Hello from Ontario: The Garden House Bed
and Breakfast – Horticultural Beauty, Expert Baking, a Peaceful
Country Retreat and a True Survivor Story
Staying in a bed and breakfast is often the highlight of my weekend
getaways. Every B&B is unique, the food is usually delicious
and the conversations with the owners and other guests often provide
memorable experiences. For our late summer escape we picked a country
bed and breakfast located just about 20 minutes located of Owen
Sound, the destination of our city break. After a full
day of local explorations in this picturesque town on Georgian
Bay yesterday we thoroughly enjoyed our restful sleep in our comfortable
downy beds.
The Garden House Bed and Breakfast
This morning I got up early to take some pictures of the beautiful
garden that surrounds the Garden
House and I was looking forward to sitting down and exploring
the background of the owner. Maria Sir was just about to start preparing
breakfast when I caught her in her sunny and spacious open concept
kitchen. Maria graciously agreed to sit down with me for a while
to tell me about herself.
Maria Sir
Maria Sir came to Canada in the late 1960s from Bratislava in the
former Czechoslovakia and originally settled in Toronto. Later she
moved with her husband and two young children to a small town in
Ontario and started a sheep farm that produced lamb meat. Maria
explained that income in the sheep farming business was always very
unpredictable so she started her own greenhouse operation and raised
annuals and perennials to supplement her income. In addition, she
started baking bread which she would also sell commercially.
The Garden House
After a serious illness, Maria decided to sell the sheep farming
operation and focused on her greenhouse and bread-baking businesses.
Then, a few years ago, things changed completely for Maria. She
was driving on a major country highway near Orangeville, Ontario,
when a car veered out of the opposing lane to pass a truck and crashed
head-on into Maria’s vehicle. The other driver was killed
in the accident while Maria suffered severe life-threatening injuries
herself and was 20 minutes without oxygen. In Maria’s words
“everything stopped”.
A green thumb in the living room
Maria explained that even after a long period of recuperation and
rehabilitation, the head injuries continue to affect her memory
and learning abilities and have caused long-term permanent functional
impairments. But Maria had a fierce will to survive and to start
a new life. She left the family farm and decided to become a bed
and breakfast operator. Maria still wanted to stay close to Owen
Sound and started looking for properties that would have three bathrooms.
The long search made it clear that very few of these types of properties
were available, but she found one place that met those criteria
and decided to buy it.
Horticultural beauty at the Garden House
Once Maria took possession she realized that the house was in much
worse condition than when she originally viewed it, forcing her
to undertake extensive renovations on a fairly recently built structure
from the mid-1980s. Among other things she had to rip out all the
floor boards as they were rotten. Some of the windows were leaking
and the drywall had started to deterioriate and Maria single-handedly
did the dry walling work herself. Among many other things, the house
needed a new roof and siding and will require new windows soon.
Many of the trees in the backyard had to be removed and Maria had
to start the garden completely from scratch. She concludes that
that one of the most important suggestions for any home buyers is
to get a home inspection before signing on the dotted line.
My spacious bedroom
In addition to her bed and breakfast Maria still helps out in a
local greenhouse and her professional baking has become an important
part in Maria’s weekly routine. Every Friday morning, from
3:30 am onwards, Maria starts making bread by hand-kneading dough
for 12 different varieties of bread. Some of Maria’s gourmet
breads include whole wheat, twelve-grain and dark rye bread and
she also offers white and whole wheat buns. Her cheese bread is
made with old cheddar and her raisin bread is to die for as I would
soon find out.
Maria spends the whole day baking until 6 pm and then starts packing
the bread. By midnight she is ready to load it in the car. Saturday
morning she gets up at 4:30 am to do her exercises and by 6 am she
drives to the Owen Sound Farmers Market where she sells her home-made
bread. Although the market is open until 1 pm she usually sells
out by before noon.
Bathroom featuring a claw-foot tub
In addition to being a master baker, Maria Sir is also an accomplished
cook. On different occasions Maria has hosted fully catered dinners
for up to 18 people. Some of her most favourite menus include quiche,
schnitzel with rice, potato salad and coleslaw, accompanied by a
pepper and zucchini relish, followed by a raspberry cream cheese
cake. Maria’s apple cake is also very popular with her patrons.
We started talking about the bed and breakfast experience and Maria
let me know that she just loves being a B&B hostess. Her guests
have come from far-away places such as Japan, Scotland and Switzerland.
Her season goes from about April to October and most of her business
is on weekends. Many of her travelers come here to go hiking on
the Bruce Trail and to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Niagara
Escarpment. Owen Sound offers a well-known Garden Tour and some
of the visitors at the Garden
House B&B have come here to enjoy the horticultural treasures
of the area. Some of her visitors are golfers; others attend local
weddings and special events.
View from the wooden deck towards the brook
Through her bed and breakfast experience Maria Sir has met many
interesting people. One time a woman from Aberdeen, Scotland, stayed
at her house because she was visiting her father close by. A young
local Canadian man was about to get married a Japanese woman, and
her parents and her grandparents came to stay at the Garden House.
