Barbados Sightseeing - Farley Hill National Park
Breathtaking scenery, set in the grounds of the once regal Farley Hill House, a mansion in ruins, tucked away in a forest of mahogany trees, high up on a hill overlooking the rugged Atlantic coast, Farley Hill is an ideal spot to picnic, escape into nature, hide in the shade of a comforting tree and to simply stare out to sea.
Farley Hill great house was considered the island’s most stately mansion in its day. The beautiful mansion built in 1818 by Sir Graham Briggs for the entertainment of his guest Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, when the latter visited Barbados in 1861. Other Royal visitors including Princes Albert, Victor and George, later King George V of England, were entertained there when they visited the island in 1879. The building's walls are coral stone and still standing despite several fires and hurricanes that ravished the house.
In 1956, because of its picturesque setting, the mansion was the scene of several sequences in the movie, "Island in the Sun", starring Harry Belafonte, but soon after it was destroyed by fire. The Government of Barbados bought the property in 1965 and it was officially opened as The Farley Hill National Park by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, the following year. It is located in St. Peter, a 17 acre pleasantly landscaped and picturesque spot with a stunning panorama of the Atlantic.
The gutted remains of the mansion still stand.
Directions:
About 10 minutes drive from Bathsheba and the East Coast road heading in a northerly direction, opposite The Wildlife Reserve.
Farley Hill National Park
Farley Hill, St. Peter
Tel: (246) 422-3555
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