History of Flower Forest
Our Barbados garden is located at Richmond Plantation about 850 ft (270 m) above sea level, near the middle of the island. This is the story of how this site was transformed from a traditional Barbados sugar plantation into a stunning botanical garden...
1800's - late 1900's
Richmond was a sugar cane plantation in its early days. Although spectacularly beautiful, it was not a model sugar producer.
1983
Driven by the brawn of Don Hill, Flower Forest opened for business in December 1983 after two years of layout by Richard Coghlan from Kew Gardens. A group of garden enthusiasts contributed designs and cash for shares.
1990
A new, larger pavilion was built, conserving the old boiling house with its giant copper boilers in situ, and the old bamboo patch out back. The new pavilion is spacious and contains both indoor and outdoor decks for dining and special events.
2009
A complete rejuvenation of the garden and facility.
2015
A new deck overlooking the garden was added.
2017
2017 saw a newly renovated kitchen and the addition of handicap accessible facilities, including bathrooms