NOMDMI, THE home of National Hero Norman Manley, built on the spot in the Blue Mountains that his wife, Edna, fell in love with on horse rides up the steep ridges, is a beautiful house with a breathtaking view.

Not breathtaking solely in the sense that the depth of the plunging valley from the sloping front lawn, the mountains in direct line of vision from the front veranda and the blue sky completing the impressive combination of colours invites a deep breath of appreciation, but also because the air, high above the city, is crisp and invigorating.

It's chilly, too, well into the third quarter of 2009, when Norman and Edna Manley's great-grandson Drum Drummond takes The Sunday Gleaner to Nomdmi - not the easiest of vehicular journeys, but well worth the trip.

Drummond explains that the striking name was not deliberately constructed. Mike Smith, Edna and Norman Manley were making what should have been a 'No Admittance' sign and the spirits intervened. Edna Manley said it was perfect, and 'Nomdmi' it was and still is.

Edna Manley, in the process of breaking in horses in the 1930s, would ride them into the Blue Mountains. She ended up in Flamstead, fell in love with the area and found the land, subsequently taking Norman there. They initially bought "a couple acres" in the area, then accessible only by trails, and then further expanded it into coffee farming.

Drummond says that Norman Manley built the original house himself, along with an assistant. While it has been expanded, he says that his great-grandfather "was not into anything ostentatious".

Mature pine trees dot the domiciled area around Nomdmi, standing up and out from the grass. The coffee-farm heritage is obvious in the plants, hosting a fair amount of berries, and a 17-year-old pine tree has been carefully shaped into a cone.

There are glimpses of the house through the tree boles and the full sight lives up to the expectations the flashes create. Creeper plants encircle the front of the house, completely covering the wood in most places. Plants, some of them flowering, are ordered around the house, and save for the base of the structure, there is almost no concrete.

Edna Manley's former studio is to the left of the house and closer to the valley.

Hurricane Damage

Hurricanes, which heave their full brute force at the mountains, have had an effect. Nomdmi was badly affected by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and the structure expanded in the rebuilding process.

Family memories in images are in the house, including an enlarged cover of Edna Manley: The Diaries and a remembrance programme for former Prime Minister Michael Manley. Norman Manley's mother's picture is among those in the living room.

Norman and Edna had that breathtaking mountain experience directly from their bedroom, up the sole flight of interior steps and for a 'lofty' setting, with a window opening out over the veranda.

Drummond shows The Sunday Gleaner the ridge where his great-grandmother would ride horses up to Flamstead. It is steep.

And creating Nomdmi was well worth the clamber.