Butchart Gardens and Sidney June 12 - 15

Monday morning we packed up early and headed for Sidney, BC, close to Victoria, BC. Clouds with sunny periods, but at least no rain in the forecast. Still only about 16C outside and quite cool with the wind over the water.

First up, lunch at the Rumrunner Pub on the waterfront. Delicious food and a great view.

Once we were fueled up, we hauled out our e-bikes for a ride along the waterfront. On the narrow pathways we had to push our bikes but further out there was a bike lane to ride on.

After about 8km we packed up the bikes and headed to our hotel, the Sidney Waterfront Inn. An older hotel that used to be a cannery years ago and refurbished. We were in the Annex section on the main floor with a nice view of the water. I could have reserved a room on the second floor, but as there is no elevator I did not want to haul our stuff up a flight of stairs. lol

After checking in, we went for a walk along the downtown street. Such a cute little town.

After walking about an hour, we headed back to our room, with a little book for Amelia, and sat on our balcony. The wind really came up, so we moved the patio furniture inside the glass door and listened to this guy's music right in front of us. According to Steve and Dianne this guy is a regular here.

At 5:30 we headed over to the restaurant, Riva, next door for a delicious Italian dinner. Our view.

Beef Short rib Ragu with Linguine

A few pictures walking off our dinner.

Later on the clouds really came in. Ray headed back out from some "night shots".

"It was a dark and stormy night" lol

Sidney Marina by the Rumrunner Pub. We saw a dozen or so boats coming and going today. Certainly not as busy as a usual summer.

Looking towards the Riva Restaurant on the left.

 

A great day. Tomorrow Butchart Gardens.

Both of us were up at our usual time 6 am lol. Ray headed out to bring us back coffee and a pastry to tide us over until lunch. We arrived at the Butchart Gardens shortly after they opened and by 9:15 were walking through the gardens. Nice to get there early so there wasn't too many people in the way of Ray's pictures. lol

After parking the car we entered near the plaza through the chain tree archway to where the shops and restaurants are.

Gorgeous begonia and fuchsia baskets. They love this cooler weather.

Next up is the path to the Sunken Garden. Lots of work by the gardeners pulling out all of the tulip and daffodils which finished blooming and replanting other annuals. You can take a gentle sloping path down to the base of the garden which is wheelchair accessible or go down a large flight of stairs, which we did. 

The busy gardeners.

In the middle of the garden is a "hill" which you climb using a skinny set of stairs to view the gardens from the top. 

This shows how steep they are coming down.

You can see that the plants are really small and waiting for warmer sunnier weather to really bloom.

Ross Fountain at the end of the garden.

Heading back up the gentle slopped path looking over to the stairs to the hill.

The bees are busy is the iris's

Peeking through the dogwood tree.

Heading back up the gentle path is the Bog Garden.

After leaving the Sunken Garden we headed past the Rose Carousel, children's play area to where the totems are.

This area has more colourful plants.

Love the colour combinations.

The path continued on towards the Dragon Fountain.

They have the most amazing peonies in this area.

Next up the Rose Garden. I managed to get a few pictures of some blooms. Most of the garden is major delayed due to our weather this spring. The Rhododendrons only now finished blooming instead of 3 weeks earlier. I also noticed their beds of geraniums don't look any better off than mine, with not so green leaves. lol

Here are Ray's pictures of the Rose Gardens.

These arches will be fabulous once they start blooming.

Exiting the Rose Garden and past the Sturgeon fountain is the entrance down into the Japanese Garden. When it is really hot out, this garden is a wonderful shady respite from the sun and peaceful with the trickling water sounds.

After slowly wandering through, one exits just below the buildings for the gift and coffee shop past the Star Pond and the Italian Garden, but first a peak at the water entrance to Butchart Gardens.

Star Garden

Italian Garden

We headed back towards the gardens and Ray took a picture of Mrs. Butchart's private garden beside the dining room. We ate there 10 years ago, but visiting on a Tuesday they were not open for dinner only "tea".

The original owners private garden

Just before heading out we took a picture of the waterwheel at Waterwheel Square.

And of course I had to go through the gift shop. 

A great couple of hours. Since it was still quite early, 11:00 am, we decided to try out a pub called the Stonehouse Pub near the Swartz Bay Ferry. Lunch was just so so... but the ambience of the place was fabulous. I snapped a picture of a deer in the parking lot.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel, as we were both pooped from all the walking on hard surfaces. Later in the afternoon, we noticed a sailboat anchor out in front of us. They went for a late lunch at the restaurant onsite and then headed back out to their boat. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to bring their anchor back up. Being as this is an old cannery site, I'm sure there is lots of debris dumped on the seafloor. They will either have to get a diver or just cut their anchor. That became a very expensive lunch. (They were still at anchor when we left)

Lots of boats in the channel.

Look at the size of that!

Lots of people looking for glass on this beach.

The guitar guy was back too and serenaded us for 2 hours. Dinner was at a Chinese Restaurant a short walk from the hotel. Super fresh and very tasty. 

Wednesday morning we were on our way by 8:15 and stopped in Duncan at the Doghouse Restaurant for an early lunch. Ray ordered two pieces of pie and I the clubhouse sandwich. In the driveway by 11 am. A great adventure. A lot less sun here at the lake than Sidney. We were fortunate to have 2 days of good weather for our mini vacation.

Banana Cream and Coconut Cream