Ministers Island

Welcome back to our continuing ventures around this lovely country. A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit Ministers Island Historic Site. This Island is about a 2 hour drive from Fredericton and is located near St Andrews. It was the summer home of Sir William Van Horne who was the driving force in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Consequently he became a very rich man and was well placed to spend up big on what in its day would have been a grand estate. Unfortunately while it is an asset of the New Brunswick Province there is no allocation of funds to maintain this property which requires an urgent injection of funds to preserve this gracious property for future generations to see and appreciate.

Before we go any further we need to say that as we were walking around the island we came across two cyclists and after saying hullo and passing we realised that it was Michael Smith and his wife Rachael. Michael is known world wide for his cooking shows including "Chef at Home" that is shown in Australia. In a mad scramble for the camera we only managed to get a shot of them as they disappeared into the mist. (I promise that it is him in the white tee shirt).

You will see from the two photos below what a magnificent home this is. The property is very large and features tennis courts, a very large bath house which leads to a man made seawater pool and lots of other buildings. To see more of this great estate please log onto http://www.ministersisland.org/ which will provide you with more photos of this estate.

We travelled to the island with our very friendly neighbours and you will see us all enjoying the sun. You will have see a photo of Debbie and George before but may we introduce to Kathy and Doug. Kathy is sitting on the table and Doug is standing on the right of Ross. We travelled in Kathy and Doug's van and we picnicked at a local park and stopped for fish and chips on the way home. A good time was had by all.

You can drive or walk over the ocean floor crossing 'the bar' at low tide to get to the island. Please see the following photo, we opted to walk.

We had a great day thanks to our friends.

Until next update stay happy, safe and well.

Best wishes,

Bev and Ross