Memorandum Monday - March 14th

Linking in with Sian & the other Monday wavers at : From High In The Sky

New to me this weekend was what Mr Man calls an adventure.  We have both been feeling a little house bound & winter blah, so I pulled out one of the suggestions from our file of  Adventures To Be Had  & off we set  Saturday afternoon.  Of course all the errands & house duties had been seen to first.  Adventure guilt free!

We headed east of us, to a little hamlet called Glen Williams, or as the residences call it, The Glen.  Glen Williams lies quite close in a valley to the Credit River & has many hiking / walking trails. 

Glen Oven Bakery / Cafe in Glen Williams

I knew there was a bakery / cafe in The Glen,  which was our primary destination.  The sun was shining,  afternoon temperatures were on the rise to 14+ (c) so that when we arrived at Glen Oven Bakery, their patio was open &  filled with walkers from the near by conservation area out for an afternoon adventure.  The bakery part had a steady stream of regular customers buying their weekly bread needs.  The fresh baking smells were wonderful & I drew in deep breaths of carb delights & exhaled lost resolve.

The cafe section of the bakery was small with a few tables & chairs still available, so we chose the window table to sit at.  We shared a pot of tea, Mr Man had a blueberry scone & I a lemon cranberry scone.  The young lady at the counter had offered to warm the scones up & I was so glad, as the butter & jam just melted right into the flaky goodness.  Flaky but not crumbly & we both agreed that the scones tasted like more - so we did.

Tea & The First Lemon Cranberry Scone

After our second scone & draining the pot of tea, we headed out to wander.  First up an antique bookshop.  As soon as we walked in we both inhaled that old but clean book smell.  We rummaged upstairs & downstairs with the aid of the shop owner, who had lots of interesting stories about the books & local history.  There were two very detailed front window displays; on the left in celebration of upcoming St Patrick's Day, Irish authors & Irish history & general information books; on the right a beautiful display about Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables.  Lucy lived in neighbouring village, Norval, for about 6 years, writing several books while there.  A visit to Lucy's home & gardens are one of the Adventures To Be Had.

 Bookshop - Beaumont Mill Antiques & Collectibles

Upstairs in the bookshop

We then walked up the street to an artist mill which housed about 30 different talented folks.  There was glass blowing; jewelry making, fabric creations, painters in ink, pastels, oil & sketch; stone sculptors, meal works & photographers.  The piece that had us in awe was a very large metal elephant on the side of the building.  I will be using this piece of art later in the week for another blog post.

Entrance With Two Mill Buildings Housing The Artisans

Of all the art we had seen the one artist we most liked was Michele Rose,  While she was not present, she had several pieces of her works on display.  We both found her paintings to be very relaxing.  Our two favourite pieces.

Essex Village

Another Essex Village

After a couple hours of wandering through the artist mill,  we wandered the main street, to look at some of the many stately heritage homes & cottages, beautifully refurbished & tended to. Glen Williams downtown is an intersection of 3 roads & the majority of Glen Williams lies behind this intersection.  It is an area that has seen a lot of recent large home/lot development, so all the homes have gone up in value. It is very expensive to live here.

The Charles William Historical House

Main Street Cottage

Once back to the car, we decided to take the leisurely country roads drive home, feeling quite refreshed. A definite revisit to the bakery for another afternoon tea & single scone outing.

I do hope everyone has some adventures in joy planned for the week ahead.     

"I wandered everywhere, through cities & countries wide, & everywhere I went, the world was on my side."  Roman Payne