With around 120,000 visitors each year, the Aquarium is by far the most popular visitor attraction in Bermuda. Now, surrounding Flatts Village is joining together to become part of that success story.

The Flatts Village Group has been formed to preserve and vitalise this historic and beautiful area. Members of the scheme range from the Aquarium itself, to guest houses, restaurants and retailers in the general vicinity.

They have already produced a full-colour, complimentary guide to the Flatts area and the Zoological Society and Aquarium have prepared an information booklet for tour guides.

Spokesman W.A. (Toppy) Cowen says plans are also in hand for some "exciting events'' in and around Flatts, including a Fun Festival, to take place later this year. "The excitement is starting to grow as we work together as a team and we expect that the Festival will become part of Tourism's annual Calendar of Events.'' Suitable for both land and water tours, the booklet provides information on this ancient village whose history stretches back to the earliest days of settlement -- a small house at Flatts Inlet appears on the Somers Chart of 1610. By the late 1600s, nearby Gibbet's Island provided a dramatic setting for hangings.

The 1700s were Flatts' `golden era' when it emerged as a major port: because of its relatively isolated position, the village became notorious for smuggling activities. Modern shipping and a relentless encroachment of sand at the harbour mouth, however, doomed Flatts; by the early 1900s, the village's glory days were apparently over. But the building of the Aquarium in 1926 and then improved access by the building of the Bermuda Railway, gave the area a new lease of life, and today, Flatts Village has assumed a central role in tourism.