can stay connected with those people.

When asked about visiting the UK, Mr Hunte commented that “you don’t really meet many English people in London anymore”. Nobody really responded to this, nor the comment made about wilfully aggravating China.

It felt like he wanted to get everyone into a politically fuelled discussion, but nobody took the bait.

The building we were sitting in was over 150 years old and used to be the stables for the plantation horses. He put a roof on the house and moved into it while renting out the plantation and continuing to sell plants to make some money. He had some race horses as well.

20% of the plants in Hunte’s Gardens are indigenous, the other 80% are imported from around the tropical world.

Mr Hunte says he gardens every day and has a team of three other staff to help him – he also said he’s looking for someone to pass it onto, ‘before he snuffs it’ to use his exact words……I’m sure the Barbados National Trust would be happy to take it off his hands if all else fails! This is how Andromeda Gardens is currently owned.

The garden is actually built inside a giant sink hole

Garden Time

Cleanse your mind with some garden time, be they botanic gardens, a local park, a chance green space or your own garden at home – there is much needed and relatively cost free soothing therapy in it.

Above: gardens around a hotel grounds – such a welcome dose of green 🌴