Arnos Vale Water Wheel Restaurant Re-Open

At the Arnos Vale Waterwheel you dine in style and comfort, enjoying the finest meals a local restaurant can offer - one that has been visited and recommended by scores of world travellers.

Many can find nothing but superlatives to describe their gourmet experience at the Waterwheel. Dawn Beaty of Dive Training Magazine, who dined there recently, remarked that it was "the best restaurant food service in all the Caribbean."

The facility consists of a converted sugar factory that now comprises a nature park, historic site, museum, gift shop, theatre, restaurant and bar.

Owned by Bill and Cintra Bronte, the Waterwheel is situated on one of more than 100 sugar estates in Tobago. It was on these estates that the juice from the cane was transformed into sugar, molasses and rum for export in the last two centuries.

The actual wheel, now non-functional, was originally made in Scotland and taken to Tobago in pieces by ship and assembled on site. It is now the largest remaining artifact that has been preserved and according to Phillip Bronte, manager of the restaurant, the Arnos Vale Sugar Factory represents one of the best preserved examples of eighteenth and nineteenth century technology in Tobago.

Guides at the Waterwheel are available to show their visitors such places of interest as the preserves of the Arnos Vale Sugar Factory where archaeological sites have been identified. The remains of the Estate House, called Buckra House, are located on a hilltop offering visitors a spectacular view of the area. The dam that diverted water to the canal runs adjacent to the restaurant. The Slave Village, across the road from the factory, is where budding archaeologists can discover historic pottery.

And if that's not enough, you can visit the Enigmatic Tomb located near the Slave Village or either of the two Amerindian sites that have been located - one downstream from the factory and the other near to Arnos Vale Bay. Finally, there is the small museum house, which contains artifacts discovered during construction, including a large spanner (wrench) used in the maintenance of equipment at the sugar factory.