Keen to explore more of Saint Kitts Chris and I hired a car for 3 days which gave us the freedom to venture at our own pace and stop where and when we wanted.
There can be some disadvantages to this as rather than simply booking a pre-arranged tour you need to do a fair amount of research yourself to find out some interesting places to visit.
For me this wasn’t really a disadvantage at all as researching exciting travel opportunities by reading other peoples’ blog posts or travel articles is something I love doing.
We did find that Google Offline Maps wasn’t always our best friend and on more than one occasion led us to either a dead end or up a long track to nowhere! If you hire a driver for the day, while more expensive they tend to know where they’re going!
Despite all of this, flexibility and freedom was key and is more ‘our thing’.
Fairview Great House and Botanical Garden
Our first stop just north of St Kitts capital Basseterre was Fairview Great House and Botanical Gardens. We parked in the large grassy car park in front of the house and made our way to the entrance.
Our entrance fee was just 5 USD each and following a short briefing on the history of the house we were free to wander around at our leisure.
It was Monday morning, the place was empty and Chris and I looked around in peace enjoying the whole house and gardens mostly to ourselves.
St Kitts is a popular cruise port and the island gets busy when a ship is in town. Fairfield Great House is sometimes part of an island tour itinerary but I don’t think any cruise ships were docked on this particular day.
We began in the tastefully restored lounge complete with a 16 seat mahogany dining table.
Fairview Great House was originally built in 1701 by the French military to house officers. The master bedroom is large and stretches across the top floor of the house.
The bedroom had a wrap around verandah which gave great views towards the sapphire Caribbean Sea.
Outside across the cobblestones of the courtyard is the original kitchen with its volcanic stone and brick oven.
Throughout the house there was a lot of information to read especially in the Fairview Slavery Exhibit which explained:
“Sugar and slavery transformed the landscape and nature of Caribbean society and is the heart of its heritage, built by Africans for European sugar barons.”
Outside the house extensive botanical gardens were well kept and had many species of plants, trees and flowers all of which were clearly labelled.
There was a handful of other people outside in the botanical gardens. This included one couple participating in their own private rum tasting session.
This place offers a number of different tours and tasting experiences. If you book as part of a tour this may also include lunch depending on the package.
Chris and I just had a cold soft drink in the empty open sided bar and set off to the next stop.
Caribelle Batik
After a short 10 minute drive we stopped at Romney Manor and the Caribelle Batik workshop. However, don’t trust Google Maps to take you there… it lead us around the back near the exit and tried to take us up a dirt track footpath! Not wishing to wreck the hire car we turned back and had to ask a local for directions.
For a very small entrance fee of 3 USD (or 7.50 ECD) each we entered the beautiful colourful gardens.
Above is a King Sago Palm which is one of the oldest palm species in the world and dates back to prehistoric times.
Again, the plants within this garden were clearly labelled.
We had a look in the colourful Caribelle Batik shop which contained a wide range of batik clothes including tops, shirts and wraps for sale. They were expensive at $50US per top but at least they would be unique.
We came across a bar in the gardens of Caribelle Batik and decided it was time for a rum punch. We were also given a sample of 12 year old ‘Old Road Rum’ to taste.
Old Road Rum has been produced on the Wingfield Estate since 1681 making it the oldest surviving rum distillery in the Caribbean.
From the pub courtyard garden we could see across the historic Wingfield Estate next to the village of Old Road. This was the site of the first permanent plantation settlement of the English Caribbean and began producing sugar and rum.
Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park
Continuing further north as we followed the main circular road of the island our next stop was Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site designed by British military engineers and built by African slaves.
Brimstone Hill Fortress is situated at the top of an imposing hill. We had turned off the main road and were able to drive for a couple of km up a bumpy pot holed track for most of the way. We paid $15 US each to enter and had to pay this in cash as the card machine was out of order.
The Artillery Officers Quarters was built in 1791 and a plaque nearby explains it was built with great care and attention which reflected the status of the officers who occupied it.
We were fortunate to have visited Brimstone Hill Fortress on a clear day as we had panoramic views in all directions. Above you can see views of St. Eustatius a tiny Dutch Caribbean island on the horizon.
Construction of Brimstone Hill Fortress began in 1690 by the British with the purpose of recapturing nearby Fort Charles from the French. It took 100 years of intermittent building to complete it.
After years of ruin, restoration of Brimstone Hill Fortress began in 1965 and was re-opened by HRH Prince Charles in 1973.
As we were circumnavigating the island we were driving around Mount Liamuiga the huge focal point of the island.
Having stopped so far at 3 really interesting places this is where things went awry… we were looking for the Kittitian Hotel where we were planning to have a late lunch. But it seemed impossible to find with Google Maps insisting a dead end track was the way to go…
Eventually we decided to skip lunch and went back towards the Marriott hotel where we were staying. But in the meantime we had a good insight of local rural life passing through villages with chickens and goats wandering freely across the road.
Having done more research, the following day we had planned to have lunch in the Belle Mont Organic Farm. But again Google Maps led us to the wrong place!
We drove for a couple of km up the lower slopes of Mount Liamuiga and ended up at another dead end… this time we had arrived at the start of the Liamuiga hiking trail!
A local was there with his tiny wooden stall trying to sell us a smoothie or failing that offering to guide us up the mountain! We settled on asking for directions to Belle Mont for a small tip. He didn’t know where Belle Mont was so told us to go back to the main road and turn left in St Pauls Parish towards the Kittitian Hotel. OK…
We made our way back along the single track we passed through fertile volcanic fields being ploughed.
Thinking we would have another bash at finding the Kittitian we switched Google Maps off and followed the directions given to us by the local. Thankfully we spotted a sign which led to both lunch options! Hurrah!
A day later our taxi driver to Nevis suggested when circumnavigating St Kitts it is best anti-clockwise as then all of the sign posts face you! D’oh!
The drive up the manicured tree lined driveway to both the Kittitian Hotel and the Belle Mont was lovely. Excited by the prospect of fresh organic West Indian farm-to-table produce as advertised on their website we followed the signs to the Belle Mont.
On the lush slopes of Mount Liamuiga, the Belle Mont had a spectacular location overlooking the sea in the distance. It is possible to stay in this resort however it is about £540 per night for bed and breakfast.
Fish tacos are a popular local St Kitts dish and these were served with sweet potato fries, the sweet potatoes are lighter in colour than the darker orange sweet potatoes we have in the UK.
We had just finished our lunch when the chef came over with some breadfruit fries for us to taste and to give him feedback on. We were both pretty full by then however managed to eat a few of them as they were surprisingly light and tasted good.
From Belle Mont Farm we drove to Black Rocks which is the name of a rock formation on the northeast coast. They were formed by lava which had once flowed from Mount Liamuiga.
We finished our St Kitts circumnavigation at Timothy Hill Overlook which offers panoramic 360 degree views. Above is the view of the southeast peninsula which takes you to the very tip of the island and to within 2 miles across the Narrows Strait to Nevis. We spent a day driving along the peninsula and our next post covers this.
Also from Timothy Hill Overlook, facing back to the north of St Kitts, from a small wooden viewing platform we had a great view of Frigate Bay and could see our large yellow hotel in the distance.
Summary
With its fairly smooth main roads, relatively small amount of traffic and driving on the left driving in St Kitts was easy. We hired a car for 3 days from Bullseye Car Rentals and with insurance, the temporary St Kitts & Nevis driving licence, tax etc the total cost was around £210.
We had great service from Bullseye, Chris made the booking by phone shortly after we arrived and we had a complimentary pick up from our hotel to collect the car.
frombluetogreen.com 
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