Farley Hill National Park
Farley Hill National Park is located in the parish of St. Andrew, on the east coast of Barbados. The park is a forest of Mahogany Trees, which sits high up on a hill overlooking The Atlantic Ocean.
Farley Hill was once to the home to the stateliest Mansion House in Barbados. Sir Graham Briggs, an English planter, who built the house in 1818, owned it. Over the next 50 years many rooms were added to make it the finest and grandest house on the island.
The property was fit for Royalty and it was here that Sir Graham entertained King George V in 1879.
The film ‘Island in the Sun’ was filmed there in 1965, sadly later on that year the house was destroyed by fire. In 1966 when Barbados gained its independence Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Farley Hill as a National Park.
The walls of the house still stand and are used as a stunning backdrop for the stage, when Farley Hill National Park becomes the venue for The Barbados Jazz Festival and the Annual Barbados Reggae Festival.
Information correct at the time of posting 6 April 2006.
