I’ve always had a hankering to visit St Kitts. When I was small,there was a family who lived up our road, the mother of which had been born in St. Kitts. This seemed very exotic to me – 1960s England remember – especially as she had red hair and was always impeccably turned out and rather posh. In fact it was rumoured she and her husband enjoyed an evening cocktail so that really sealed the deal in sophistication terms.

Anyway, today we arrived at 8am and Bob and I had booked a little tour to see some of the island highlights and to visit a Great House from the colonial era, Fairview. Our first impression of St Kitts was of a long string of green ancient volcanoes stretching in front of us and then over to the east we could see Nevis which appeared to be nothing more than a huge, huge monster of a volcano rising from the sea.

St Kitts and Nevis were part of Great Britain till the 1980s when they achieved full independence. Of course their history goes back to the 1643 when the islands were colonised by the French and British and largely put over to the cultivation of sugar cane. Sugar was termed white gold in those days such were the profits to be gleaned from it. Used to make rum, syrup and various other sweets there was huge demand. Sugar was as valuable as oil is today and countries went to war over it. St. Kitts by 1775 was the wealthiest of all British possessions as a result. Nowadays tourism is the main industry and sugar production is no longer present.

Our tour took us around the highlights of Basseterre, the capital and the port. Very colonial in appearance and very authentic. Still a living, thriving place where ordinary locals lived. The centre of town was a sort of roundabout area called Piccadilly. It had a large ceremonial clock in the middle typical of the sort the British built in so many places from India to Singapore and indeed many islands in the Caribbean. There were a lot of wooden houses with pretty balconies and we also saw Independence Square which was once the slave market. Quite a few colonial era churches too built in local stone. An attractive town.

Then our little minibus drove along the coast and up into the green hills, climbing quite a way to the well-named Fairview Great House. This lovely place was built in the 1700s by a French man in the French Colonial style. It has passed through many hands since then, and for a short time was a boutique hotel. It is now owned by an Indian businessman. However, what we saw today is not the original. When the Indian chap bought it, it was found to be so riddled with termites, they had to totally demolish it. However, many photos were taken and plans saved and it was rebuilt as the original. Like many of the plantation homes we have visited in the Southern States of the USA, it was built for coolness. Great windows open on every side to allow the breezes to blow through the house.

One interesting feature was the bath house. It contained an enormous in-ground plunge pool-bath. The owners would take a half bath every day and a full bath on a Saturday. There was a strict order with the bathing. Well…. first…. the servants would have to walk 2 hours up the mountain to a ravine and tote the water down. Then the master would bathe first, then the wife, then the children, then any baby. The only divergence from this would be if the master had a concubine!!!! If he did, then the concubine bathed after him and BEFORE the wife….. hurumph…. not sure about that!

Anyway, Fairview was a lovely place with lovely gardens around it. It is used as a wedding venue and it would be a lovely choice.

Back on the tour and we headed east to a viewpoint high above Frigate Bay looking east to The Narrows and Nevis. You could see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other.

Once back in Basseterre Bob and I walked into the old town and had a mooch around Piccadilly, and the squares and parks. It was really hot and humid so at one point we went into Amory Bakery (there since 1949!!) and enjoyed the a/c, a ham roll and two bottles of water, and I think we enjoyed them in that order too!.

Back to the ship about 315 and went for a lie down. I had a blister on my toe for my efforts. Really liked St Kitts. People were friendly. It felt real and the scenery was really beautiful. Would like to have gone over to Nevis but time did not permit…..