Barbados National Trust

(I'm sorry to say no pictures with this piece, still trying to work it our with the Blogsite)

For 12 weeks  between January and March the Barbados National Trust conduct a programme of 'Open House'.  This is where 12 properties on the island are open to view by the public, for one specific Wednesday afternoon each week.

I, along with others, become volunteer guides (or spotters), where we are stationed within a particular room of the open house.  Our job is to watch the visitors, help and impart any information as possible.
Yesterday was house number 3 on the programme.

House No. 1 was 'Elsewhere', once known as 'Dar es Salaam' meaning 'House of Peace'.
Built in the 1980's, its style is essentially Middle Eastern, white walls & red tiles with Moroccan domes, cool pools of water, courtyards and terraces, shady gardens and a dipping pool in a central courtyard surrounded by open corridors to exotic bedrooms and lounge areas with divans and Chaise longues'.

House No 2 was 'Ker Avel'.
This house sits upon Polo Ridge and was once planted in sugar canes.  The land was once part of the Black Rock Estate that stretched over a vast area to Holders.  The Holders were a prosperous family of Barbados landowners in the 17th & 18th centuries and the surname survives as a common Barbadian name today.  Holders sugar plantation was operative until the mid '60s and was owned by the Hon.Janet Kidd.  Her son, Jonny, became interested in polo and encouraged his mother to let the Barbados Polo Club have a field at Holders.  At first she leased it and then sold it to them for the nominal sum of Bds $24,000 with a covenant that the field to only have equestrian sport on it.  With the development of family homes the open house is the example you see today.
 With its atrium and open walls, Ker Avel blurs the line between indoor and outdoor living.  Avel means breath and here you almost feel the house inhaling the breeze coming off the Caribbean Sea.  Ker Avel was built using local coral stone, red clay roof tiles and pickled pine ceilings.

House No 3 was 'Fisherpond House'.
The origins of Fisherpond Plantation cannot be completely substantiated. The earliest map of 1635 has “Fisher’s Pond” marked in the same general area as 'Fisherpond House', where we are today.  It is speculated that the name refers to a large area of water that once covered the nearby valley.  According to records of 1666, the plantation comprised 350 acres, with 83 adult slaves and 18 children.  Over the centuries the property changed hands many times, through sale or legacy. For most of these years the owner was not resident, living either at another plantation or in England. The last resident owner died in 1749. 

   

By the 1800s, it was acquired by Thomas Hollingsworth, who left it in his will to several people: his brother's widow, his aunt, sister, "my illegitimate"child and her mother.  He also left an inheritance to his female slave "for the purpose of freeing her".  With all this, his executor must have had his hands full!

Built of rubble stone in Caribbean Georgian style, it was later extended with an enclosed gallery.  it is now filled with beautiful antiques, paintings and objets d'art.  With a magnificent dining table for 24, it is just right for planter's lunches and private dinners.  The current owner restores and electrifies gorgeous 17th &  18^th century crystal chandeliers, which are shown all around the house.