Experience
Glen Villa Art Garden.Supplied
A fresh perspective
Everyone who visits Glen Villa Art Garden in Quebec’s Eastern Townships tells owner Patterson Webster the exact same thing. “They always say there is a sense of serenity and peace on this land that makes them want to sit a while, breathe deeply and take it all in,” says the 79-year-old visual artist and garden designer who has slowly transformed this 750-acre property in North Hatley into a must-see destination for anyone who loves natural landscapes, art and history.
For the last few years, Glen Villa – a private country estate that Patterson and her late husband Norman Webster (former editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail and The Gazette) purchased in 1996 – has opened to the public, for a few select days each summer, so visitors can roam land that was home to the Abenaki people, then settlers, and finally tourists who flocked to this area in the early 1990s. To this day, visitors can see remnants of a grand hotel built on the site in 1902, called Glen Villa Inn, which sadly burned down just before its eighth season.
“Everywhere on this property are reminders of times past,” says Patterson, who has spent the last 20 years creating whimsical trails, unearthing hidden waterways, and installing thought-provoking art as a means to re-examine our relationship with nature, horticulture, history, and memory. “What I’m doing at Glen Villa is bringing the past into the present both in terms of garden design and art installations,” says Webster, who has written a book about this creative journey titled, Autobiography of a Garden. “My goal is to give people a different way of thinking about their relationship to whatever surrounds them.”
This summer, the garden is open July 15 and Aug. 12, and for $25, visitors can stroll through formal and wild gardens, themed garden rooms, ponds and cascades, all the while contemplating the meaning of up to 20 art installations and sculptures, many located along a five-kilometre trail called Timelines that winds through forests and fields.
Guided walks and talks are also available for a nominal fee, with all proceeds from Glen Villa Art Garden going to the Massawippi Foundation, the community-based organization that conserves land, builds public trails and provides funding for projects that benefit communities in the area.
Retail
Fox Home tableware.Supplied
Open now
Bed, Bath and Beyond may have closed its doors, however Canadian-owned Linen Chest, has maintained expansion plans with the recent opening of its 40th store in Canada and brought up its total retail square footage to over 600,000 square feet. The new location in CF Carrefour Laval Shopping Centre in Quebec serves up must-have’s plus gift registries and espresso machine, mattress and pillow testing so you can try before you buy. And Fox Home has opened its doors in the Toronto Eaton Centre, Yorkdale Mall and Fairview mall, with plans to open a total of 7 stores in the city before the end of the year. The brand is already a success story in Israel with 102 stores stocked with well-priced bath, bed, decor, kitchen and dining must-haves. On our radar: An ocean-inspired collection of matte and scalloped ceramics for the table.
Obsession
The Amik collection is available in a limited edition.AndreRiderPhotographer/Supplied
Natural instinct
To Montreal’s Caroline Monnet, an Anishinaabe artist of international renown, the beaver is not only the source of inspiration for her latest work but an emblem for who she is as a person. “I’ve always identified with them, I keep busy and I have purpose.” In May, she unveiled a stunning new collection of sculptural furniture, crafted by Humble Nature, called Amik (which means beaver) that pays homage to an Anishanaabe tale of a strong and wise beaver who created the sweeping hills of the Outaouais region, in southwestern Quebec. Monnet is from this area whose topography inspired these pieces that speak to nature and its interconnectedness to all living things. The Amik collection is available in a limited edition. Prices are available upon request at humblenature.com.
Functional style
U.K.-based Genus Gardenwear has designed a highly functional range of clothing specifically for gardeners.Supplied
Garden variety
Gardeners know that the right clothing can make all the difference when digging in dirt. With that in mind, U.K.-based Genus Gardenwear has designed a highly functional range of clothing specifically for gardeners, with some nifty features like built-in, adjustable knee pads, stab-proof pockets made specifically for trowels and spades, and zip-off pants (easily converted to shorts) for those long, warm days that start warm and finish cooler. Available at www.genus.gs, both men’s and women’s water-repellent Zip-Off Gardening Trousers are US$202.