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October 9, 2010

Travel Brantford – A Perfect “Staycation” Begins with A Visit to the Glenhyrst Art Gallery, Dinner at Café Andreou and a Play at the Sanderson Centre

Searching for an interesting weekend getaway, I have been studying a map of Ontario, looking for places that are just an hour or two outside of Toronto. In a recession year, staying close to home is one of the ways of saving money on travel while still exploring interesting destinations. One place for a suitable “staycation” jumped out at me: Brantford, a community of around 90,000 residents just about 110 kilometres west of Toronto.

 


Brantford's elegant Federal Building

Brantford is most well-known as the home town of hockey great Wayne Gretzky. As a matter of fact, his father, Walter Gretzky, still lives in the city and participates actively in the community. Brantford is also renowned for the invention of one of the world’s most important technological innovations: the telephone. In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell made the first long distance call between downtown Brantford and nearby Paris, Ontario. During the late 1800s and early 1900s Brantford become one of Canada’s most important manufacturing centres, particularly for agricultural equipment made by companies such as Massey Ferguson.


A view of Harmony Square in downtown Brantford

So to explore the concept of vacationing close to home, I contacted Brantford Tourism to find out more about this city. In response they sent me an entire information package about the local attractions and activities. On October 9, 2009 I set off with a friend on a two-day first-hand discovery of Brantford to see for myself what this city has to offer.


The Brantford Arts Block next to the Sanderson Centre for Performing Arts

Finally after a long rainy drive we arrived in Brantford in the mid afternoon and stopped off at the modern tourism information office, just off Highway 403. We were meeting Melissa Stephens, our local tourism expert, who was going to show us around her home town. On this rainy afternoon we made a stop at the Glenhyrst Gallery of Brant, a public, non-profit art gallery housed in a striking historic mansion surrounded by extensive manicured grounds that house a sculpture garden.


Karen Bell, our expert guide at the Glenhyrst Art Gallery

Karen Bell, the gallery’s educational coordinator, showed us around the property, a stunning 1920s mansion, originally owned by Edmund Cockshutt, a member of a wealthy family of industrialists in the agricultural machinery business. Mr. Cockshutt bequeathed the mansion to the City of Brantford in 1957 which has turned it into a stunning art gallery and special events venue.


The Glenhyrst Art Gallery

On our tour through the property, Karen showed us the current exhibition by local artist David Hind. This artist uses reclaimed materials such as coloured aluminum siding to create oversized canvases. His technique utilizes coloured aluminum pieces that are pasted or riveted onto canvas. Also on display were several unique pieces of furniture made of reclaimed wood.


A huge canvas and bench by David Hind

What makes David Hind’s art so unique is that he so successfully turns discarded materials into stunning art, and he often does so using a collaborative process. One of the giant size canvasses, for example was created with a group of school children who had the opportunity to create designs on small aluminum pieces that were later riveted onto the canvas.


Another colourful canvas by David Hind

The physical facilities of the gallery are stunning. An impressive entrance area with delicately carved wooden doors and bevelled glass welcomes the visitor, and other interesting features of the property include wooden panelling, original fireplaces and an airy conservatory that now houses the gift shop. The gallery offers a wide selection of classes and workshops, offers tours to the public as well as to school and community groups and often hosts special events. The extensive, carefully manicured grounds and some of the adjacent buildings, such as the Coach House/ Studio can be rented. The beautiful gardens are often used for weddings and large gatherings.


The Glenhyrst Art Gallery's gift shop, located in the conservatory

Down in the basement Karen introduced me to Glenhyrst’s Shop & Rent Art Program: members of the public can rent original works of art from the gallery at reasonable prices. Average pieces rent from about $15 a month, a very reasonable way of changing your paintings on a regular basis. The gift shop, housed in the mansion’s light-flooded conservatory, offers a wide selection of unique artistic gift items that include jewellery, scarves, sculptures and home décor items at affordable prices.


Some items from the Glenhyrst Art Gallery's gift shop

With our tour of the Glenhyrst Art Gallery complete, Melissa took us to our hotel where we were able to check in, deposit our luggage and get ready for the evening. Our abode for tonight was The Bodega Inn, a recently constructed boutique hotel with 18 uniquely decorated hotel rooms, all equipped with a fully functional kitchen and dining area. My room was located on the third floor and had a perfect view of adjacent Harmony Square, the centre of Brantford’s civic and cultural activities.


My spacious bedroom at The Bodega Inn

In addition to a large-size king bed I had a pull-out leather couch, a spacious dining area and a kitchen, just in case I felt like preparing some of my own meals. I was located on the third floor where all units feature an Asian décor. My travel partner was on the second floor, which is decorated with an African theme.

