Sunbury Plantation House

Sunbury was built around 1660 by one of the island's early planter families and it is the only great house on Barbados where every room is open to visitors, including the cellars. The walls are coral stone almost a metre thick, which is why it survived the hurricanes that took most of its contemporaries. It burned in 1995 and was restored, refurnished with Barbadian mahogany antiques, and it holds an unusual collection of horse-drawn carriages in the yard. The plantation around it grew sugar with enslaved labour for two centuries, which the tour mentions but does not dwell on.

What you actually see

• Every room open - unusually, including the cellars.
• The mahogany furniture - Barbadian antiques throughout.
• The carriage collection - horse-drawn vehicles in the yard.
• The coral stone walls - almost a metre thick, which saved it from hurricanes.

When to go

December to April is the dry season. It is open daily through the day. Two hours covers the house and grounds. Cruise days bring coach groups in the middle of the day.

Honest expectations

It is a furnished house tour and takes ninety minutes; visitors uninterested in antiques will find it thin. The interpretation of slavery on the estate is minimal, which sits uneasily given that the wealth on display came from it. Coach groups fill it at peak times.

Nearby

The east coast is twenty minutes; Bridgetown is half an hour west.