A trip to Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley isn’t complete without heading over to Cobble Hill and visiting Merridale Estate Cidery. View Larger Map Back in 2000, Janet Docherty and Rick Pipes purchased Merridale and its 20 acres of cider apples from its founder who started it the cidery in 1990. Today, Merridale is a full-experience [...]

Situated in the bountiful Cowichan Valley (Cowichan Bay being North America’s first Cittaslow designated region) Duncan is at the epicentre of farm-to-table goods on Vancouver Island and Chef Daniel Hudson is definitely taking advantage with his new restaurant Hudson’s on First. Fresh off an appearance on Top Chef Canada where he competed for five weeks, [...]

A few months ago I did a tour of the Cowichan Valley and surrounding areas on Vancouver Island. During that tour, one of our stops was the Merridale Estate Cidery, photo of which I just rediscovered in my iPhoto album. The Cidery was a beautiful place and since it’s definitely worthy of coverage, here’s what [...]

We made a quick stop at the General Store on Providence Farm in Duncan while on our tour of the Cowichan Valley. Its history dates back to 1864 when the Sisters of St Ann purchased 400 acres of land on the promise that they would occupy and build upon it. It has gone through several [...]

We pulled up to Venturi-Schulze Vineyards and were greeted by Marilyn Venturi who was about to introduce us to her family’s legacy. For 22 years she and her husband have run the winery at Venturi-Schulze, to which they have an undying commitment. As we walked through her dozens of acres of vines, flanked by evergreen [...]

As our little tour van rolled up the dusty gravel road toward Fairburn Farm, I knew we would be in for a treat. I hopped out and had to let the scenery soak in a bit. We stood in front of a lovely farm house surrounded by pastures, mountains, and lush green hues that sprouted [...]

I went on a mini photowalk in Cowichan Bay Village, which was one of our stops during this trip. The journey so far – View Larger Map The village is really cute, with floating homes, pubs, shops, and spectacular views. I was guided over to the maritime centre to get some shots and it just [...]

A young Keira in her Cowichan sweater The last time I was in the Cowichan Bay area, I was playing high school rugby. Since I’m spending so much time here this week I thought it would be neat to share some of the history of this area. The Cowichan Valley is between Victoria and Nanaimo [...]