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St. Nicholas Abbey Heritage Tour: Explore a 17th Century Plantation and Rum Distillery
4.5
250 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
- All Fees and Taxes
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
(250 Ratings)
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Globetrotting734066
Aug 24, 2025
Fascinating and stunning - Loved everything about this tour. Everyone so very friendly, and knowledgeable. . Amazing gardens and Jacobean home. The rum tasting was the highlight of this tour for me and Carol was the perfect tour guide. I would highly recommend this tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ocheanc2024
Aug 18, 2025
Tour down memory lane - Went on a tour the property was beautiful and have so much history. My tour guide Megan was wonderful, very informative and she was friendly. Learned the true history behind st Nicholas Abby!
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Myria1
Aug 12, 2025
An amazing and worthwhile day - What a fabulous trip this was. We got there just in time for the train. The train took us through the grounds up to Cherry Hill. Our guide Tonya was superb. She told us alot about the history, the various stages of development and the fact that there never was an Abbey here. We also learnt about the various workers used to build various parts of the development. Then we got the tour of The Great House. Again, our guide Virginia had a wealth of information about the house, the lovely antique items and the various owners over the years. We got to see a short film about the house and the original owner before we got to the Distillery. There we saw the process of making rum from sugar cane and all the other products made. We tasted rum, white rum and Ameretto. All delicious. A great day and well worth the cost.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Robs-in-nyc
Aug 3, 2025
Fun morning tour in Barbados - We went on the St Nicholas Abbey Train Journey + Great House & Distillery Tour. It was really a fun and relaxing experience. The Heritage Railway ride was great - super relaxing and the guide was really engaging. The property is beautiful and the train ride was a great way to explore, plus the view from Cherry Tree Hill is beautiful. The house and distillery tour were also fun - lots of history. They are a boutique rum distillery so it was interesting seeing their production, though the tour wasn't very technical. The tasting at the end was a bit disappointing as it was very quick (only 2 rums). But overall it was great, and we had a nice lunch at the Terrace Cafe afterwards.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jeremyraybrown
Jun 29, 2025
A Beautiful Train Ride Experience - I highly recommend arriving early to enjoy the longest—and truly fantastic—train ride. My daughter especially loved pulling the horn!
The staff are professional and friendly, adding to the great experience.
The entire complex is beautiful, and I recommend visiting.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Clash46
Jun 16, 2025
Brilliant trip - This was such a lovely trip. The staff is amazing and make it a lot of fun particularly the lady on the steam train who was very knowledgeable. The house tour itself was nice and the rum tasting was great fun. My husband even bought a bottle of their 5 year old rum!!! We had a lovely lunch on the charming terrace and had a good 3 hour trip all in all. Toilets were really clean too.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Quatefish
Jun 11, 2025
Wonderful experience! - We took the 20 minute train ride and the house and distillery tour. The train ride was great, really informative and fun. The view at the top alone is worth it. We purchased some coconut water and a mango at the top and really took in the scenery. Back at the grounds, the distillery tour was quite interesting and we got to watch the distillery in action! The home and grounds are really beautiful and lots of history is evident. Then the rum tasting...Simon is an absolute gem. Be prepared for lots of dad jokes, but also a really lovely conversation if you hang around to chat. He does have a TBI, which can make him seem a little off, but man, he is sharp and knows his stuff! Christian was a wonderful guide, very knowledgeable, and again, wonderful to talk with afterward. This should be a must do on your trip to Barbados if you enjoy history.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Top-trippers
Aug 3, 2025
Insightful but could be better - The site is significant – it is one of only three surviving Jacobean mansions in the Western Hemisphere, set on a still-functioning family run 400-acre sugar plantation with a small independent distillery. Our guide was very personable and knowledgeable. The tour, whilst brief, felt leisurely.
It started in the Great House which was a bit underwhelming, with access only to the downstairs drawing room, dining room and a study. (The upper floors are home to the owners and their family). A new Remembrance Room – Museum is under development. Next, we moved to an outbuilding to watch a 20-minute black-and-white home movie, showing life on the estate in the mid-1930s. This was a highlight for us – adding some insightful and personal detail. The tour does not enter the distillery itself, but you get glimpse from the outside and there is lots of information about the production process on billboards and form the guide. The tasting of two single cask rums is usually led by Simon (one of the owners’ sons) who is a knowledgeable, witty, slightly cheesy, and disarmingly charming host (pretty remarkable given that a brain injury after near fatal car accident has left him with a lisp and limp). We were not a fan of the aviaries. The toilets here (and at the steam railway station) were very clean. We couldn’t take our planned ride on the train which had (annoyingly) closed early.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sheffview
Jul 9, 2025
Interesting, but lacking in depth - We enjoyed our trip but it's not great VFM.
The train ride is the highlight and the views from Cherry Hill are great.
The distillery factory was interesting, but quite short and the tasting (despite Simon's humour) was brief with 2 very small tasters.
Again the house tour of 3 rooms (downstairs only) was a little underwhelming.
BTW please let the birds go, their captivity adds nothing to the experience!
There's plenty of parking a small cafe with limited seating too.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Paweljz
May 15, 2025
Good and interesting… but needs improvement - The place is charming and definitely worth visiting for a little history lesson, however much more need to be done to tell the story of those who were enslaved and unfortunately had to call this place “ home”. The Great House is well preserved and as such a rare example of the Jacobean Architecture, but only the ground floor is accessible for visitors which is a shame, considering the price of the admission tickets. One needs to pay a lot to see literally 3 rooms ( including a drawing room, dining room and a study) downstairs as the first floor is off limits and the rest of the property is all about the process of making the rum. Having said that, it’s possibly the only place in the world where the whole process of producing rum is being done in one place and the business side of the enterprise is certainly interesting, well organised and profitable. They have a nice little souvenir shop on the side but again the prices are quite steep. What definitely needs to change are the conditions the birds are being kept in - cages looked dirty and one of the macaws looked sick and distressed.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
