Armand Heights is Salt Spring Island’s Dream B and B

   YOU COME FIRST HERE!

Imagine staying in the loftiest of spots – 1000 feet above sea level on Salt Spring  Island, British Columbia  – an  idyllic place brimming beautifully with bounteous gardens, birdsong and  rolling hills topped with trees competing with outstanding ocean and mountain views . Blue hues and pillowy clouds float overhead. Welcome to Armand Heights... and its wonderful owner, Irina Florecke 

Irina Floreke

                                  Irina is full of humor and adorably genuine.
                             
                                        

Even with the rain, the view is spectacular

Garden Splendour

Nestling on six acres of land, the area literally bears fruit to the island’s most fertile of areas. Irina Floreck, Armand Height’s vivacious, totally generous and prodigiously hard-working owner Irina takes care of this land and you.  This is the place to relax and feel on top of the world in every way.  Don’t be surprised if you find yourself just wanting to hang around the grounds and Irina. 

                                                     Irina with grape leaves from her garden
                                                               

                

                                                            

                                                Enjoy the gifts growing on her land

                                                       Time to make a toast

After arriving, Irina soon led me to her cozy wine cellar laden with shelves of wine bottles full of her home-made wines. Using the fruit from the trees that grow on her property, she produces these wines all on her own. From pear, plum and passion fruit, to apricot, grape,  apple and pomegranate,  these wines have taken first prize on the island for six straight years, until she recently decided it was time to put the cork permanently on her  contest entries  during Saltspring’s Fall Fair contests, so others could take the win.

Irina’s cakes breads, cookies and pies also garnered island acclaim.  Her Xmas cookies became a huge hit often made with berries growing wild at her place. No fruit falls on the land unused. After all, it’s been designated as an agricultural farmland, and for 21 years, it’s benefited from Irina’s brilliant green thumb.

 Soon after purchasing Armand Heights, she hatched a plan. Why not raise chickens? The eggs she collects are eaten by her guests and residents of the island that she sells at the Tuesday  Farmer’s  market in town and  in unmanned little stalls for people to pick up their eggs using the honour system of payment.

Tuesday's Farmer's Market

Laurence Popoff lends a helping hand

 But perhaps what has guests gawking the most - before stepping inside their room  -  are the 200 different varieties of roses she grows, includlng hybrids. Adding to this flourish of  colour are kiwi, pawpaw, cherry and hazelnut trees and the list goes on.  

 Room Luxury: classy, clean and ultra                                  comfortable

  Four spacious suites offer spectacular views of the sea and mountains. Sit on your balcony or luxuriate in the outdoor Jacuzzi while imbibing Irina’s complimentary wine. 

The beds are huge, and my bed (Ocean Vista Room) – perfect for the romantically inclined -boasted a thick blanket inside the satiny cotton. This unique blanket was made from organic wool as was the mattress. I slept like a lamb (no pun intended). And what a view to wake up to!

Each room is impeccably clean with just the right amount of high-end furniture and art - all awesomely appointed. Bathrooms are big with huge showers. Mine had   ahis and her sink plus a big Jacuzzi. Irina even supplies gorgeous cotton bath robes,slippers and top-of-the- line toiletries including, cleansing Micellar water. Each room comes with a sleek TV, microwave, fridge, coffee make, and of course WiFi is everywhere. Floor to ceiling windows offer serendipitous views.

                                                  A well-seasoned Chef 

Talk about being pampered. Irina  brings her gourmet home-made breakfast right to your room. 

photo credit: Laurence Popoff

                                          She bakes her own bread from scratch.

Dinners are delectable, so  if you want to eat  dinner here, just let Irina know ahead of time. One night she made borscht. Unbelievably savory!

and used the caramelized onion sauce from part of the borsch as a dressing for my fresh filling and delicious. seasoned with herbs from her garden.   Her dinners are so delicious, no one wanted  to drive into Ganges town to eat out .  Part ham herself, I asked her to pose for me before she went  of to volunteer at the thrift shop in Ganges. She indulges you all the time but still makes room to give back to the community. 

