CANADA’S WILD WEST

Our senior editor, Sarah Barrell, returned to one of her favourite countries to explore the wilds of Canada’s west coast

The goats that reside on the old country market’s roof have retreated for the winter. The grassy pitch that provides their summer home has turned to scrub, and the shop’s sign — featuring an antlered creature gazing over the guttering — rattles about in the wind. I’ve no idea where they’ve gone. Still, there’s something so joyously Vancouver Island about Coombs village’s goaty gimmick that I can’t resist calling in.

‘Goats! On a roof! How charming’, you can almost hear shoppers think as they amble about the aisles, popping organic produce in their ‘goat tote’ (a shopping basket, to the less poetically inclined). Of course, it’s not a gimmick — or, rather, not entirely. Like many things on this island outpost of Vancouver, the animals’ lo‰y corral has a greenliving ethic at its core — grass roofs give great insulation and goats act as sustainable mowers — plus a good measure of anarchic hippy spirit.

Vancouver Island — or Victoria Island, if you want to annoy locals by using the misnomer o‰en applied by Americans — is separated from mainland British Columbia by just 14 miles of water at the narrowest crossing. Yet it feels a place of retreat. There’s no bridge and many of Vancouver Island’s more remote points are only accessible by floatplane.

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