One of the country’s oldest plantation houses, Sunbury is the only one in Barbados that is fully open to the public. Probably dating from the eighteenth century, it was all but destroyed by fire in 1995 – only the hurricane-proof 2-foot (60cm)-thick coralstone walls survived.

Since then, the house has been beautifully restored and is chock-full of fabulous period furniture and artefacts of bygone days – donations from around the island, following the fire. Exhibits range from the magnificent polished mahogany dining table downstairs, to grand four-poster beds and walls plastered with antique maps upstairs, plus a host of paraphernalia from plantation life crammed into the cellar, including a mongoose trap.

Outside, sprinkled round the shady grounds is a fine collection of horse-drawn carriages – the largest in the Caribbean. Altogether, Sunbury provides fascinating insights into the privileged world of the plantocracy (the plantation ruling elite). Shamefully, there is very little on the lives of the enslaved and later “free” (but often exploited) “apprentice” workers, which enabled such a lavish lifestyle to exist.