It’s a fairly tenuous link, but the elegant yellow Caribbean Georgian-style mansion on Bush Hill (north side of the Garrison) is named George Washington House on account of the seven weeks that the US’ first president spent on Barbados as a 19-year-old in 1751. What’s more, he was bed-ridden for much of the time, with smallpox. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise since it afforded him immunity when his troops were decimated by the disease during the American revolution. Nevertheless, this place is well worth a visit, with further enhancements planned.

George originally came to the island to visit his ailing brother, Lawrence, who was suffering from tuberculosis. But the story goes that the president-to-be was heavily influenced by British military and agricultural production methods. These inevitably involved slavery, which is discussed in greater detail here than in most places in Barbados.

The grounds