“I love to make people happy, to make sure everything's perfect, especially for my guests“

Although Heights is a peacefully tranquil cocoon for total unwinding, it's only a 7-minute drive away from Ganges, the main town. 

If you like to hike and/or swim in a lake, just step outside Armand Height's door; you’ll find it all here. Armand  Heights is your paradise.

                                                        reservations@armandheights.com

Visit the website: www.armandheights.com

LES CAPRICES DE VICTORIA

Victorian Style B and B Beguiles with its Calming Beauty

Imagine staying in a Bed and Breakfast that harkens back to the Victorian era. This award-winning B and B stunningly captures a remarkable piece of this rarefied, bygone period. And it does so with charm and understated elegance. Located in the scenic Eastern Townships, it's only five-minute walk from the hub of Sutton village’s boutiques and restaurants.

 There are lots of happy "tweets" about Les Caprices de Victoria

Maryse Desrosiers

Owner, Maryse Desrosiers, has warmly been welcoming guests into her impeccably cared for B & B since 2007. Maryse’s gentle manner immediately puts you at ease the moment you open the door. Her winning smile, tempered with reserve and patience, may in part be due to her previous profession; she worked as a nurse in Canada’s Great White North for over 30 years. 

Les Caprices dates back to 1905! The plaque outside invites you to ponder its historical significance and the luminary family that once lived in it. 

Maryse shared some of her childhood memories with me. It’s clear, she appreciates all that is authentic and natural, including timeless architecture. Her renovations embody this. “I did a fair amount of necessary renovations, but I made sure to keep the integrity of this historical house to respect its character, original style and aesthetics. Even the slate roof was kept.  The plaque outside invites you to ponder Les Caprices’s historical significance and the luminary family that once lived here.

The interior exquisitely combines the old with the not-so-old. It referencesVictorian décor and its period humour while meshing Maryse’s own memories of the North. 

Antique furniture and original art form 

their own gallery of the past.

It all comes together to create a sublime cocoon of serenity and warmth.

  

All kinds of sculptures and carvings make you smile in more ways than one

Room Reverie

Modern comforts and privacy are key to each of the five spacious rooms located on the second and third floors. Note their iconic names: Josephine, Juliette, Hortense, Charlotte and Victoria. 

There’s a lot of hall space between the soundproof rooms too. Relaxing in all ways, three rooms feature electric fireplaces and luxurious, top quality beds: three rooms have Queen; two rooms have King (my Juliette room had one).  All rooms are lovely.

                                Luxuriate in your claw bathtub

                                      

Every object has original allure Three rooms have balconies. My Juliette room had a balcony, giving a sweeping view to the pastoral-like grounds. 

I wanted to call out to Romeo from it.

Breakfast is a Delicacy of Riches

Lots of fresh locally grown fruit starts your day with entrees flavoured in honey and rosemary or cointreau which brings a tasty zest to your palette.

I loved her stacked buttermilk fluffy pancakes layered with raspberries, soaked subtly in rosemary and honey and yoghurt.

Maple sugar and maple wine flavored them richly. In this delectable dish, chocolate powder was artfully spread around a phantom fork.

   Capricious humour can land right on your breakfast plate! 

Another entrée consisted of melt-in your-mouth pastry – one with cheese, the other with apple. They were made by village baker, Pascal Picarda at La Valse des pains bakery. 

These prefaced Maryse's marvellous home-made smoothie. Topped with fruit and granola, it looked so pretty in the bowl. This smoothie was exceptional.

Breakfast is always a surprise. Maryse made a really tasty dish of pancetta with mushrooms, red peppers and onions. An egg on a baguette accompanied it, or it was the other way round! 

Maryse has a knack for pleasing your taste buds with her own culinary creativity.

Truth is, Les Caprices de Victoria is somewhat addictive.  I'm returning for Sutton’s Fall Festival, and guess where I'm staying?  I can hardly wait to see the parade of pumpkins placed on the wrap-around porch, smiling as guests go for the biggest treat of all… Les Caprices de Victoria.

The website is: www. capricesdevictoria.qc.ca

The address is 63 Principale North Street, Sutton, Quebec

 Call (450) 538-1551