"
Sitting area in an African-themed room at The Bodega Inn

In the late afternoon Melissa picked us up again and took us to Café Andreou, a fine dining restaurant located in a gorgeous historic mansion on West Street. The cuisine at Café Andreou is traditional Italian and features a wide variety of appetizers, pastas, meat dishes and seafood.


Brantford's Café Andreou, located in a historic house

Owner Chris Andreou welcomed us cordially and took me on a tour of the entire house. Chris himself originally hails from Larissa in Greece and is passionate about Mediterranean cooking. His background in the hospitality industry spans every imaginable job, from dishwashing to waiting tables, to mixing drinks as a barman, to cooking as well as many years of restaurant ownership. Today Café Andreou features the cuisines of Tuscany, Napoli (Naples) and Sicily.


The crew at Café Andreou: Michalis, Sarah, Chris and Dimitrios

On my tour, Chris introduced me to Sarah, his great-niece who now busses tables, and his sons Dimitrios and Michalis who both work as chefs in the kitchen. An eight-seat chef’s table allows culinary aficionados to experience food crafting from right inside the kitchen. Chris also pointed out original art on the walls, all created by local artist Richard Kirby, whose paintings were adorning the entire 140 year old house.


Guest room at Café Andreou

Shortly after the tour we started our meal with fresh bread accompanied by a delicious olive tapenade. From here I ordered the salad special. Chris also recommended that we try arancini (Sicilian rice balls) as well as porchetta, slow roasted pork belly that takes about four to five hours to roast. The porchetta just melted in my mouth. My main dish were home-made gnocchi in a rose tomato sauce while my friend had a tender rack of lamb which he was still raving about as the evening went on. Melissa and her colleagues enjoyed scampi in a red wine sauce with baby spinach and a Chilean sea bass Tuscany style wrapped with prosciutto.


Delicious food at Café Andreou

Given the fact we still had a cultural event planned for the evening, we unfortunately did not have time for a dessert. Our plan was to see to see a performance of Driving Miss Daisy at the historic Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, so we had to rush so as not to miss the beginning of the play.


The historic Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts

The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts is truly one of Brantford’s cultural and architectural gems. Opened in 1919 as a vaudeville theatre, the original Temple Theatre was converted to a cinema in 1929, and renamed the Capitol Theatre. From then on it became part of the Famous Players movie theatre chain until 1986 when the City of Brantford purchased it and turned it back to a performing arts theatre. Extensive renovations were completed over a period of four years that brought the theatre back to its original glory. Today the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts is one of Brantford’s most impressive buildings and a winner of the 2009 Shining Stars Tourism Award.


The beautifully restored interior of the Sanderson Centre

For us it was the perfect place to spend an evening. Enveloped by the gorgeously renovated auditorium we enjoyed the performance as the actors skillfully recreated the touching friendship between Hoak and Miss Daisy. At the end of the play the audience was clapping enthusiastically. We learned that the actor who had played Hoak was actually a local high school principal. He and his co-stars were surrounded by many exuberant fans who wanted to shake the actors’ hands before they left the building. Everyone had enjoyed the performance.


Architectural detail of the ceiling of the Sanderson Centre

We decided to have a little nightcap across the street at the Coffee Culture café. Relaxing over a cup of tea we concluded that our first few hours in Brantford had exposed us to interesting art, culture and culinary experiences and we were already looking forward to the next day and half in this city.


Useful Links:

Tourism Brantford - for all the area information you need
Our Flickr Album with the Brantford photo collection
The Glenhyrst Art Gallery
The Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts


Related Articles:

"Travel Brantford: A perfect staycation begins - the Glenhyrst Art Gallery, dinner at Café Andreou and an evening at the Sanderson Centre for Performing Arts"
"Travel Brantford: A tour of the Bodega Inn, the Bell Homestead and the Mohawk Chapel"
"Travel Brantford: The Brantford Farmer's Market, Harmony Square, a bike ride by the Grand River & a visit to the Station Coffee House and Gallery"
"Travel Brantford: Exploring Paris, pewter art and great hospitality in St. George"
"Travel Brantford: A Grand River experience, a Blue Dog, a sculpture garden and a great last view over the Grand River"

 

Related Travel Videos:


Grounds and entrance area of the Glenhyrst Art Gallery

 
Karen Bell explains David Hind's art


My Asian-inspired room at the Bodega Inn


African-inspired room at the Bodega Inn

 
A peek into the kitchen at Café Andreou

 
A tour through Café Andreou


Dinner is ready to begin at Café Andreou

 



 

 

 

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