Sam Lord´s Castle (Barbados)

Sam Lords Castle Barbados.

I was married in Barbados on 25th Feb 2000 at Sam Lords Castle; this was my second attempt at marriage and also my husband to be.
So we decided to go away somewhere warm and inviting and do the wedding bit just for us instead of the worry of inviting hundreds of guests and all the hassle that goes with it.

When we set out on this task we were unsure as to where we wanted to go at first ...
...beverages
• Use of the Sam Lords castle for our wedding
• Lovely wee cart brought me from my room to where Alistair was waiting.
We had to pay extra for the photographer this cost us $260.00 for 24 prints and negatives and a lovely white leather bound album.

From the Airport:

We landed at Grantley Addams International Airport Barbados after a very long but pleasant flight. On stepping ... more

Sam Lords Castle Barbados.

I was married in Barbados on 25th Feb 2000 at Sam Lords Castle; this was my second attempt at marriage and also my husband to be.
So we decided to go away somewhere warm and inviting and do the wedding bit just for us instead of the worry of inviting hundreds of guests and all the hassle that goes with it.

When we set out on this task we were unsure as to where we wanted to go at first but decided on the Caribbean after looking at wedding packages this one seemed to provide all that we wanted with minimum effort on our part.

So let's start at the beginning:

We went along to our local travel agent and booked this amazing trip though KUONI. It cost us in the region of £4500.00 all inclusive in total for 9 days in Barbados included in this price were the following:

• Transportation to Bridgetown to get marriage license.
• Marriage license, stamp duty and registration of marriage certificate.
• Priest to perform ceremony.
• Bridal bouquet and boutonniere.
• Wedding cake (serves 10-12 persons)
• Champagne for toasting (8 persons)
• Co-ordination fee
• Hotel room
• All food and beverages
• Use of the Sam Lords castle for our wedding
• Lovely wee cart brought me from my room to where Alistair was waiting.
We had to pay extra for the photographer this cost us $260.00 for 24 prints and negatives and a lovely white leather bound album.

From the Airport:

We landed at Grantley Addams International Airport Barbados after a very long but pleasant flight. On stepping off the plane we were hit by the most amazing heat I have ever felt it made u instantly sweat. The whole process of getting through the airport was fairly easy the airport itself was very basic and looked as though it was in the middle of some very lengthy renovations.

Transport to our Hotel:

Sam Lord's Castle is located on a mile-long beach on the south-east coast of Barbados. The resort is just six miles, or twenty minutes, from the Grantley Adams International Airport.
We jumped on a local small bus which took us straight to our hotel but what a ride I was amazed at the views as we drove along the streets. The houses were either shanty style made up of old driftwood or huge palace like homes with satellite dishes on top the strange thing I found was that they were side by side. I lost count of how many different churches I noticed they are deeply religious people and definitely love their churches.
I did notice in every field we passed kids and adults playing cricket they do love this pastime and take it very seriously.
As we got closer to the hotel we past sugar cane fields it was amazing seeing the people actually cut the sugar cane lugging it on their backs and putting it in the huge machine that strips the cane.

The resort itself:

When we got to the resort I was very pleased it looked clean and inviting the people were ever so helpful and filled us in on all the information we would need for our stay. They got our luggage and a small luggage cart took us to our apartment.

The room itself was very nice and clean flowery covers and curtains very Caribbean I thought. With a lovely balcony where you could look out over the sea, and to the pools below.

There was an on suite bathroom with bath and shower clean fresh towels,tea maker and coffee. Nice biscuits. They also left a lovely welcome card on our bed with all the information we needed to sightsee and try out all the fun things in Barbados.

We were in Barbados for 3 days before we actually got married so we did not do much sightseeing in those days for fear of sunburn in our wedding pictures. But we more than made up for it after our big day.

When we got our bags all sorted out and our sun stuff on off we went to explore the resort. Just below our room was a nice roundish pool with lots of sun chairs and loungers around it right next to this was a bar which sold the most amazing rum and fruit cocktails. (this did not help my head the next day ).

We walked a little further and found a man selling wire figurines he was making from scratch of little men with various musical instruments stuck into a piece of wood. They were painted with a brass/gold paint. We just had to buy the wee guitar men as my hubby is daft of electric guitars. The man wrote on the bottom of them and dated them with a nice message about us getting married and wished us luck.

A little further along were some tourist type shops with all the basic stuff and useful items you might have forgotten also the usual tacky tourist stuff.

