Over The Garden Wall
- 3womenwhowander
- Nov 19, 2022
- 4 min read
Women Who Wander NB
2022 Adventure Four
“I love my garden, and I love working in it. To potter with green growing things, watching each day to see the dear, new sprouts come up, is like taking a hand in creation..."
Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams
November arrived like the proverbial lamb of March – warm, balmy and more like summer than summer was.
When the sun is shining and it’s shirt-sleeve weather outside, it proves difficult to come into the house to tell you about our Women Who Wander NB adventures.
Like anything else, when one waits long enough, everything changes and this morning, the temperature took a nose-dive and so it’s time to nose-dive into the memories we’ve made during our adventures and put pen to paper!
When we last left you, we had enjoyed an incredible few hours on Ministers Island, just outside of Saint. Andrews, New Brunswick. (If you haven't already, we highly recommend that you rush right over to read our 2022 Adventure Three (Picture This) to see what all the fuss was about that day! Just go to https://3womenwhowander.wixsite.com/mysite-1 and click on "Blog").
Meandering around Covenhoven that beautiful sunny day helped our imaginations run wild as we pictured ourselves in long filmy summer dresses strolling to the water's edge with parasols held high to protect our fragile complexion’s from the scorching sun.
Unfortunately, as it happens so often, our imaginations ran away on us and so did the time. As the tides rolled in, we were forced to roll out and retreat back across the bottom of the ocean to make our way to downtown Saint. Andrews, vowing to return soon to finish our tour of Ministers Island grounds.
A visit to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick is worth a trip any day of the week! The area is steeped in history considering it's location is right at the mouth of the St. Croix River which drew early settlers to the area!
The town has managed to retain charm in spades and a sweeter main street you won't find anywhere in the Americas or beyond!
On it's website Saint Andrews is proud to tell you that "Water Street was awarded the Great Place in Canada distinction by the Canadian Institute of Planners, and USA Today named Saint Andrews the best place to visit in Canada"!
After wandering around a bit, of course, we were feeling peckish (when don’t we feel peckish) and so, we set out to find a restaurant for lunch.
More of a challenge than initially assumed! Saint Andrews was overflowing with tourists, which was nice to see but the staff shortages that have affected so many businesses had also impacted restaurants in Saint Andrews.
Thus, it was that we had a little difficulty finding a place to satisfy our ever increasing hunger.
During our search, we poked our heads into a few tempting eateries on Water Street and were kindly offered spots on their wait lists but we pushed on, sure we would find an available table soon. Venturing down a side street or two, we continued our quest for a table.
And find a table we did!
The wait was a bit long but the food was worth it.
We were welcomed through the doors into air conditioned comfort (a balm on a hot day) at the SeaBreeze Restaurant located at 49 King St, Saint Andrews, NB.
The wait staff at the SeaBreeze were excellent and we must commend them for their patience with us and with the other few dozen hungry, tired, hot and I’m sure, occasionally cranky tourists (although we certainly weren’t in the “cranky” category as we were extremely happy to have been given a table in their dining room)!
Rumour had it that the owner’s teenage children were filling in for wait staff in the SeaBreeze! They were there for the summer helping their parents fill the gap keeping the family business going while the staff shortages rage.
The food at the SeaBreeze was delicious and filling, was delivered to our table promptly and the whole experience was rated “great” by the Women Who Wander NB - and so too were the folks behind the counter!
Bellies full, we ambled down the street to Crocker Hill Store and Studio located at 45 King Street, Saint Andrews, NB. “Crocker Hill" is the home and shop of Steven and Gail Smith and has been since they acquired the building in 1998.
The original structure was built in 1834 as the Registry of Deeds office for Saint Andrews. It has been beautifully restored by Steven and Gail.
The building now serves as their shop, home and garden (not necessarily in that order of importance to the Smiths).
The store is stocked with products from Steven’s “Birds of Crocker Hill” watercolor series that includes his bird prints and note cards along with many other unique gifts. Bird lovers, gardeners and dog enthusiasts can find lots of unusual things on the shelves to temp them, which Bella Blue, the resident English Setter and her brand new sister, Abi-Rose will attest to!
Perhaps the pièce de résistance for any visit to the Crocker Hill Store is a tour of the gardens!
Not only is Steven one of New Brunswick’s finest artists but his talent is evident everywhere in the design and creative execution found in his garden secreted behind the building.
The garden is beautiful, with clever surprises hiding here and there to delight visitors lucky enough to have a peek.
You cannot help but be amazed with what Steven has created and continues to create each and every summer day.
Simple words cannot do justice to the garden and even photos pale in comparison to being there in person, surrounded by a perfect fusion of art and nature.
We like to think of Crocker Hill's garden as Steven's largest work of art.
The afternoon shadows were stretching long so we scurried out of Saint Andrews and headed home! We were on sensory overload from this full day of adventures, our heads full of images and debating where we would most like to live – Ministers Island or the Crocker Hill garden.
Just Adventure
Women Who Wander NB
Lynne, Barb & Gail
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