Grand Pre and wineries

We had another wonderful time at this B&B - the Stella Rose.  We enjoyed a great breakfast and enjoyed visiting with the other guests - this time from New Brunswick and Ohio.  The owners have two wonderful dogs - Cash and Loki and I HAD to say a proper goodbye to them.  They loved to be petted, and I loved to comply with their desires!

We had not yet done anything relating to the history of Nova Scotia, so we headed just up the road to Grand Pre National Historic Sight.  It was free to enter thanks to the 150th anniversary of Canada.  They had a really nice and informative visitor's center with exhibits and a great film.  Interesting that the film was watched with headphones on - flip the switch down for English, up for French.  The Acadians were caught in the fighting between the English and the French for the region.  Though they wanted to remain neutral, when they resisted taking an oath of allegiance the decision was made to deport them, eliminating the perceived threat of them helping the enemy.  After the film we headed out to the memorial church, which has a statue of Evangeline in front - the subject of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow telling the tale of the expulsion of the Acadians from the region.

It was a beautiful chapel.  Note the look of the window in the picture above - then look at what it looked like from inside:

The grounds were absolutely gorgeous, filled with plants of all kinds.

There were quite a few apple trees, with bountiful fruit.  They had a basket of apples for guests to grab on the way in.

There was also a statue of Henry.

And a cross erected in the early 1900's to honor the Acadians buried here.  

After this beautiful but somber place, we headed to Luckett Vineyards nearby.  I had a tasting and we bought a couple of bottles to take with us, but mostly we enjoyed the view.  

This region of Nova Scotia is full of large beautiful farms.  There were many crops as well as lots of cattle.  

Next we headed to Avondale Sky winery which we had been told about by the owners of the first B&B we stayed in.   Our GPS didn't fail us as we wound thru some very pretty back roads, passing lots of farms and apparently passing a significant halfway mark!

The Avondale Sky winery serves in a deconsecrated church.  There was a sweet little - still consecrated - church across the street.  

After a tasting we sat and had a glass of their nice wine and a shared cheese platter that also had fruits, nuts, meats, and olives.  What a nice lunch!

We asked about the building and were told it was moved - twice - in it's history and ended up in this spot being repurposed as the winery.  Some shots from inside:

Then we pointed the Prius toward our next destination - Halifax!