Wendyhq3161ga
Mar 29, 2024
Fabulous owner who made us so welcome - We loved our trip here however as we hadn’t pre booked the train, we were unable to participate in that part of the tour - book in advance!!! The house was interesting and the tour guides friendly. We met the owner Simon who was fabulous. So much fun and made us so welcome. 400 acres of trees, plants and greenery. The cafe is stunning. You can get your Rum personalised and engraved here, which we did! They will be extending the railway to make it even longer. Views to Cherry Tree Hill are worthy
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Reviewsbysnell
Mar 28, 2024
Amazing Experience great guide Michelle - An amazing place. So much to see. The house, the steam mill, the distillery and rum tasting. A stunning location and respectful memory for the past.
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Relax64640479264
Mar 17, 2024
Rum tour experience - You don’t have to like rum to enjoy this tour, but it helps! The railway, house and distillery are spectacular and the history was so interesting. Virginia was our tour guide who is knowledgeable, friendly and funny. The photo op at the end of the train ride is breathtaking with local venders selling reasonably priced Barbados mementos and souvenirs. Lunch was great and the rum punch was the best I have ever had.
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Northernlass1981
Mar 9, 2024
A beautiful place with warm hosts & great rum! - What a stunning place this is ... a beautiful house and plantation plus welcoming, knowledgeable people with a true passion for what they do.Our tour guide for the house was Virginia, a welcoming and entertaining guide who genuinely loved what she did and told us about the art, the family and more.At the distillery, we saw how the rum was made, watched the bottles being hand filled, labelled and packaged too which was lovely to see.The rum tasting was informal and fun.... not too much hard sell and info overload like in other distilleries... but witty and warm thanks to our host Simon (who I later found out was part of the family there) I found him a wonderful host who despite the big group took the time to make you feel like you were the only person in the room. We finished with the steam train journey and my husband helped to lift and turn the train around at Cherry Tree station.... again our guide was informative and fun and we loved our journey through the plantation.Some of the reviews on here I find completely unfair.... it's a lovely day out, in a beautiful heritage home and well worth a visit. I only wish we'd had more time to spend there but as we were on a tour... we had a set slot so had to shuffle through fairly quickly.Thank you to everyone at St Nicholas Abbey for a wonderful visit... I hope you are around for many years to come and that we get to visit again some day.
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Aaron_r
Mar 6, 2024
Delightfully unboring - There were 6 of us in the tour, so it was very small and private. The tour guide was very professional and extremely knowledgeable, the party asked very detailed questions and she knew all the answers right off the bat, she is clearly very interested in what she is talking about, and makes it feel like you’ve got a truly knowledgeable guide.
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784carylg
Mar 1, 2024
Highly recommended - Very fun and interesting visit to the Abbey with family. Virginia our guide around the plantation was magnificent giving us all the history of the place, house, furniture and the workings of the distillery. The short film in the cinema room at the end was also fascinating. It was really lovely to see the owners hands on working at the site and to be actually greeted by Simon at the end with a taste of the rum. A really special memory for us. Thankyou.
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Voyager38456459754
Mar 30, 2024
Family visit to St Nicholas Abbey - Family's visit to SNA, we travelled via hire car... it was easy to find, and the drive-in was beautiful. We purchased the train and house options. The train ride was a short trip to Cherry Tree Hill Station, which offered stunning views over the east of the island, a short walk from the train.My husband and son enjoyed helping physically pushing the engine around on the ingenious turntable at the end of the track and then tooting the whistle before we descended back down to the Jacobean House.The guides were excellent and the train drivers so friendly with the kids.The house tour is interesting with a range of interesting facts, architecture and artefacts dating from 1696. Rihanna our tour guide was lovely.The film taken by the previous owner was a nice touch but, as historians, we felt that the history of slavery here wasn't addressed and this is a missed opportunity to deepen understanding of the development of the plantations and the global industry they supported.The rum tasting was fun and we enjoyed pizza and cake on the stunning terrace. A good day out.💕
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Shiney36
Mar 12, 2024
A must visit for visitors. - As a non driver I was surprised that the information re bus travel to this popular attraction was non existent. I am currently in Oistins. I took the bus to the Speightstown bus depot. I then took the ZR bus to Boscobelle and asked the driver to drop me off at Diamond Corner. A 25 minute walk gets you to the attraction. However as I am a fit person the driver dropped me off at the rear driveway and I walked across a dirt track. This was a 10 minute walk. The woman on the reception was very informative and helpful in assisting me with the type of visit I wanted. She did not try to hard sell and took her time to deal with me, even though I asked the same questions over and over. I opted for the rum tasting and a tour of the house. With my armband attached I entered the big house and awaited my guide. Several people were sat on the furniture awaiting the start of the tour. This furniture is over 100yrs old and is part of the tour. Not a wise move as modern visitors are slightly bigger than our ancestors. Upon the arrival of the cruise ship tour members, the tour began and we were informed that the abbey was actually a plantation house with 200 slaves working 400 acres. The tour only involves the downstairs of the house as the staircase is not suitable for visitors. The building and the artifacts within were explained. The downside to this was that the cruise people were on a time scale and had to be at their next attraction at a given time. They missed a lot of the interesting things about the house, and it felt rushed. Rum tasting is a must for any visitor. At the end of the tour a not to miss newsreel consisting of footage recorded by the Cave family was shown to all. Some people left halfway through. This recording made me feel that I was actually on the plantation and in the area at the time. There are steps on this tour and some slopes if you are visiting. Toilets are impeccable and there is a cafe / restaurant on site. A large lake is at the back where time can be taken up watching the birds dive into the water, as one observes the steam train passing by. Typical of Barbados there is very little input of the contribution made by the slaves in the building of the Abbey, the railroad and the rum production. With the statue of a horse in the grounds I found that that it was a deviation from the informative nature of the tour. Before leaving I spoke to Simon who stated that the slaves contribution is something that is being addressed. On leaving, the 25 minute walk to the ZR completed a great day at the "Abbey".
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Kmac322
Mar 3, 2024
Great tour/rum tasting but skip the Terrace Cafe - We had a wonderful tour of the house followed by a rum tasting. Virginia, our guide was fantastic- everything you want in a tour guide - knowledgeable, engaging and entertaining. The rum was also very good. While the cafe is beautiful, the food is average at best and very expensive. The worst part though was the waiter - quite possibly the rudest waiter we’ve ever had. Highly recommend the tour of the house and rum, but would avoid the cafe at all costs.
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Cheryl
Mar 6, 2024
Good but shame about the rum tasting - The tour of house was really good we did not catch our tour guide name and the cute little tabby cat was very sweet. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and talked about the history of st Nicholas Abbey and the rum. Felt we missed out of some of the parts.The rum tasting was a let down. Simon one of owners talked about the rum that we tried but then started talking his friends in Canada ( as there were Canadian in the group and his kids) this was not something we were interested in and left before we could taste the rest. He needs to visit Mount Gay tours as how to captivate a group and how to keep the group interested, while tasting the rum. he needed better charisma. The train to cherry tree hill was amazing and the driver and fireman were brilliant as were the tour guide.
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