Bathsheba is situated on the palm tree-lined east coast of Barbados. Waves that have travelled hundreds of miles land rhythmically and hypnotically on the beach every three or four seconds and the water swirls around the erratically shaped boulders that line the shore.

The Andromeda Botanical Gardens are located up the hill from the blue community centre in Bathsheba. These gardens were created in 1954 by a self-taught, local horticulturalist, Iris Bannochie, who was an avid plant collector and travelled the world gathering specimens to plant in her garden high above the crashing Atlantic Ocean. Iris left the gardens to the Barbados National Trust when she died in 1988.

There are two trails to follow in the garden, Iris’ Walk and John’s Path. Each trail has an accompanying double-sided information sheet with plenty of stops to admire the plants and flowers. The trails do merge at their ends near the Hibiscus Cafe.