Green Gables

A quick call to wish Neil a Happy Birthday but he was working, so we left a message. Then down to a lovely breakfast of scone followed by sautéed diced potato with omelette made with lardons and mushrooms which set us up well for the day.

LM Montgomery was married in this room

First call of the day was to New Park Corner to visit the house of Lucy Maud Montgomery's aunt Annie Campbell. Sue has been reading a biography about Maud and the first few Anne books lately so wanted to see a few of the places she had read about. Maud spent much of her childhood with her cousins here and was married in the house in 1911. You can see the lake which inspired 'the Lake of Shining Waters' of Green Gables and the rooms are full of memorabilia associated with the author's life. A quick look at LM's place of birth in New London and then on to the Green Gables Heritage Place.

'Green Gables' reconstruction

You can walk in the grounds where the Macneill homestead (now demolished) was sited go through the 'Haunted Wood' and up to a reconstruction of the 'House of Green Gables' as described in the first novel. In between the two locations is the cemetery where Lucy Maud is buried.

LM Montgomery's grave

Sue enjoyed seeing the places that she had read about but said that the Green Gables reconstruction wasn't very much like she had imagined it to be.

We had thought of driving along the coast road from Cavendish through North Rustico and the front at Covehead Bay but this is now National Parkland and a park entry fee is charged from June to September. As we weren't planning to stop, we decided to take the more inland route along highway 6, to Mount Stewart and across to Georgetown. A small town with some tasteful suburban commercial development.

Waterfront working properties, Georgetown

The centre appears to be still a working fishing port, although still apparently small scale. There doesn't appear to be much commerce in the centre itself, containing many pretty clapper-board houses painted in many differing colours but all contributing to a lovely scene. Obviously the local area hasn't escaped the general economic situation and there were a number of houses that could do with a bit of tlc, which is a bit sad. After an unlikely approach, we came upon a former railway station that had been moved to a position by the harbour and spruced up a bit.

The Clamdiggers, Georgetown

With a deck set out with tables by the harbour edge it was a fabulous position to site a restaurant called the Clam Diggers. We couldn't resist and went in and chose a table on the outside deck – nearly choked when we saw the price list but ordered the pasta of the day; linguini with mussels, haddock, lobster, and clams in a tomato and cream sauce. It was absolutely superb and in a lovely setting.

Back Garden, Country Charm

By this time we were due at our B&B so we made for Murray River. A lovely evening was spent chatting with Glenn & Joan at the Country Charm Inn.

Murray Harbour, Canada