SHAW PARK BOTANICAL GARDENS AND FIREFLY,
A MUST-SEE
$46 Per Person  (3 Hours)

Two of our favorite spots in Ochi make up this tour and we think they go together. The first is only 550 ft. above sea level yet boasts of stunning aerial views of town. Shaw Park Botanical Gardens is the former grounds of a long-gone hotel and the 25-acre gardens are resplendent with unusual flowers. You can walk through on your own but we suggest you take along one of the gardeners-cum-guides who will initiate you into the wonders of tropical horticulture. Don't be surprised if you watch a wedding from a distance as we did; this setting is so popular for celebrations.

Your second stop is a place I visited first in 1981 and it is embedded in my memory forever. It is Firefly, the Jamaican home of Noel Coward. It surprises me how many people are unaware of it and yet I will always flash back on that visit as a favorite in my list of travel experiences. The home remains much as Mr. Coward left it. His studio is still set up with a painting on the easel. The drawing room, where he entertained Joan Sutherland, Sophia Loren, and Audrey Hepburn, to name a few, continues to house two pianos. Mr. Coward passed away in this house and is buried on the grounds. After that visit, I have always felt a greater affinity to any mention of his name and more understanding of his massive talent.

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