A Little Canadian Adventure! - Part 4

After our overnight stay and visit to Green Gables on PEI, we now take a second turn at driving the Constitution Bridge, pay the toll and come off the Island.  You either pay to go by ferry, or to come off by road and bridge.  I always laugh and say "but they want you to stay!"  Another long drive on the way back, stopping at the town of Windsor which I remember staying over at some years ago..... and as we drive into town, I spot The Clockmaker's House.  A glorious old Victorian house with many original features.  Great breakfasts too!

We ate out in town that night at The Spitfire, a British style pub covered in  beer adverts and other propaganda, a real Spitfire propeller mounted on the wall, and great scallops (which cannot be beaten in my opinion - although Colette does not agree!!).  Great service for breakfast at the Clockmaker's House, pancakes came with not only bacon and maple syrup, but a dish of fruit to add or not as you liked.  Good tea and coffee, and the larger breakfasts were cooked on a "build it yourself" style by choosing what you wanted from a long list the night before.

On leaving Windsor we headed south and took in a coffee shop in the Grand Pre area and a few steps up the road was The Tangled Garden, a treat for the eyes and a rest for the soul.  Here's the website with pictures to show how the flowering changes throughout the year, and below are some of my own with things I liked on my visit. 





Left, the shop window with lovely stuff for sale.


Right, forget-me-nots just rambling amongst the grass and under the trees.

ferns unfurling........

... a tripod awaiting a climber

and a crane in full flight!

Tulips were everywhere.... I particularly liked these black ones with a jagged edge to their petals.

 And look at these raised beds?  I have never seen this done before although I'm sure that it isn't new.  The edges are woven from twigs cut from hedges and trees - how recyclable is that?!!  In the UK you can buy these in bunches, I always refer to them as "peasticks", and old fashioned gardeners use them to guide the pea plants upwards.  In the bottom bed you can see huge iron nails which the twigs have been woven around (see the nailheads?).  I am seriously thinking about some of these kind of raised beds in my own garden.  After all, I have plenty of space.   And finally in the Tangled Garden we came across the lovely lady below.  Identified it as a Fern Peony.  Only about foot high, but it was easy to spot it was from the family - the ferny greenery tricked me though!  But that's what it is.  Or officially, a Paeonia tenuifolia. And, bummer,  it requires moist, well drained soil!  I have a hot, open garden at the top of a hill.  Protected from wind by high hedges and good planting, but moist it ain't.    Will I just try one?  Very probably.

Finally that day, a stop for lunch and a quick mooch around Annapolis Royal  which is another town that I categorise as "small and lovely" Anywhere that has a bookshop, places for lunch and a view fits into the category. Annapolis has a couple of nice gift shops too - but our luggage is very small. Historically interesting, it's a place to put on the route you are planning.