RSSTake a stroll up Young Street from the Carenage and at the crossroads turn right into Church Street by Barclay Bank. Church Street is a very busy street so it’s best to take your stroll after four o’clock during the week, or in the afternoon on weekends. Pause for a while just after the Anglican Church and take a look through the black iron railings. Set back from the beautifully planted little pink-walled garden stands a lovely yellow painted ‘gingerbread’ house. Known as The Priory, it pre-dates 1788 when it is mentioned as a little chapel in the Vestry records of the Anglican Church. A Trinidad Architect added the front façade in 1918, and the lacy white fretwork, seen on many of Trinidad’s older houses, frames the gables. Below, black and white striped awnings shade the windows and louvered panels.
The two wide raised front beds, separated by a flagstone path leading to the verandah, are an ideal compliment to the house, and a wide variety of low growing plants and shrubs are spread across them. Succulents, such as Aloes, Echeveria, the red flowering Kalanchoe and little groups of Cacti thrive in this sun-trapped garden. Colourful Lantanas, Periwinkles and Zinnias sit side by side with softly coloured white, pink and yellow Mussaendas, and pink and red Ixoras.
In the right bed near the Bougainvillea and scented Jasmine covered railings you will see a soft grey-green Silver Bush and a dwarf Golden Apple tree. A bright blue Tropical Sweet Pea (Clitorea) meanders over and around the garden gate and, to the left, you will see the pendulous red flowers of the Tangoon Creeper (Quisqualis Indica) beginning to spread across the cement tiled garage roof. On the bed below there are two young Frangipani trees (Plumeria) (pale pink and white when in bloom) with a little Lime tree, Ferns and Croton nearby.
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