EXPERIENCE ALL-ROUND COMFORT AND HAPPINESS AT LAUREL’S COTTAGE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

It’s rare are to find a B and B whose hosts open up their heritage home to you in a casually warm way; you’d be hard pressed to find its comparable, including its unbeatable location.  Perfectly situated in Qualicum Beach, British Columbia, Laurel’s  Cottage is a lovely nook is a short walk from Qualicum Beach’s colourful shops all quietly competing for your attention alongside a cluster of eateries scenically bordered by a gentle shoreline blessed with a six-kilometre-long public bay that is municipally protected.  Is it any wonder royalty came here! The Crown Mansion Hotel just near Laurel’s Cottage hosted the King of Siam, and many celebrities who came to golf and enjoy ocean-side pleasures that to this day boast zero-level pollution. Go beachcombing! Relax, picnic, search for shells and sand dollars while enjoying the warmest sea water in Canada 

Vancouver Island is a mecca for writers and artists. In fact, Laurel’s Cottage is a stone’s throw away from the Old School House Arts Centre, a century-old school at one time. Watch artists paint and sculpt year-round in this inspiring landmark.  

Hosts with the Most

Laurel and Réal

               Their convivial personalities put you at ease every moment of your stay.


Laurel’s sparkle is matched by her intellect. She's a part-time sociology professor at a nearby college, and knows so much about Vancouver Island history, highlighting poignant pieces of information most visitors don’t know about; and is happy to share it with guests. A Vancouver transplant, she and Real turned the 1983 home into their own B and B almost three years ago. She genuinely wants to guide you as you explore the island and its sites.  For several years, Laurel led educational tours and fact finding missions in Guatemala, so helping others is second nature to her. Real moved from St. Jean, Quebec. A colourful character with a great sense of humour, Real is unique.  I mean how many of us can meet a motorcycle dude who also cooks, is a highly skilled handyman (take a look at the outdoor pergola and the front fountain he built. And he gives great hugs that make you feel welcome.  

 Easy conversation, excellent hospitality and sweet rooms

Your B and B pleasure begins when the couple greets you, then opens doors to your cozy room upstairs.  If you want your own private bathroom, ask for the biggest room.

Downstairs, pleasurable places of rest await you: a big living room area for reading, TV watching or garden gazing by a bay window that also offers a peek-a-boo view of the ocean.

                                                                      Interior Charm 

 

                                                              


                                                                 Bedrooms are upstairs

 

 

                                      Yummy breakfasts served right at your seat

Réal serves up brilliant breakfasts that alternate between crepes with home-made wild black berry jam; Real picks the berries himself. 

Every day offered a  tantalizing array of eggs, bacon, toast with ham, cheese and fruit arrives on your plate. 

                                           Servings were presented with meticulous care

 



Sometimes, he makes a croissant filled with ham, bacon, cheese with fruit on the side. While I was there had gotten up very early to prepare their on-the-road box breakfasts two fishermen had to get up real early to embark on a guided trip. Laurel and Real had their box breakfasts hot and ready to go

Sweet greetings and goodbyes and everything in between make for  delightful memories at Laurel’s Cottage.

For reservations, email: laurelscottage@telus.net
  Call (604) 761-7067

Out and About: sites that dazzle your senses

Only twenty minutes away past Qualicum Beach’s trendy boutiques lies the Island’s greatest natural tree treasure. Cathedral Grove covers 301 hectares of land within Macmillan Provincial Park, and it’s bursting in beauty with a humongous amount of towering trees, specifically the Douglas Fir. One is 800 years old, and others average the 300-year-old mark.  Red cedar and cedar also grow here. Amazing moss covered branches and giant tree trunks mesmerize the visitor who are dwarfed by the size of Douglas firs. Cathedral Grove is actually the remnant of a forest fire that ravaged ancient Douglas firs over 350 years ago. What stands today is a incredible canopy forming at every turn, a cathedral of glorious trees. And you are standing admits it.


 

                                         
                                                                               
                                                                                     Cameron Lake
 


On the way to Cathedral Grove, you’ll pass Cameron Lake. Its vast shoreline holds its own mystery. No one is able to measure the lake’s depth. There’s a cozy serene place to stop and simply gaze out into lake and forest rising above it. Picnic here and swim.  Cameron lake became the burial place of a train that ran off the track. To date, the train has never been found – a lake with its own black hole?

                                                                

                                       The Pièce de la Résistance: Tofino

Driving past Sproat Lake, the rain forest scenery becomes more and more majestic with rushing waterfalls, gorgeous trees, thickets of green towering over rivers and rapids. It’ll take a good two hours to reach Tofino – a surfer’s paradise. It’s part of the Pacific Rim Park Reserve. Tofino town itself sits at the tip of the island’s peninsula. When the waves recede during the tide, an enormous beach of smooth sand is revealed on Long Beach, the most popular of three.  Here, Incineration Rock juts up out of the sea. Like a proud beacon, it beckons daring folks to climb up to get an unparalled view of miles and miles of ocean and the brave surfers who form a spectacle in their own right.

                    

   Parksville

Only eight kilometers away from Qualicum Beach is the growing town of Parksville. Head for Rathtrevor Beach and Little Qualicum Falls. Enjoy their natural astounding beauty.

                                                                   Rathtrevor Park


 

 

Little Qualicum Falls