Domaine de Saint Aubin

Saint Aubin is a colonial estate house of 1819, a timber building with a wide veranda moved to its present site in the nineteenth century, set among cane fields in the south and now run as a visitor estate. A small distillery makes rum from estate cane juice, with tastings of white and flavoured expressions; a vanilla house grows the orchids under shade and shows the hand pollination and curing that makes vanilla expensive; and an anthurium nursery and vegetable garden supply the restaurant, which serves Creole cooking on the veranda and is generally the highlight of the visit. The estate is one of the three stops on the marketed tea route through the south, with Bois Cheri and the Bois Cheri chalet.

What to look for

• The 1819 house - the timber estate building and its veranda.
• The vanilla house - the orchids, pollination and curing process.
• The small distillery - rum made from estate cane juice.
• The Creole table - the restaurant using estate produce.

When to go

May to December for the drier weather. The distillery works during the cane harvest from around July to December. Book the restaurant in advance; lunch is the main sitting.

What to expect

The estate is presented as a package tour stop and much of the visit is shop and restaurant. The distillery is very small. Interpretation of the estate's history is light on the labour that built it. Prices are at resort level.

Nearby

Bois Cheri lies northeast; La Vanille park is east.