Sunday morning was Gospel music time on the main stage and we enjoyed the music while we were packing up to leave. We decided to take to the scenic highways 332 and 331 and drove through many small towns and villages. One of these towns is LaHave and the bakery and bistro caught our eye. We parked right by Westcote Bell Artworks, the most amazing pottery store we’ve ever visited. The gallery displays the work of artists Jacqueline M. Cohen and Vaughan L. Smith who came from the UK and worked in the US before settling in Nova Scotia in 2011. Across the street from the gallery is their studio and shop for smaller, more affordable gifts.
Next door was another treasure. We met Monica O’Halloran-Schut, a metalsmith working with silver, bronze and copper to create sculptures and jewelry. She showed us the process by which she turns objects such as leaves, sand dollars and seaweed into silver ornaments using a process of painting a clay of reclaimed silver onto the item. After many coats, the item is fired in a kiln and the silver turns into its shiny metallic form. It was a true pleasure to meet this very fascinating artist.
We walked to the bakery which was packed with people buying breads, sweets and lunches. We bought a cheese and herb bread and a poppy seed and onion bread, both still slightly warm which we savoured with a bit of butter when we got back to the van. Yummy!
We continued our slow scenic route and made it to West Berlin. Not quite the city we know in Germany.
Cosby’s Garden Center in Liverpool was our next stop. We didn’t buy any plants for the van, although Ruth was tempted, but we did see the owner’s concrete sculptures. They are huge and sometimes mysteriously dark and frightening.
It was getting late and we still wanted to visit a museum complex in Shelburne so we took the faster but not as scenic highway 103. We arrived at the Dory museum with 45 minutes left to visit the three nearby museums. We spent most of the time at the dory boat building museum where we learned how these boats are constructed and about Sidney Mahaney, who built over 10,000 of them.
With only about 15 minutes left before closing, we headed across the street to the Shelburne County Museum where we saw Canada’s first fire pumper engine.
The third museum had already closed, so we walked through this historic section of Shelburne and then drove on to find a place to stay.
Blanche it was. We have a great spot by the water near a boat launch. Five kilometres further down is a sandy beach which looked beautiful but we decided to skip the swim because it was getting dark and cool.
