THIS STORIED ISLE
Frances Hedges traverses the lush landscape of Prince Edward Island, the picturesque home of Anne of Green Gables
A literary pilgrimage to Anne of Green Gables country
‘I’ve always heard that Prince Edward Island was the prettiest place in the world, and I used to imagine I was living here, but I never really expected I would. It’s delightful when your imaginations come true, isn’t it?’ So says the youthful heroine of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic novel Anne of Green Gables – surely one of the best-loved characters in children’s literature – when she first sets foot on the Canadian island that is to become her lifelong home.
As a child, ‘Anne with an e’ was my fictional alter ego – or, as she would put it, my ‘kindred spirit’. A lone redhead among a sea of blondes and brunettes, I lamented my troublesome tresses along with her (‘Now you see why I can’t be perfectly happy. Nobody could who has red hair’), and when she conjured up the beauty of Prince Edward Island, with its painted sunset skies and wild cherry-trees, I longed to discover its glorious landscapes with her at my side.
Almost 25 years after reading about Anne’s adventures for the first time, I finally had the opportunity to make the much-anticipated journey to her cherished home. PEI, as it is known to residents, is situated off the eastern coast of Canada, between the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador. On arriving in its small capital, I was immediately struck by the sense of history all around me. Known as the birthplace of Confederation, Charlottetown was the setting for an 1864 conference that triggered the process of federal union
in Canada – a landmark event that is still celebrated in enthusiastic re-enactments by the locals. The quaint city is filled with lively bars, restaurants and traditional inns, including the Great George, where my partner and I overnighted in cosy surroundings, awakening to a breakfast of freshly baked waffles with our first taste of Canadian maple syrup.
Charming though Charlottetown is, PEI’S idyllic countryside is its real lure. The ‘red roads’ that send Anne into such raptures – in fact the result of the soil’s high iron-oxide content – are a sight to behold, beautifully offset by wide open skies and white sands. Punctuating the island’s rugged coastline are more than 60 red-and-white lighthouses, the prettiest of which can be found at Cape Tryon or in the storybook fishing village of Victoria-by-the-sea. Much of the northern shore is given over to the PEI National Park, which encompasses seven supervised beaches and 30 miles of footpaths, including the Greenwich Dunes Trail. This scenic hike took us through farmland and forest, then over a long floating boardwalk, culminating in a panoramic view across the parabolic sand dunes and out to the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
For those less keen to explore on foot, cycling opportunities abound: we rented bikes so that we could venture along a section of the Confederation Trail, a 270-mile route connecting the western and eastern tips of the island. Alternatively, you can admire the scenery from the vantage point of the water by booking a kayaking tour with one of the expert guides at Outside Expeditions, whose base is in the seaside town of North Rustico. After some initial trepidation about my first time in a kayak coinciding with a rather brisk wind, I soon relaxed and let myself embrace the magic of being out on the ocean, spotting plovers and sandpipers in the air and paddling right up to the edge of the enormous oyster farm that supplies some of PEI’S superb seafood restaurants. One such, Blue Mussel Café in North Rustico’s colourful harbour, proved the perfect place to retreat after our blustery excursion, serving up the day’s catch in the form of creamy chowders and hearty gratinated dishes.
Indeed, the islanders are fiercely proud of their province’s growing reputation as one of Canada’s gastronomic centres, with an annual food festival each autumn and a clutch of fine-dining restaurants: follow the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s example and stay at Dalvay by the Sea, an elegant hotel where you can feast on exquisitely prepared dishes such as lobster pappardelle and Atlantic salmon rillettes. There’s even a ‘culinary trail’ for visitors eager to make the most of the area’s natural produce, which includes a bounty of different fruits (stop off at the PEI Preserve Company in New Glasgow to sample the signature homemade blueberry jam). We even tried our hand at cooking with some of these fresh ingredients at the Table Culinary Studio, a converted church that now plays host to daily classes and supper clubs. After picking our own herbs and edible flowers from the venue’s well-stocked organic gardens, we prepared a feast of beetroot salad, chimichurri-marinated chicken, and lemon and lavender possets.
Of course, I couldn’t leave PEI without making one final stop on my pilgrimage: Green Gables Heritage Place, the 19th-century farm in Cavendish that provided the inspiration for LM Montgomery’s Anne series and has since been turned into a cultural attraction dedicated to her memory. Was the recreation of Lovers’ Lane and the Haunted Woods a little kitsch? Perhaps. Would I happily visit Green Gables all over again? Without a doubt. As Anne herself puts it, ‘all things great are wound up with all things little’; Prince Edward Island may be Canada’s smallest province, but it has a very big heart. To find out more about travelling to Prince Edward Island, visit www.atlanticcanadaholiday.co.uk.