Barbados’ sugar caners
JOINING Simon Cowell’s harem of women has never been a life goal, but after a
week at his favourite holiday haunt, I would happily oblige.
Why? Because beautiful Barbados, the X Factor mogul’s go-to destination, is a
paradise for any fan of rum or or good food.
We kicked off our eating-and- drinking odyssey with a tour of the plant that
produces the country’s famous Mount Gay Rum.
Unlike your typical English affair, there wasn’t a packing line in sight.
This is purely rum and rhythm — and we got to try out all four of the
distillery’s varieties.
But there was far more indulgence to come, thanks to the Barbados Food, Wine
and Rum Festival. For four days each November, everyone comes together in a
barrage of beach parties, barbecues, tastings and demonstrations and a good
sprinkling of fine dining.
We kicked off our festival experience just after sunrise by heading to capital
Bridgetown to join the Jammin’ Cruise.
This catamaran trip is fast becoming the must-do booze cruise for tourists and
celebrities alike. Former Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh even went
aboard with guests at her wedding in January. And it didn’t take us long to
get in the swing of things.
Breakfast was served with a glass of rum punch as we cruised along the
tranquil Caribbean Sea listening to calypso music.
After some deck-top dancing we jumped off the back of the boat to go
snorkeling with turtles.
We tottered off the boat mid-afternoon and were more than ready for a little
nap back at our gorgeous base — the spectacular Crane resort in the island’s
eastern St Philip parish.
It is the oldest resort on the island, opening its doors in 1886.
These days it has luxury apartments with Jacuzzis or private pools on each
balcony or terrace.
And it has direct access to breathtaking Crane Beach — voted one of the best
in the world.
Next morning we started as we meant to go on with a tour of the island’s
highlights.
They ranged from the random — boxer Nigel Benn’s auntie’s famous liquor store
— to the historic, the island’s oldest windmill in St Andrew’s Parish.
Then just beyond the windmill our Coconut Tours driver stopped dead in the
middle of the road, at the start of an obvious hill.
Assuming it was a technical fault, we sighed waiting for him to the reboot the
engine. Until the van began rolling UP it.
The optical illusion, which he claimed was “island magic”, was enough to make
us cry out for an emergency rum.
But when we panic-Googled we discovered it was a magnetic hill, a freaky
natural phenomenon of a kind which can also be found in less-exotic Ireland
and Scotland.
We finished off our Bajan tour at the final day of the festival on the beach
of the Hilton hotel.
Grills of fresh fish and meat dotted the beach, while American celebrity chef
Chris Cosentino cooked up local delicacies.
Chris, by the way, arrived on a jet-ski to the Bond theme tune and then
stripped off his wetsuit to get into his chef whites.
But I was so relaxed by this point, I barely batted an eyelid.
There was fish to eat and yet more rum to down . . .
GO: Barbados
STAYING THERE: A suite at The Crane is from £247 per night. See .
OUT & ABOUT: The Food, Wine & Rum Festival runs from November 20 to 27. See .
Jammin’ cruise is from £58 per adult. See .
MORE INFO: See .