My 2020 Top Five Bermuda Things

🔝5️⃣ I have now been in Bermuda for twelve and a half years. Classic came for four, and you know the rest. As idyllic as the 21 sq. mile island is, the fact I split my time between the UK, the USA and if we were lucky some adventurous holidays, then this small little isle with it’s three main roads never seemed too suffocating.

Well, then came the global pandemic and what with the transitional nature of it’s inhabitants, 270,000 air visitors and over half million stopping by on a cruise ship, Bermuda soon suffered the fate of the rest of the world. Quite draconian, if not very sensible restrictions were put in place and we became isolated for a large chunk of the year. Even once the airport re-opened the constraints put into place, and the dire state of the continents to our left and right, made stopping at home necessary.

So, therefore selecting just a Top Five 2020 Favourite Bermuda Things was actually very difficult, but after much thought, I have:

1️⃣ Fisherman’s Acre
This is the name of our house. There’s a few houses dotted around an acre of wooded land on the bay, where fisherman used to, and still do, head out to the banks of the Atlantic Ocean. We moved here just before lockdown, and thank the lordy we did. The main part of the home is 300 years old, and it packs character inside and out, and spending every working, and working moment made home a happy place.

2️⃣ Botanical Gardens
The Bermuda Botanical Gardens is 36 acres of trees, shrubs, paths, plantations, mazes, hills and colonial buildings. And it is right across the road from our house. When Rolo the dog joined the family in May, the Botanical Garden became a daily part of my life.

3️⃣ Two Rock Wine Co.
Mat and the team at Two Rock Wines knocked the preverbial ball out off the park last year. When open their cool warehouse is a must visit, but the key was they got delivery and pick up down to a fine art. Remarkable selection of quality well-priced wines from small, family-owned wineries from around.

4️⃣ The Atlantic Ocean
This sounds awful but I (used to) take for granted that we are surrounded by thousands of leagues of sea. I mean you don’t because you can nearly always see it, but lockdown was a great opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with it’s clear, warm waters especially off the dock at the end of the path from our house.

5️⃣ PGA Championship
The Bermuda Golf Championship in November was the first PGA event to allow spectators for 8 months. The numbers were limited, and there were many restrictions, but it was a small price to pay for being outside watching professional athletes in the flesh and I knew how fortunate we were as the UK began to go back into lockdown.

Honourable mentions to:

Milan Milan – an Italian deli/coffee shop in town where I whiled away many hours with my laptop; The Twizy – the cute little electric cars available to rent that can travel up to 50 miles on a single charge; The Hamilton Princess Art Tour – every Saturday morning there’s a guided tour of the hotel’s magnificent art collection. Grab brunch after.