House in Russia Gully, Fisherpond - Barbados

The house, designed by local architect, Paul Simpson, is mainly built of Guyanese hardwood on a concrete base. It's a modern house with traditional features - high ceilinged rooms, jalousie windows, ventilation that obviates the need for air conditioning - on the principle of free-flowing space. Apart from three double bedrooms, there's a main study upstairs and a small one downstairs, so two people can work comfortably. There's a wrap-around verandah on two sides, where meals are taken, and a second dining table inside in case of rain or wind. The house is reached through a courtyard filled with pot plants, and set in a garden bounded by a rockery which supports a range of local shrubs. There's a second small verandah off the master bedroom - great for eating out on full-moon nights. The colour scheme alternates yellow walls and dark green shutters in the public areas, and a vibrant purple wall offset by white in the two upstairs bedrooms. The house is full of art by African and Caribbean artists, and the study is full of books including a collection of West Indian poetry and fiction.

About the location

Barbados is a densely populated island and the main residential areas suffer from noise - cars, dogs, neighbours, amplified music and preaching. Though we aren't entirely immune - every so often there's a party in one of the nearby villages which can be very loud, and the trundling of agricultural vehicles on the cart road punctuates the day - compared with elsewhere on the island it's a haven of tranquillity. (The road is terrible but it does keep the traffic down!) The sound of the treefrogs at night gives way at dawn to birdsong, and monkeys chatter and play in the trees opposite, often venturing into the garden. At night it's properly dark and you can see the stars. Fisherpond is what's known as a 'tenantry', a settlement originally constituted by freed slaves and now a community, set in the midst of canefields. People have often lived there for generations and are courteous and friendly, especially if you pick them up on the road and get them to a bus-stop. There is crime in Barbados, as everywhere, but it's a safe district - the house has burglar bars but no surrounding fence, like most of the other houses around. It has two immediate neighbouring houses on adjacent plots of land, useful if there's a crisis or help is needed. It's 20 minutes in either direction to the sea - the rugged East Coast and the gentler Caribbean West Coast.

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