Victoria will have a sesquicentennial!

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Martin

You may wish to plan to be in Victoria for its sesquicentennial. Its what?, you may ask. I enjoy discovering new words and endured seven years of Latin at school (yes, seven) but this eluded me.

It is Victoria’s 150th birthday. On 2nd August the city of Victoria will be 150 years old. That’s not much, but we are on the West coast and it took a long time for causasians (that’s politically correct “white man”) to reach the coast.

Fort Victoria in about 1860Captain James Cook arrived on British Columbia’s coast in 1778 but a fort was not established here until 1843 by the Hudson’s Bay Company and its Chief Factor, James Douglas. Not surprisingly, it was named Fort Victoria after Queen Victoria. The significance of 2nd August 1862 as the birthdate of the city is that this was when it was incorporated as a City. By then the original community, numbering 230 in 1854, was growing fast to serve the goldrush in the Fraser Valley. Tales were told of city lots valued at $25 being sold for $3,000 a week later to meet demand. Hindsight is everything. The photo shows Fort Victoria in about 1860, from the City of Victoria archives.

57 arts and cultural groups have received grants for Victoria 150 productions and the city is planning central events so this may be a good period to plan to visit Victoria. Oh … please bring some candles; we need to find 150.

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Spring in Victoria – lots to do

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Martin

It’s a lovely sunny Spring morning. Flowers and shrubs are coming to life but there’s much, much more springing to life in Victoria.

Researching this article has produced a remarkable diverse range of things to see and do in the next three months, and these are just some highlights. Let’s start with a cheery image from our own B&B garden:

Spring in our Victoria B&B gardens

Spring is the perfect time to visit Victoria gardens. My favourites at this time of year are the Butchart Gardens for their massed displays of tulips in April and little-known Playfair Park with its glorious rhododendrons in May and early June.

The great outdoors of southern Vancouver Island offers so much but let’s focus on special events and festivals. You can run a 10km race, the Oak Bay half marathon or, for the ultra-fit, there’s the Elk Lake triathlon whose bike portion passes our gates. Cycling events include the Tour de Victoria, the Victoria International Cycling Festival and even Jumpship in the Inner Harbour where crazy mountain bikers “perform” (my italics) on a floating barge!

The 148th (yes) Victoria Highland Games and Celtic Festival or the Luxton Rodeo offer feats of strength and precision, or for a nautical touch there’s the Swiftsure International Yacht Race or the Victoria Harbour Boat Show.  If mingling is your style then wander through the 50th Oak Bay Tea Party and be in the crowds for the annual Victoria Day Parade.

Lovers of culture and the arts will enjoy many theatrical plays and concerts (classical, jazz, blues and more), a chess tournament and the Victoria International Jazz Fest.

Lastly, there are some significant interesting exhibits at the impressive Royal BC Museum. They have a major dinosaurs exhibition this year and two photographic displays: Wildlife Photographer of the Year and about 100 portraits celebrating the Queen’s diamond jubilee.

You can also view a full Victoria events calendar 2012.

It promises to be a great spring in Victoria and we hope to welcome you here to enjoy it.

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What do you really want for breakfast?

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Martin

Let’s suppose that the average person, whoever he or she may be, has breakfast on 365 days a year for 70 years. Maybe 10 days each year are special for vacations. But that still leaves 355 x 70 = 24,850 which are routine rushed affairs squeezed between sleep and the days activities. We all know what these are like for about 95% of our lives.

Then we go away to relax on vacation: no rush, no schedule, no demands on our time. Starting the day at leisure sets us up for the way we want the day to continue. So breakfast should be taken in this luxuriating manner.

Here, tongue in cheek, is a brief video presenting us with our breakfast options:

At Gazebo Bed and Breakfast we make breakfast that special, relaxing and tasty affair it should be. None of that hit-and-miss hotel breakfast buffet gamble. It is elegant, even candlelit, at a beautifully presented table in the dining room with fine china, silver service and linen napkins.

You have a choice of breakfast formats from a continental breakfast, to a lighter meal, to the full (overfull?) option. If you are unable to enjoy these due to an early start we will provide a packed breakfast to get your travels under way.

