Bermuda is a little bit of England set in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
It became important because of its strategic position in political disputes and wars over the past 400 years.
We stayed at the Royal Palms Hotel, which resembles many old inns of England that do not have lifts.
It had long corridors, a climb up little steps to your room, cups and saucers and tea-making facilities in the rooms, English-looking cushions, varnished doors with brass handles, little lounges, outdoor decorations, manicured lawns and gardens.
We travelled from the Caribbean and changed planes at Miami on the way to Bermuda.
The Americans have modern equipment to check suitcases but security staff at the airport still open each case.
I made the mistake of locking mine.
There was a note from the US security to say they had broken the lock to inspect the case.
When I arrived in Bermuda my case key did not work.
However, John Moss, the hotel's odd jobs man, can find solutions to most of the guests' problems.
He came to the rescue with tools to open the case and then brought me a new lock to use for the rest of the journey.
His help was needed because it was Sunday and the shops were closed in Bermuda.
They were also shut the next day because it was the Labour Day holiday.
We also witnessed Moss' practical knowledge when he prepared the buffet breakfast.
There was boiling water to cook eggs and he left instructions on how to do it: 6 minutes for soft, 9 minutes for medium and 12 minutes for hard.
A further note revealed his experience.
"Guests should write their initials in pencil on the eggs.
Pencil marks won't come off when the eggs are boiled."
Andrew, the bar manager, fell in love with Bermuda when he visited his sister who lived on the island and was asked to take the job of bar manager.
"I sold up my pub in Northern Ireland," he said.
"I like it here.
The weather is always warm and you feel alive every morning.
The weather was so bad in Ireland that it was hard to get enthused about work.
"It is different here. I work split shifts in the morning and evening. I go swimming at the beach in the afternoon and it rejuvenates me."
He told us there was no unemployment on the island and it is government policy to give jobs first to locals if they have the necessary skills.
An expatriate can become a Bermudian citizen if they stay for 20 years.
But this is hard to get.
"I knew a man who had worked on the island for 19 years and was told to leave," Andrew said.
He told us no-one is allowed to own a gun in Bermuda.
The well-kept gardens at the hotel included banana and orange trees and lots of flowers.
It reflected what we saw across Bermuda in home gardens, with well-trimmed lawns and lots of trees.
There are nine churches on the island and this also reflects small town and rural England.
The skyline of Hamilton, the capital, is dominated by the Holy Trinity Anglican Cathedral.
On the day we visited the church the small congregation was given fans to keep cool inside the hot and humid building.
There was also a Bermudan touch at the church.
Bishop Patrick White turned 67 that day and the congregation sang "Happy birthday" to him.
Bishop White grew up on the island and returned home as bishop in 2003.
He typified the local approach to life by wearing Bermuda shorts and purple socks under his church robes.
Bermuda is a small island with a population of only 67,837.
It is popular with tourists, having a yearly influx of 500,000 visitors.
There are nine golf courses on the island and most are well-used during the long tourist season.
Transport around the island is well-organised and cheap for tourists, who can travel by bus and boat.
Motorcycles are also popular with locals and can be hired by visitors.
We took a launch trip to see the famous Royal Naval Dockyards which were used as a staging area during the two world wars of the 20th century.
By 1958 most of the facilities had closed, with the exception of a small supply base, HMS Malabar.
When it closed in 1995 it marked the end of a 200-year Royal Naval presence in Bermuda.
The dockyard has a different use now.
Huge cruise ships bring tourists to the island dock at the Kings Wharf.
It was a 20-minute boat trip to the dockyard and we continued on for another 45 minutes to the old town of St George.
It gave us a bird's-eye view of the whole island and we saw lots of pleasure boats and sturdy stone houses with the roofs painted white to reflect the heat. The walls were in pastel colours of blue, green, magenta, apricot and lime.
Europeans have lived on Bermuda for 400 years and their original wooden houses were wrecked by frequent hurricanes and so replaced by stone ones.
The last serious storm was Hurricane Fabian in 2004, which cased four deaths and a lot of devastation.
Most locals keep an emergency kit that includes an alternative power source, food and water.
Windows are ready to be battened down.
The town of St George was formed when the ship Sea Venture was grounded in a storm in 1609 on its way to Georgetown.
The town was the capital of Bermuda from 1612 to 1815 and was declared a Unesco Heritage site in 2000.
There are 20 protected buildings at St George.
Some of the key features include the Globe Hotel, the ducking stool, stocks, the history museum and the bell-ringer dressed in 18th-century clothes.
Notable buildings are the Unfinished Church and St Peter's Anglican Church.
St Peter's is the oldest Anglican church in continuous use in the New World.
It has been a place of worship since the founding of the town of St George in 1612.
The present stone church replaced an earlier wooden church that was destroyed by a hurricane in 1712.
The original Jacobean communion table and the unusual three-deck pulpit and other older fittings were salvaged and incorporated into the new building.
The church was the meeting place of the first Parliament of Bermuda on August 1, 1620 and is still used for important community events.
Fact file
BERMUDA
Population: 67,837
Capital: Hamilton
Government: British overseas territory
Governor: Sir Richard Gozney
Premier: Paula CoxArea: 53.2sq km
Currency: Bermudian dollar (US dollar accepted everywhere)
Religion: Christianity
Official language: English (also Portuguese)
Distance from mainland: 2hr 35min flight from Miami in United States and 6hr 35min from London
