This must be the place (Naive Melody)
So we were heading west on the Sunshine Trail along the NS-366W.
It's very scenic drive along the northeastern coast of Nova Scotia that touches the Northumberland Strait. As with all of Nova Scotia the area prides itself on it's hospitality and welcoming attitude, and we were about to find out how friendly the locals were for ourselves.
We'd visited the Lighthouse at Coldspring Head, a small wooden lighthouse, very typical of Nova Scotia and were heading west towards the Confederation Bridge.
It was late afternoon on Labour day and subsequently not a lot of places were open.
Our destination that evening was Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island and we were keen to have a beer or a glass of red wine to celebrate our first night on PEI, so were on the lookout for anywhere that might sell alcohol.
We stopped at a convenience store that was open and I asked at the counter whether they served beer. Unfortunately my Mancunian pronunciation of beer was getting me nowhere until I mentioned the word liquor, but the communication breakthrough was to no avail as they didn't sell any.
However, the folk in the queue behind me started to pipe up with suggestions.
An elderly lady told me of a place in Amherst Shore that served alcohol and gave me directions.
This was confirmed by the gentleman in the queue behind her. He also gave me options in the other direction, just in case we were headed that way.
They didn't give it a second thought, it was a very pleasant communal effort to help out a stranger in need of alcohol. Either that or I'd stumbled across a small ensemble of very polite, but serious drinkers.
When we found the liquor store (exactly where described), as well as stocking up on beer and wine, I enquired about the possibility of a nearby lighthouse, as from our from our research we thought there may have been one close by.
The lady told me "No lighthouse down that road, but there is the house the guy built that looks like a lighthouse"
I said that sounded fantastic and drove back across the Sunshine Trail, down the road towards the sea for two minutes and there it was, slap bang in the middle of a typical Nova Scotian street.
I must point out that typical NS means each property had enough land to justify a great sit-on mower.
As this was a residential area I went over to chat to an old fella cutting the grass of the house opposite and to ask permission to take a photo.
It turns out the chap sat on the lawnmower owned the 'lighthouse' house.
And after an initial discussion when he proposed a photo of the house would cost me $10,000, he warmed and explained how he bought the lighthouse from the Canadian government in 1980 for $1.
Barnes Point or Woody Point Lighthouse had been on his family's land since the early nineteenth century but had been decommissioned by the Canadian government and was subsequently scheduled to be destroyed.
He decided that wasn't going to happen, so he bought it and when he moved to Amherst Shore in Nova Scotia he brought it with him and built a house from it's foundations.
Inspiring!
It is currently up for sale for the unbelievable price of £90,000. (English pounds)
From the property description "Awesome 3 bedroom cottage which part consists of a 100+ year old lighthouse. The master bedroom offers panoramic views of the surrounding water and area"
It's less than two hours drive from the excellent Halifax airport.
Which in turn is less than 7 hours on a plane direct from Manchester........one day eh?
It's very scenic drive along the northeastern coast of Nova Scotia that touches the Northumberland Strait. As with all of Nova Scotia the area prides itself on it's hospitality and welcoming attitude, and we were about to find out how friendly the locals were for ourselves.
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| Barnes Point or Woody Point Lighthouse, Nova Scotia |
We'd visited the Lighthouse at Coldspring Head, a small wooden lighthouse, very typical of Nova Scotia and were heading west towards the Confederation Bridge.
It was late afternoon on Labour day and subsequently not a lot of places were open.
Our destination that evening was Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island and we were keen to have a beer or a glass of red wine to celebrate our first night on PEI, so were on the lookout for anywhere that might sell alcohol.
We stopped at a convenience store that was open and I asked at the counter whether they served beer. Unfortunately my Mancunian pronunciation of beer was getting me nowhere until I mentioned the word liquor, but the communication breakthrough was to no avail as they didn't sell any.
However, the folk in the queue behind me started to pipe up with suggestions.
An elderly lady told me of a place in Amherst Shore that served alcohol and gave me directions.
This was confirmed by the gentleman in the queue behind her. He also gave me options in the other direction, just in case we were headed that way.
They didn't give it a second thought, it was a very pleasant communal effort to help out a stranger in need of alcohol. Either that or I'd stumbled across a small ensemble of very polite, but serious drinkers.
When we found the liquor store (exactly where described), as well as stocking up on beer and wine, I enquired about the possibility of a nearby lighthouse, as from our from our research we thought there may have been one close by.
The lady told me "No lighthouse down that road, but there is the house the guy built that looks like a lighthouse"
I said that sounded fantastic and drove back across the Sunshine Trail, down the road towards the sea for two minutes and there it was, slap bang in the middle of a typical Nova Scotian street.
I must point out that typical NS means each property had enough land to justify a great sit-on mower.
As this was a residential area I went over to chat to an old fella cutting the grass of the house opposite and to ask permission to take a photo.
 |
| Barnes Point or Woody Point Lighthouse, Nova Scotia |
It turns out the chap sat on the lawnmower owned the 'lighthouse' house.
And after an initial discussion when he proposed a photo of the house would cost me $10,000, he warmed and explained how he bought the lighthouse from the Canadian government in 1980 for $1.
Barnes Point or Woody Point Lighthouse had been on his family's land since the early nineteenth century but had been decommissioned by the Canadian government and was subsequently scheduled to be destroyed.
He decided that wasn't going to happen, so he bought it and when he moved to Amherst Shore in Nova Scotia he brought it with him and built a house from it's foundations.
Inspiring!
It is currently up for sale for the unbelievable price of £90,000. (English pounds)
From the property description "Awesome 3 bedroom cottage which part consists of a 100+ year old lighthouse. The master bedroom offers panoramic views of the surrounding water and area"
It's less than two hours drive from the excellent Halifax airport.
Which in turn is less than 7 hours on a plane direct from Manchester........one day eh?
 |
| Coldspring Head Lighthouse |
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