SARAH PARISH IS A CARIBBEAN GIRL

Tuesday 12th December 2006

Chris Pointer

'My experience of Caribbean islands is that the sea laps fairly listlessly on to the beach. On the eastern Atlantic side, however, it is rough in a rolling-surf-on- Newquay-beach sort of way. The waves are huge,' says Sarah Parish enthusiastically.

'I like the surf and it was great to boogie-board, which basically involves lying tummy-down on a small surf board and riding the waves. If there had been nothing else I would have been happy with just the sun and the sea. But Barbados has lots more besides.

'Many of the historic buildings on the island have been beautifully preserved and restored – quite a few are managed and run by the local equivalent of our National Trust. Visiting the 17th-century Sunbury Plantation House, for example, gave me a chance to dress up. I felt like a real Southern belle and came over all Scarlett O'Hara. No Rhett Butler around, unfortunately!'