As for the food, well, it is fresh and tasty, nutritious and healthy. Here is a full description of these breakfasts – we use local ingredients from a farmers market and fruit stands. See some breakfast reviews from past guests. We look forward to serving you.

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How to make an online bed and breakfast reservation

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Martin

How to make an online bed and breakfast reservation – this step by step guide may help you. It is simpler than the explanation may appear, starting on our website and then moving to Webervations, a separate encrypted secure site.

Check B&B availability Initially, you have two choices. You can click on the beige Check Availability button on the left of every page on our bed and breakfast website. Or you can read our B&B Availability page which chats about the process and has a link on the first line to our Availability Calendar.  This page shows you this handy calendar of available dates (on the top left you can click on an arrow to change the month shown):

B&B Reservations CalendarEither method will take you to where you select reservation dates. Let’s say you wanted you wish to stay here in Victoria on 18th and 19th June 2012:

Check B&B AvailabilityYou next see the below chart showing available units for a two week period after your planned arrival. Click on the small circle under your arrival date.

Available bed and breakfast rooms Then this summary below appears. Choose your room or cottage on the button “Click to make a Reservation Request” and you reach the final form where you enter all your information. This includes Visa or Mastercard details which are securely encrypted. You can opt for one of our packages at this point if you wish.

Select your choice of B&B rooms

We receive an email notification that you have made your reservation request. We log in to the Webervations site for your information and then email you to confirm your reservation. This confirmation email will contain lots of useful information and links to help you plan your visit to Victoria.

It really is easier than it appears!

Then we look forward to welcoming you to this lovely Victoria and southern Vancouver Island.
Linda and Martin.

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Victoria Attractions 2012

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Martin

The greeting “Happy New Year” is still being uttered and our Christmas tree still stands, though for only another 24 hours, but we really must look ahead at what 2012 has to offer to our visitors this year.

There is so much to see and do here, all in a beautiful setting with a pleasant climate. We can select from both long-term attractions like the Butchart Gardens, whale-watching and the Royal BC Museum and from short-term / temporary events and festivals.

I was reminded of our wealth of choice a few days ago. A nephew emailed that he would be returning from South America with an 18 hour stopover in a North American city much larger than Victoria. I suggested he take a bus to some local attractions so went online to locate some good choices for him. They were sadly short in quantity and quality. We are fortunate indeed here and so are our visitors to Victoria and southern Vancouver Island.

Welcome to Victoria BC 2012For many years our website has contained comprehensive local tourist information to help our guests make the most of their time here. Two pages are particularly useful. Firstly, the Itineraries page describes and illustrates suggested tours and attractions to fill a week or so. It responds to what we hear so often: “We never realised that there was so much to do in Victoria. We should have stayed longer“. Secondly, our Victoria events calendar for 2012 lists events and festivals of a temporary or short-term nature. Catch them if you can!

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Happy Christmas from Victoria BC

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Martin

It may not be politically correct but we want to wish all our past (and future) guests a very Happy Christmas.

December is a month when we rest each year, taking a deep breath after the busyness of the past B&B season and preparing for the next one. Most of the leaves have tumbled down and have been placed in several leaf mulch wire bins to slowly decompose for the future benefit of the garden. This seems to be an analogy for our life here now: we have tumbled down, so it feels, and are placed at ease in preparation for the future (hopefully not to decompose yet!).

Saint NicholasWe held a Christmas tree decoration party for 20+ friends so the house is festive. Martin was disguised as Saint Nicholas for a neighbouring childrens party, hoping they do not recognise him and that he does not forget those onerous lines “Ho ho ho” (photo above at our tree just before the visitation). Parties, gift-giving and relaxation amidst good company with good food seem deserved after a long summer. We hope your Christmas, or whatever holiday season you celebrate, will be relaxed and happy. Further, we wish you a happy and healthy 2012.
Linda and Martin.

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Posted on November 8, 2011 by Martin

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Eat off a concrete path?

