FOLLOW ANNE TO GREEN GABLES
YOU’RE nearly there when you pass the Anne Shirley Motel and Rachel’s restaurant. Cavendish on Prince Edward Island is forever Avonlea, the Canadian farmstead that Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote about in Anne Of Green Gables. In the story, published in 1908, a red-headed orphan arrives at Green Gables to live with Matthew Cuthbert and his elderly sister Marilla. More than 120,000 people a year come to visit the simple farmhouse. This year, there’s been an extra spike in visitor numbers after TV streaming service Netflix brought out a new adaptation, modishly called Anne With An E, starring Amybeth McNulty in the title role. Montgomery used Green Gables, which was owned by her cousins, as the template for her novels. It’s a white shingled house with green shutters, perched on a small hill.
Inside, there’s a neat parlour with photographs, while, upstairs, one bedroom – with a broken slate and clothes in a pile – has been designated as Anne’s. Inside one of the barns, you can see Montgomery’s typewriter, with most the letters worn away, especially the ‘E’.
She lived here until she was in her 30s, walking through the woods to go to school, meet friends or to work in the local post office. Anne Of Green Gables Museum is still owned by members of her family, and it shows.
A 20-minute drive from Green Gables, the museum at Park Corner – referred to by Montgomery as Ingleside – regularly hosts weddings for Anne fans.
Prince Edward Island may be Canada’s smallest province but it’s still huge, with wide beaches, and vast fields with the island’s distinctive red, iron-rich soil.
Sit in a cafe in the capital Charlottetown today and modern-day versions of characters such as Rachel Lynde and Aunt Josephine are out in force, catching up with gossip.
The only difference, from what I can overhear, is that they’re discussing their fitness classes.
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