Plantation House is the official residence of the Governor of Saint Helena. It is located 3.6 km to the south of the capital, Jamestown, on the island of Saint Helena.
The Plantation House is a must-see while visiting St Helena and is currently used as the current Governor’s personal residence. You will only have a quick stop here for photos and seeing the oldest living resident of the island, Johnathan the 187-year-old Seychelles tortoise. Make sure you get an opportunity to go inside. He is huge and looks in pretty good shape despite his age. Jonathan is joined by Emma, Davis, and Frederick. Johnathan prefers Emma as you usually observed him crawling atop the rear part of her shell.
It might not be so straightforward getting the advertised tour of Plantation House on Tuesday or Thursday morning, as there need to be at least 3 people for it to go ahead you can make private arrangements and still see Jonathan, arguably the island’s most famous resident. He’s a giant tortoise who lives in the paddock in front of the house. He’s thought to be at least 187 years old as he was brought as a ‘mature adult’ (so already 50 years old) in the 1880s from Seychelles as a gift for the governor of St Helena, who lives in Plantation House. He’s been there ever since and now, with his 3 companions, still appears pretty sprightly for the oldest living creature on the planet!
Walks around Plantation house
There are a number of walks around Plantation House that pass the many features of the area: the tortoise the Ladies’ Bath (a natural spring); the Butcher Graves and the Big Rock viewpoint. The map below shows a short route (in Red, about 1Km), medium route (in Green, about 1.3Km), and longer route (in Yellow, about 3Km). The start point is the gate used for viewing the tortoise where there is a small car park. The yellow walk can also be joined in Scotland.
