St Peter Holidays

The parish of St Peter on Barbados' Platinum Coast is a Bajan paradise. Spend sunny days lounging on a palm tree-lined beach or swimming in the sea – if you're lucky, you could paddle next to a resident sea turtle. Take some like-worthy pics in Speightstown, or hang out with the monkeys at the Barbados Wildlife Reserve.

St Peter's got sandy stretches in spades. A favourite among the bunch is Gibbes Beach, sporting gentle waves and soft, yellow sand – perfect for sandcastle-building kiddos. Mullins Beach is popular with the surf-and-sail crowd, while Heywoods Beach is a dreamy patch of white sand, coconut palms and crystal-clear water.

Take a stroll inland to track Barbados' colonial past. Georgian-style St Peter's Church, former plantation mansions, the Arlington House Museum and the Jacobean St Nicholas Abbey are all splendidly restored and well worth a visit. While in town, don't forget to sample flying fish and cou-cou – a local speciality similar to polenta that's as fun to eat as it is to say.