Maria was not able to communicate with these couples, but the grandmother
of the bride connected with Maria because they are both garden lovers.
The older lady and Maria would be taking a stroll in the garden
every day. Maria gave her some seeds from the garden to take with
her, and a year later she got a letter from Japan, saying that all
her seeds had turned into beautiful flowers.
Bed and breakfast stories are often heart-warming stories of human
connection. One of the B&B guests at the Garden House, a lady
from England, sent Maria a recipe for scones. When several ladies
were visiting to join the Owen Sound Garden Tour, Maria gave them
some cuttings from her garden. One time a couple visited Maria’s
B&B who owned a movie prop business. Apparently this couple
owned a whole farm that was full of objects that are often used
on movie sets. The woman told Maria about flower drying, a craft
that she has been practicing ever since.
Even the cat is relaxed on the deck
Several Indian ladies once stayed at the Garden House B&B and
arrived in traditional Indian dress. Once they had settled in they
demanded a spray cleaner for the bathroom because they wanted to
clean up after themselves. Not surprisingly, Maria has so many fond
memories of her B&B guests.
Another one of Maria’s favourite B&B stories was that
of an attractive-looking wealthy couple that arrived in a red Maserati.
The gentleman stated that he wanted to spoil both his partner as
well as Maria and suggested that he cook dinner. So he and his lady-friend
went out to buy all the ingredients and he spent hours in the kitchen
making a gourmet meal: a filet mignon, roasted veggies and a gourmet
salad. After he cooked the meal all three of them enjoyed the feast
and then he set off into the kitchen to clean up the mess. Maria
said the kitchen was spotless when he was done.
I really enjoyed Maria’s stories and as we continued my travel
partner Yolande came downstairs and joined us while Maria started
to make breakfast. The three of us had an animated and entertaining
discussion while the aroma of a tasty breakfast was starting to
tickle our taste buds. Last night after our arrival we had discussed
our preferred time for breakfast and Maria had given us several
choices for our morning meal. Some of Maria’s signature breakfast
dishes include yeast pancakes with cottage cheese and jam, hearty
bacon and eggs, a specialty quiche, and we settled on a vegetable
and cheese omelette.
Breakfast is ready...
An omelette made from fresh Mennonite eggs arrived, garnished with
fresh juicy tomatoes from the garden, with a hot home-made pepper
salsa on the side. It was so generous that I could not even finish
it. We got a chance to taste some of Maria’s home baked breads
first-hand and both Yolande and I fell in love with Maria’s
raisin bread. Fresh yoghurt with home-made blackberry preserves
provided a tangy yet sweet counterpoint. We enjoyed a leisurely
two-hour breakfast that included some great conversations with the
hostess. It was obvious that Maria thoroughly enjoys hosting guests
at her bed and breakfast.
I also requested Maria to give me a house tour. Her open concept
living / dining room area connects straight into an L-shaped kitchen
and numerous large windows open up the west-facing façade.
Light streams into the large living area from the east, south and
west side; and Maria’s green thumb is evident in all the thriving
house plants that hang down from the second story loft walkway.
The upstairs holds three of the Garden House’s four guest
bedrooms. We had originally wanted to book a bedroom with two separate
beds, and Maria’s rate of C$80 including two full breakfasts
was very affordable. When I asked for two separate beds, Maria offered
us a second bedroom at no extra cost, so Yolande and I enjoyed the
luxury of our own bedrooms, all for the price of one.
All of Maria’s bedrooms and living areas are decorated with
Maria’s watercolours. Maria’s decorating ability has
created a tasteful country retreat, and she let us in on one of
her decorating secrets: many of her furniture pieces are salvaged
items she picks up for free and she then spends many hours refurbishing
them. Maria Sir is also a gifted landscape and nature painter, and
she discovered her artistic talent rather late in life under interesting
circumstances: after her near-fatal car accident Maria started doodling
to calm her mind, and through her improvised sketches she actually
found out that she had a talent for painting.
Maria's first work of art
One of her bed and breakfast guests, a female doctor from the Toronto
area, really fell in love with one of Maria’s paintings, an
oversize watercolour of sunflowers. The guest inquired if she would
be able to purchase the painting, but Maria said that she had already
promised it to her mother. So she started a new canvas for this
woman and her very own sunflowers will be ready soon. Maria has
already sold several of her unique works of art and we all mused
that sometimes a traumatic event like a car accident can have unexpected
positive side effects. Maria said she would have never discovered
her talent for art had it not been for this accident.
The coveted sunflower watercolour
By about noon time it was time to head back to Toronto and unfortunately
the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was starting to
drizzle. As we took our bags out to the car, Maria quickly gave
us some samples of her home-made breads to take home. All the way
back we talked about this fabulous weekend we had had in Owen Sound,
our time at the Garden
House Bed and Breakfast and our opportunity to meet Maria Sir
– a courageous, generous and creative woman who has overcome
so much.
It is these connections that make bed and breakfast travel so special.
