Hello dear friends!
I am so glad you stopped by! It is a beautiful spring day in Brentwood Bay. The air is fresh. The blossoms and blooms are at their peak and I was just about to go for a walk around my neighborhood. Why not join me? I live about 15 minutes south of Sidney and about 20 minutes north of Victoria. You won’t believe how pastoral it is and how diverse the landscape and views are. One moment you are on a residential street, then you are on a country road with hay fields and farms on either side; then a secret trail winding through a forest glen takes you to the farms and fields on our way back to my place. It’s a big circle walk that will take us about 1 hour. Have you got your good shoes on? Does your walker or wheelchair have good tire tread? Sometimes it gets a little muddy at this time of year! Ok off we go!
We’ll take this pretty crescent road to the main street. Careful – there aren’t many sidewalks in the area! But most people drive slower around here than on the North Shore!
This is probably one of the busiest streets in my neighborhood! Not much traffic except during the summer when people are making their way to the fairgrounds just up the road.
This big field will yield beautiful gold-en hay in the early summer. These are the grounds of the Saanich Fair held every August. It’s the oldest fair in Western Canada, celebrating its 150 year anniversary a couple of years ago. It’s a smaller version of the PNE – the agricultural part – not the Playland part! It’s my favorite event of the year. And yes, you can buy mini donuts!
We’re continuing along the other side of the hay field towards that secret trail I told you about…and across the stream
–Past the little lending library…
…and a farm stand. The produce stand sells eggs and produce year round and I bought a beautiful Christmas wreath here in December. Egg and produce stands are at the end of almost every driveway in my neighborhood. The freshest eggs anywhere!
Now we are headed back up the trail and to-wards the main road again. Or we could take a trail to the right and stay in the forest. That’s what I do in the summer to stay cool in the shade. Today, I think we will continue up the hill as the breeze is brisk and I am afraid it may start to sprinkle a bit of rain soon.
Do you see that farm across the street? In the spring and summer, I can pick my own produce – absolutely anything you can imagine. If it’s your first time visiting the farm, Wayne will take you for a tour in his golf cart and tell you the names of each plant, when to pick it and how to cook it. It’s the next best thing to having your own vegetable garden.
We are almost home and the clouds are building so the timing is perfect.
And here we are! Home just in time to put the kettle on and warm up with a cup of tea. Do you have time to stop in? I haven’t done any baking today, but I do have some nice Murchies No. 22 tea and a comfy sofa next to my fireplace!
I hope you enjoyed the walk. It really is a great area to explore. Please come again! I enjoyed our time together. I miss everyone at the Centre so I think of you often. In the mean-time, stay healthy, safe and connected to your family and friends.
~ Jocelyn Rea
(Download Jocelyn Rea’s full story complete with photos here in the May 2020 Turtle Soup Newsletter.)