Merridale Cidery August 2

Tuesday, August 1st. Wow hard to believe it's now August. My mind is starting to plan for all the things that will be required before we leave September 14th, for our winter trip only 6 weeks away.

For today's chore I reorganized my freezer and found some prawns, chicken thighs and Italian sausage that needed to be used. What should I make for dinner tonight? PAELLA LOL Ray says it's my best batch yet.

Before making dinner however, today is the calmest, warmest day for the last couple of weeks. We spent the day down at the dock swimming and chilling until ????? Ray happened to see a 16" trout swim by about ten feet under the water right by our dock. The panic was on ... his rod that he had ready did not have a lure attached so that took him a bit to get set up. He spent some time casting. Meanwhile, we needed to swim out to our boom logs a couple of times to unattach his lure due to poor casts. He did manage to get a bite, but of course it got off. We definitely got our exercise. :)

Wednesday we decided to take a trip to the Cobble Hill area and visit Merridale Cidery and eat lunch, about a 40 minute drive from the lake. The weather today is forecasted to be cloudy and cooler. Turned out to be lovely for our trip and only clouded up on our way back to the lake.

What a beautiful place. They feature a Faerie Walk around their orchard. They say the "Faeries" protect the orchard. Definitely a cool walk for kids.

They also have a distillery here and make gin, rum and some liquors. I picked up a bottle of the blueberry liqueur. It tasted great.

So many choices ... what to have? Ray ended up with a lamb burger and I their Chicken Pot Pie. Both were delicious.

They even had a non-alcoholic flight for Ray to try.

This is their outside dining area. Set up also for private functions.

Inside seating. All the windows open wide for the summer.

After lunch, we proceeded to explore the orchard. Starting with their Faerie Walk along the perimeter.

You can actually order your lunch from your table outside with the QR Code and use your phone and they will deliver it to you at your table.

Lots of signage telling us their story. Most of the apple trees come from overseas.

A few vintage trucks on the property.

 

As well as a bunch of antique pieces of equipment.

You continue on behind the distillery to the path. As a kid in Kelowna, Ray used to pick 5 of these bins of apples a day.

The apples are quite small and apparently do not taste very good to just eat.

The Faerie Walk

They also have a couple areas they rent out for events. There's a man made lake with a stream fed by a pump.

In the background is their wedding venue.

The view of the main eatery and store up the hill.

Back at the Eatery and Store, Ray took a little walk through the orchard for some pictures.

A great little trip.