Cayman Islands Holidays - Event

This superb 65-acre botanical garden on Grand Cayman Island is well worth a trip inland away from the beach. Opened in 1994 by Queen Elizabeth herself, it boasts a floral garden, a heritage garden, a state-of-the-art visitors' centre and a specially-created lake.

The government has ploughed money into this showpiece site. The US$800,000 Visitors Centre is a modern take on British colonial and indigenous architecture, all shuttered windows and wide verandah, with an informative display on the park and featured subjects, as well as the obligatory shop and café. You can buy plants too, although you're not allowed to take them out of the country.

The highlights of the gardens are the heritage and floral gardens. The former was designed on the advice of three local old ladies, authorities on the subject of traditional gardens. It includes roses, orchids, hibiscus, lilies and a wide variety of fruit trees. Also in the grounds is a mock-up of a turn-of-the-century Caymanian home - three rooms to house a family of 11.

The floral garden has rarer and more elaborate plant life. Its centrepiece is a large wooden gazebo overlooking ponds covered with waterlillies and close to the nearby lake. The lake is particularly interesting for the birds it attracts: herons, moorhens, stilts and the uncommon West Indian Whistling Ducks.