Liming in Barbados

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Barbados in February. Sunshine and warm winds - its about 28C. Occasional showers of light, warm, rain. Hummingbirds visiting the tropical flowers in the garden while we breakfast on our verandah.

At only 21 miles by 14, Barbados is just a big coral island, unusual in the Caribbean where most islands are volcanic. So no mountains, just a hilly ridge. The island's coast is a succession of sandy beaches. Some long; some in little bays. Some with posh hotels or villas at the back; many with just palm trees. Some with sunbeds, a bar and water sports; others with a man selling refreshing coconuts; some with just us and the ocean.

The ocean on the two sides of the island is markedly different. On the Western side, warm waters lap the beaches. On the Eastern coast, Atlantic rollers smash onto the shore, their size and power attracting surfers.

The interior is a maze of sugar plantations, with their houses and windmills set high on the ridge to catch the breeze. Sugar cane is still a big industry but most plantation houses and mills are now derelict. We visited a restored plantation where steam still powers the crusher and the distillary. We took the opportunity to try their end-product, a 10 year old rum that sells here at £30 a bottle. Easily the best rum we had ever tasted. Wonder what the 15 year old is like, at three-times the price?

All the older village houses are wooden and single storey. These are "Chattel houses", first built for freed slaves and always built on blocks. This enabled easy disassembly when the house had to be moved. Now, many new houses are built from quarried "coral rock" bricks, which look just like white breeze blocks.

It took Europeans just 40 years to deforest Barbados but there are still uncleared gullies, unsuitable for growing sugar. Walking down these is a step back in time, with tall palms and mahogany overhead. At the forest floor are the huge leaves of rainforest plants struggling to find light. Bright red ginger flowers stand out against the dark green foliage. In the darkness under the nutmegs trees there is nothing but moss.

Our ground floor apartment, the owners live above, is set just back from Gibbes beach in the Northwest of the island. We have been cooking for ourselves, shopping at the local supermarket, the "variety store", the fish market and street stalls. Some food is familiar but some has us asking questions.

Flying fish? Marianate in salt and lime juice then pan fry.

A squash that looks like a green pear? That's christophene, very good for blood pressure. Boil it or fry it, it tastes somewhere between celery and cougette.

Yard-long beans? Err, they are string beans and they are a yard long!

And we have taken local advice on what to drink too - rum punch, great, and Banks' beer, OK.

At the weekend the Holetown festival began, celebrating the anniversary of the arrival of the first white settlers. Interesting that they choose to celebrate this. Steel bands, dignitaries' dull speeches, a gospel choir, Miss Holetown 2014 hopefuls, an intentionally funny poet, an unintentionally funny singer ... all of Barbados life in a marquee in the supermarket car park.

Tomorrow we move on to St Vincent, where there will be a slight change to our plans due a ferry's engine breaking. More on that from the Grenadines.

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