BY AMANDA CUMMINS Step a little closer, and I shall tell you a secret. Well, it’s not exactly a secret-secret, more a pointer to something rather special. Going out for Sunday lunch – a planter’s buffet – in Barbados is something of a tradition. Convivial company, a groaning table of delicious choices and likely a rum punch or two. Hotels and restaurants throughout the island put … Continue reading Lunch at Lancaster Great House
BY AMANDA CUMMINS My father’s paternal grandfather, born in 1828, was married not once or twice but thrice. With prodigious issue. His first two wives were young ladies from Barbados, a place he visited during his service as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. Both these brides were from “old Bajan families”. Inevitably, they were cousins. Both died young. My great-grandfather returned to County Cork … Continue reading Pink in Barbados
BY AMANDA CUMMINS The Great Houses in Barbados and other parts of the West Indies were attached to estates, primarily sugar estates. Some houses were greater than others, many are now dilapidated shells and sometimes their previous existence only lies in the name of whichever estate they were at the heart of. The areas one drives through have names such as Friendship and Harmony Hall. … Continue reading St Nicholas Abbey – Pride of Barbados
BY AMANDA CUMMINS There are those for whom hot sauce is a never-to-be-repeated experience. In the same way that I, ever the child of the Caribbean, shriek at putting even one toe into the waters surrounding the UK (“you’re trying to kill me”, I said to Granny, circa 1973, Aberdovey), hot sauce is not necessarily something for everyone. Before I go any further: the correct … Continue reading Barbados Hot Sauce
BY AMANDA CUMMINS Rum punch. The Caribbean. The first lunchtime back in the West Indies is always a moment of delight, with a tantalising glass to the left of me, a seductive sea to the right, all beneath the sun. Stuck in the middle of perfection with loved ones. A proper rum punch is a drink of magic. It’s an amalgamation of sweet and sour, … Continue reading Rum Punch
BY AMANDA CUMMINS Those of us who live in the countryside in the UK are familiar with narrow lanes, sheep being moved en masse, meeting hounds and/or the field on a hunting day, tractors galore, etc, etc. This does not prepare one for driving in Barbados. There is a trick to driving in Barbados which is, essentially, go forward and ignore the opposition. There is … Continue reading Driving in Barbados
