This was a great wee trip which also lets you see a bit of the Island. We were picked up in a lovelu air-conditined mini-bus and there werecbottles of water available in a cooler. Our driver/guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. We visited Hunte's Gardens first. These are really beutiful gardens with the tallest palm trees I have ever seen! You walk down several levels and there are lots of wee seating areas you can sit at. Very tropical place! We then stopped for a nice lunch at Bathseba. Different landscape here due to being on Atlantic side Staff here were lovely and some stalls with local goods for sale. Then off to St Nicholas Abbey. There isca steam train journey you can do here but it was not on due to it being fixed but we knew about this beforehand. Wee rum tasting first. You can purchase rum there which is in beautifully decorated glass bottle. You can get your name or messages engravedcon the bottle which would make a lovely gift. A tour of the house - downstairs only as the house is so old the upstairs is becoming hazardous to walk on. Tour of the distillery and then tour of where they bottle up the rum. One of the owners was there that day and told us they had distilled gin during COVID and nowvsell gin! Beautiful grounds round the house. Well worth a visit if you are interested in rum and history! Thanks to the driver/guide on the day (Mark) and his buddy. Looked after us very well!

While the tour guide noted the importance of preserving history, they presented an entirely warped one. Walking through the beautiful grounds and exploring the house you could be mistaken for thinking this was merely an exciting 350 year old business, owned by quirky families who had a passion for rum and romance and not in fact the site of one of the worst crimes in human history. The site is presented as a centre for human ingenuity and business success, while the thousands of enslaved people that suffered and died there get a two line mention in the brochure and a small section in the museum which is unexplained. While I can have some sympathy for wanting to create an experience for tourists centred on the new rum business their failure to give any context to the history of enslavement was shocking. Particularly frightening was the favourable light in which enslavers were portrayed. I would also note there is a parrot kept in a cage which is clearly suffering as he has lost a large amount of feathers - a common sign of mental distress. The staff are friendly and helpful but if you’re looking for an accurate portrayal of history, one not centred on the oppressors, this isn’t for you.

A very beautiful building and grounds with a significant history on the island. Lovely meeting the family and hearing about the history of the rum distillery. We were given the tour by Virginia who was greatly knowledgeable and lovely in her presentation. We ate in the cafe and had a very charming waiter and nice food accompanied by a tasty rum punch. Would definitely recommend a visit.

This was awesome! We booked this through our resort. We got a great tour of the island and a cool little train ride up to the top of Cherry Hill. The view was amazing. In terms of the distillery, this was very cool to see. The tour of the house and process was very cool. We bought a bottle to go!

Very interesting history, lovely location and the train journey was short but sweet! Great views at Cherry Tree Hill - no cherry trees though!!! If you want to know why then go and visit 😄 you can help turn the steam engine round and then access the engine platform to sound the whistle ….don’t forget to say hello to the chatty parrots-they’re very funny The historical house is beautifully maintained with some very beautiful and interesting antiques and collectibles - very much worth visiting The distillery is interesting and the tasting delicious… The surrounding gardens and grounds are quite magnificent… there is a cafe which serves lovely food which, when seated feels like you are high in a rain forest We visited on a Sunday in time for the 11:30 train. Thoroughly enjoyed our time there

The steam train was expensive for such a short journey but a very beautiful view at the top. Very pleasant. The guides for both the train and the house were extremely nice. Disappointing that the whole of the first floor of the house was not accessible to the public. Distillery was informative and tasting was a bit rushed. However the real inexcusable part of this visit was how tone-deaf the place is to its real history. Not one mention of the enslaved people during the tour. Nothing! Like they didn’t exist. The pamphlet you are given at the beginning says ‘we have displayed within our house museum some of the records and artefacts of the enslaved……’ Not one word mentioned during the tour of this, not one acknowledgment of their contribution. Like it’s been erased from history. Please do better

The house is very well-maintained by the current owner, and the guide was excellent and super informative about the house's history and the rum distillation process. The owner's son, who runs the rum tasting, is very friendly and personable and takes an interest in learning more about each visitor.

The guide was very knowledgeable and experienced. It was a lovely day out where they showed us how the rum was made and the small quantities that they make there. This was very interesting, However it was an expensive journey by taxi and there and back. There wasn’t really any other way of getting there comfortably. The tickets were too expensive for the event but it was very enjoyable and I would have been happier with more rum samples for the cost.

Lovely historic house and grounds.. 1 of only 3 surviving houses in it's class.. 2 here on barbados (the other is privately owned) & 1 in the united states. Great staff, very informative and friendly. Check out times of train ride etc ahead of going and plan to get there for that or you'll have lots of waiting around like we did. They only run guided talks of the house to coincide with the end of the train ride so we had to wait ages as we'd literally just missed the train. You can do the house on your own but would miss most of the history which was important to us. It would be better if they ran guided tours more frequently. Train ride isn't very long but it's fab and takes you to cherry tree reserve with lovely views. You can help "turn the train" at the top and if you are really lucky may be able to ride back in the engine on the train footplate. They let you pull the whistle and take pics on the engine, which is a lovely touch. There is rum tasting and if you go in sugar crop season then you'll see the mill working grinding the sugar cane. It's pretty pricey - probably the most expensive thing we did, but I'd still deffo recommend it.

This was an amazing tour. My first ever train ride and my husband assisted to turn the train. The view at cherry hill was spectacular. To learn about how my people worked on the plantatin and see the beautiful history up close a d person was amazing. The rum tasting was a plus.

Beautiful setting and great history tour . Lunch at the cafe was a perfect way to end the day. Thought the rail tour would have been a bit longer, but it was different. Tour guides were very knowledgeable and engaging.

The history of Abby is the history of Barbados as a country. You will learn about the architecture of the 1500s, which was Jacobean. Tonia, our Tour guide, was awesome and very knowledgeable about the history of Abby and the surrounding areas.

I visited St. Nicholas Abbey, an old plantation house built in 1658 and one of three examples of Jacobean architecture still surviving today in the Western Hemisphere. My visit began with a house tour. I loved the shell chandelier in the drawing room. The plantation's new owner established a distillery here. They produce a boutique rum. After the tour, they gave us a sample to taste. Also on the property is the St. Nicholas Heritage Railway. I did not have time to ride it, but I was able to take a photo of the train.

The staff is friendly and one of the proprietors was there to greet us and chat at the rum tasting portion. The train ride is great -- comfortable, clean and fun. It's relaxing, with a stop for picture taking at terrific view (and some souvenir sellers who are not pushy). You can get a picture of yourself blowing the train's whistle. Good guides on the train and at the "abbey" (a plantation house, not a religious building). You can see the first floor and the rum distillery area. There are some birds to see as well. There's a super film from c. 1935 taken by a previous owner and then the rum tasting -- lovely!

My partner and I visited this week, making it our second visit in a few years. We were lucky to be the only two on a tour led by Meghan which made it extra special. Meghan was knowledgeable, funny, and patient with all of our questions. We seem to remember our first visit a few years ago included the house tour and train for one fee but this time, the tour was a separate fee from the train. As such, we chose not to ride the train again. With that said, we learned they aim to extend the tracks by the end of this year which will treat guests to a 40 minutes ride. We look forward to this on our next visit. Last but not least, don't forget to say hello to Baby and bow to Max. 🤗