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St. Nicholas Abbey Heritage Tour: Explore a 17th Century Plantation and Rum Distillery
4.5
231 Ratings
Saint Nicholas Abbey
Immerse yourself in the history of St. Nicholas Abbey on a heritage tour. Explore a 17th century plantation and rum distillery while enjoying the beautiful gardens and delicious refreshments.
Immerse yourself in the history of St. Nicholas Abbey on a heritage tour. Explore a 17th century plantation and rum distillery while enjoying the beautiful gardens and delicious refreshments.
Duration:
1 hour, 30 minutes
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- St. Nicholas Abbey - Guided tour of 1658 Jacobean Great House, House Museum, rare and unique1930 movie of Plantation and Barbados, Syrup Factory with c. 1890 working Steam Mill, Rum Distillery including rum tasting. Tour includes a complimentary drink and there are a gift shop and terrace cafe for visitors taking the tour
- St. Nicholas Abbey - Guided tour of 1658 Jacobean Great House, House Museum, rare and unique1930 movie of Plantation and Barbados, Syrup Factory with c. 1890 working Steam Mill, Rum Distillery including rum tasting. Tour includes a complimentary drink and there are a gift shop and terrace cafe for visitors taking the tour
What's Included
- All fees and taxes included
- All fees and taxes included
Additional Information
The Grand Manor and Distillery journey offers a genuine exploration of life in a plantation from the 17th century with historical items from Indigenous habitation to colonial periods. The film created around 1935 provides a rare and distinctive view of this lifestyle and also of Barbados during the dawn of the 20th century.
The attraction is designed…
The Grand Manor and Distillery journey offers a genuine exploration of life in a plantation from the 17th century with historical items from Indigenous habitation to colonial periods. The film created around 1935 provides a rare and distinctive view of this lifestyle and also of Barbados during the dawn of the 20th century.
The attraction is designed for visitor’s convenience to explore at their leisure or with a tour guide, while also presenting tranquil areas for contemplation or relaxation in the beautifully designed outdoor settings.
The onsite cafe serves beverages and light meals in the tranquil ambiance of a vibrant tropical ravine.
Our craft distillery presents our production process in such a way that the visitors are involved in the rum-making procedure from ‘the cane field to the bottle’, observing the crushing of cane in the vintage steam mill, ensuring visitors capture a deeper and more impactful understanding of their visit.
- Wheelchairs have partial access to the attraction and there is no charge for wheelchair users
Location
Saint Nicholas Abbey
Travel North along Main Highway until you see road signs directing you to St. Nicholas Abbey
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.5
(231 Ratings)
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Ozluck
Feb 13, 2025
Beautiful place - What a beautiful spot - the grounds, the distillery and the house. Definitely the highlight of our trip. Our tour guide, Megan, was excellent and very well informed. Combined our visit with Farley Hill nearby, again, well worth a visit.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Louisec475
Feb 7, 2025
One of the best attractions in Barbados - The Warren family have dedicated themselves to developing this estate, and it is so well worth a visit. The new railway line is a hit with both children and grown up kids!
We didn't visit the house or distillery this time, but will definitely go on our next trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Fredhv9787qq
Jan 28, 2025
Good day trip - booked via Viator this was a very good trip everything is explained very well and the steam train ride is Great. The historic film show is also very interesting .
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Williamsm29hu
Dec 24, 2024
Quite Interesting and Lovely - The Abbey is well organized with payment and assistance right at the car park. The grounds are expansive and also organized in a clear and understandable manner. The house area available for viewing is in remarkable good condition. The china itself is quite unique and beautiful. Unfortunately, the upstairs is not available for viewing but there are photographs showing those rooms. The smaller building behind the house includes a restaurant with a very nice outdoor patio where you can sit amongst the trees and foliage. There are some mementos, a diagram of the ownership of the property, and a few interesting documents and history of the house.
The rum distillery has produced some highly ranked rums which you can find and taste in a separate building. It is all very nicely designed. You can also visit the outside of the actual distillery and see much of the equipment which is likely in operation.
