Gardens in Barbados

Trust me, when told that I was expected to spend the morning traipsing around some gardens I was less than enthralled. Because when in England 'gardens' usually refers to an assortment of rose bushes interspersed between patches of well-watered lawn. Everything is very repetitive and well... dull. But in Barbados public gardens are essentially a synonym for rainforest like trees, iridescent flowers and lots and lots of palm trees. 

Constructed around a sort of hill / mountain these gardens were full of winding, twisting pathways cutting through trees with vines hanging to the ground or large bulbous looking fruits. Every so often mongoose would appear (I kid you not!) from an adjacent bush and scuttle across walkways pretending they couldn't be seen. We always kept our eyes out for the monkeys but unfortunately didn't end up seeing one on this particular excursion. 

Altogether it was a very serene place, altogether run by volunteers and surviving purely on visits by tourists. If you're ever in Barbados I would highly recommend a trip as it was one of my favourite parts of the holiday.