We passed by a hair and beauty salon and then we noticed a large building with all the windows open, we ventured inside and this is where the buffet was served 3 times a day the place was covered in a huge net to stop the birds getting in, it was fun watching them and some of them actually made it through much to my dismay as one stole a sausage straight from my plate.
They had an amazing choice of food that would suit most people lots of different options and very tasty and fresh. Only thing I thought was strange you could not eat in the buffet place if you had only your swimsuit on you had to cover your legs and top.

The castle itself was a lovely building personally would not class it as a castle more of a large stately home. It was lovely inside were to the manor born lots of velvet and old polished wood. The one annoying thing was where we were there they were working on the roof and all you could hear was Michael Jackson playing on the stereo that belonged to the workmen the must have loved Michael.

Moving outside the building they have a lovely garden with waterfalls and an excellent view of the ocean.
This was where I was married on the lawn next to a lovely tree. They put a large table out for us to sign the register and gave us our lovely lemon cake and champagne.

Just past the castle itself was another pool this was more for adults with children not allowed and another bar right next to it.
Walking past this down a winding path and through a lovely round archway you then get to the beach, it is split in to with a deck down to the left was a lovely long sandy beach with lots of palm trees on the other side was a more rocky private looking beach with a few palm trees.
The sand is very fine and soft not all pebbles like a lot of the Scottish beaches. The first thing I noticed was a warning sign about swimming. The water was very choppy but I did see the locals in the water swimming we walked along a bit and asked them why no swimming.

They told us it was do to the fact this part of the water is where the two oceans meet so there is a very strong undercurrent. We did go into the water it was a lot of fun but not for the faint hearted or weak swimmer. We went snorkeling with a local it cost us $10 dollars and my husbands nike t-shirt as the wee man liked it so much.

He brought the boat about half a mile from shore and we had to swim out to it this scared the begeesus out of me and I nearly drowned was dragged onto his boat spluttering and looking like a half dead fish. He took us further out and threw a log tied to his boat with rope out into the water behind the boat. Told us to get out and hang on to it and look down into the water. Was a bit worried but did it anyway the water was fairly shallow where he had taken us. I was looking down and feeling quite brave when a wave splashed over me and the water came running down my breathing tube to my dismay I found there was no pea in my snorkel and started to choke.
Signaled to him I wanted to get back in the boat and we left for the shore.

He was sailing along and noticed a piece of wood floating along in the water he pulled it into the small boat and said this will help to repair that broken windowsill in my house. As he plopped the smelly barnacle covered plank right between us.
Sights and fun to be had in Barbados:
Snorkeling but stay away from the locals go with a qualified teacher I will not list them all but you can pick up lots of leaflets in the hotel foyer.

Helicopter flight round the island. We did this and it was stunning can't remember how much it cost sorry but it was not too expensive. We actually got to see a Humpback Whale with its baby the guy who was flying the helicopter was very excited so moved closer and we got it all on video. Seemingly this was unusual to see so close to the bay. Barbados is a lovely island and very beautiful from above.

Harrison caves we did not go to this as I'm not too interested in going underground when it's warm outside but I know a lot of people like this.

Island Safari takes you on a pre set route via a land rover 4x4 did not fancy this as the helicopter trip was more than enough but if you like it rough and ready I would try this.

Deep sea fishing and cruises they have lots of offers for this again if you look in your hotel foyer there are lots of brochures we did not get to do any cruises as our time was limited.

Evening entertainment on the beach; They had a great barbeque with lots of drinks and a huge fire, the dancers came in and did and interesting tribal style dance with very little clothing on and then the fire eaters came afterwards. They tried to get us to limbo under a stick wasn't up for that had drunk and eaten far to much to even attempt this.

 I must say I loved Barbados and plan to go back for one of my anniversaries. I could write more and more about this place but do not want to bore you too much.
The wedding went off well and we had a fabulous day we met two very nice people to be out witnesses. We had a lovely relaxing holiday/honeymoon. And did not want to go home. Have included some pictures below.

I would recommend Sam Lords Castle whether you plan to get Married or just as a holiday it caters for all tastes and if they don't have what you want there are plenty of places within cab or bus distance to go to.

If you are bothered by mosquitoes I would take some kind of repellant with you I'm lucky they don't seem to like my blood maybe because of all the midges that ate me as a kid in Scotland.
You may also need to get some vaccinations just check with your doctor before you go.

Typical cost for 9 days in Barbados through Expedia Not specificaly to Sam Lords £2345. to £4204 all inclusive for two people

Additions 22/03/06

I was contacted just last week by a couple who had read this review .They were at Sam Lords the same time as us also from scotland. They were telling me that Sam Lords is closed. This is a great shame as both of us wanted to go back for an anniversary.
This is a shame and a great loss to all those couples who got married in Sam Lords or are thinking of getting married there.

Thanks for Reading
Cheers Maggie
 

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