We did not try the railroad though I would do it if we return some day. It looked like a lot of fun. If you think you want to do this do buy your ticket when you enter the car park.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gentlemansportion
Feb 1, 2025
DISTILLERY EXCELS - Visiting this lovely historic plantation house after a gap of five years found all the good bits unchanged and much improved. Our tour guide was excellent and knowledgeable with little historic tidbits thrown in for fun. The rum tasting was educational. Our tour was literally on the way to the airport so there was no room in the luggage to purchase a bottle of their excellent aged rum. However, I did buy a jar of homemade marmalade and was disappointed that it wasn’t rum flavoured! Missed marketing opportunity. Regretfully, our tour didn’t have time to ride the railway which I understand either has been or is about to be extended. A treat for next time!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Carlw962
Jan 19, 2025
Great history of the Abbey and Rum Distiller - This was a tour while on a Viking Cruise, with a group. A train ride to the Abbey and distillery was fun and exciting. The tour of the Abbey was very informative with great tour guides that gave a lot of the history. We also received a brochure to take home that gives much more details of the history.
The downside was that we were told there would be a snack. We had nothing.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Y5172gjhenryr
Jan 21, 2025
Glaring omissions - We loved the house and gardens but there’s no real exploration of or information on the gargantuan elephant in the room, which is slavery.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Fraserr2013
Dec 21, 2024
Interesting but could (should) be so much more - We were really interested to visit and discover the history of a real Caribbean plantation - especially as the kids (17, 15) had both studied this at school. It was interesting but could have been so much better.
The tour involves visiting the plantation house and distillery which is interesting enough. There’s a steam train (but we’ve got the Hogwarts Express near where we live so have seen trains before!). There is also a short video presentation. However, what we found disappointing was it was basically the story of the current owners and their most recent ancestors.
Just this moment I’ve reread the guide book which is a very sanitised story of how the plantation ownership passed between various families and factions over the centuries. We (perhaps naively?) expected reference to the slave trade, workers conditions on the plantation etc - a genuine rounded, objective history - rather than “this plantation owner was knighted”, “this is how much a first class ticket cost on the boat from Europe” etc.
Maybe it’s because of where we come from in the UK (a city largely built on the slave trade trying hard to make reparations and get to grips with it’s unpalatable past) that the almost complete absence of this part of the history is jarring. It just felt a very elitist view of what I’m sure is a very compelling, multi-layered story which told fully would be fascinating.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Olliemichaels
Jan 20, 2025
Misleading & Dishonest Experience at St. Nicholas Abbey - I visited St. Nicholas Abbey in January 2022 and initially had a great experience touring the grounds and rum distillery. Our guide was engaging and informative, which added to the charm of the visit. However, during the tour, we were told that if we purchased a bottle of rum, we could return at any time with the empty bottle and get a refill for half price. This promise encouraged me to purchase a bottle, trusting the information provided by the guide.
Fast forward to January 2025, I returned to Barbados and brought the empty bottle back, only to discover via their website that the refill program had actually ended in 2017—five years before my visit. This means I was blatantly lied to during my tour, seemingly as a tactic to encourage purchases.
When I contacted St. Nicholas Abbey to address this issue, I was met with dismissive responses and told there was nothing they could do. This lack of accountability and customer care was deeply disappointing.
While the estate and tour are beautiful, the dishonesty I experienced casts a shadow over the entire visit. I urge future visitors to be cautious about trusting any claims made during the tour. Transparency is key to building trust, and unfortunately, St. Nicholas Abbey failed in this regard.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dirkbel
Jan 29, 2025
Too expensive - instead Sunburry Estate - It is an expensive undertaking, otherwise the rum tasting is not much. Had a drink in the bar afterwards. This was our first introduction to Barbadian dollars and afterwards we noticed that we had paid in US dollars, the staff did not respond to this and thought we would probably get a larger tip - we later reported this by email and never received a response. Nice service!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