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Martin

During this years delayed and all-too-short summer we had plenty of work to do outside. The biggest was re-grouting the paths. “So what”, you may think, or “Why are they vacuuming a path?”(bottom photo). Let me explain.

When we bought The Gazebo in 1997 the terrace and paths were covered in older concrete in varying conditions. Over the years they became less attractive due to age so in 2007 we embarked on a project which was to absorb far, far more hours than expected.

Victoria bed and breakfast - gardens

Only 15,000 to go!

We purchased 23 pallets of concrete pavers in three shapes/sizes. I wish I had counted them at the time (it would have justified the hours of work) but we estimate there were 15,000 to 18,000 pavers. Over many weeks with help from friends we placed them over a layer of sand. Most of the path edges required pavers cut to size. Eventually this element was complete. Next we grouted the joints with polymeric sand and then commenced sealing.

I chose a very hot day which caused lines to appear where passes of seal overlapped. The solution? Remove the seal with a pressure washer. Result? The seal was removed and so was much of the sand. So naturally we re-grouted.

Last winter was a bad one for moss in the area so we decided to remove it with a special pressure washer which resembled an old rotary lawnmower. Result: more sand removed, though not quite as much. This brings us to the strange photo below.

We scrubbed paver by paver, joint by joint and then removed loose dirt with a dry-vac followed by a gentler clean up with a regular vacuum cleaner. These two tools were Linda’s idea and the first was good though I think the second over-kill. So you see her sister Pam doing some strange exterior cleaning while I am standing ready to sweep fresh polymeric sand into the exposed joints.

It was at this time that a lady remarked of the still-unfinished terrace “It’s clean enough to eat off!”. Later it certainly was.

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September and October B&B discounts

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Martin

We are offering B&B discounts in a special offer for visitors to Victoria in the late summer and early autumn 2011. 

It is simply:
SPECIAL OFFER – Save 10% on reservations for two or more nights, 5th September – 15th October 2011.

The only small print is that you must mention this special offer at the time of reservation for Gazebo Bed and Breakfast and it may not be combined with other offers.

We hope to welcome you here!

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Take a hike at Sooke

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Martin

The west coast of Vancouver Island has many places to hike, seriously or casually, including parks and beaches in the Sooke area.  A couple of quiet days at the bed and breakfast gave us the opportunities to re-visit some of these places.

Just east of Sooke is Metchosin, a pleasant and quiet area of farms and scattered houses near the coast. Our goal was Witty’s Lagoon.
Witty's Lagoon, Metchosin beach

We recommend checking the tide tables first since low tide opens up an expanse of sand, rare to this area, great for a sandy walk. We had no choice and arrived as the tide reached its high point. Being a rare (such is 2011) sunny Sunday afternoon the strip of stony sand was fairly crowded but this need not be so most days. Watch for the rich birdlife and locate the Sitting Lady Falls.

Closer to Sooke is Sooke Potholes reached along Sooke River Road. Drive about 4km and use parking lot 1. To your left is a ravine with deep sinkholes all carved by the river. It’s a popular swimming spot but I can’t help thinking that a sheltered river must be chilly. We saw an adventurous boy, maybe 12 years old, jumping from a promontory of some 50′ height.

You can not really hike along Sooke Potholes but to the right of the road is the Galloping Goose Trail. An old railway track, it runs for 55km from Victoria to north of Sooke and is now popular for hiking and biking (four of our guests are there this afternoon). I must do a separate post of this one day.
Sooke Potholes

South of here is the distinctively separated area of East Sooke: farms, waterview houses and a great park, East Sooke Regional Park. We have maps for our guests and suggest the Aylands Farm access point for great hikes along the shore and inland. To me it’s everything a west coast trail should be and in easy access of Victoria.

Our last recent visit for taking a hike at Sooke, though merely, a stroll, was Whiffen Spit, just west of the centre of Sooke (a town which warrants just two sets of traffic lights). Within 30 minutes you can saunter to a lighthouse with the Sooke Basin on your left and the Juan de Fuca Strait on your right. I do not rate it as highly as the places mentioned above but each have their own character and you can “do” Whiffen Spit within an hour but can takes hours hiking at East Sooke Regional Park.

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