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Spacious & Gracious Lodging at Victoria Street B & B in Niagara-on-the-Lake (The Victoria Street Bed and Breakfast in Niagara-on-the-Lake, above, reflects the careful attention to detail and charm of its hosts, Gary and Marilyn Anderson. It is a great place to stay when planning to take in The Shaw Festival. All photos courtesy Victoria Street B&B unless otherwise noted) By David Cohen and Marcia LaBelle Cohen David Cohen and Marcia LaBelle Cohen are writers and photographers based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They enjoyed a stay at the Victoria Street Bed and Breakfast during their visit to The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. You can reach them at david316@sympatico.ca In the charming town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, set in Canada's Ontario Province, it's hard not to notice the print hanging above the fireplace as you enter the Winter Room of the Victoria Street Bed and Breakfast, owned by Marilyn and Gary Anderson. It depicts, we guess, an early 19th-century scene -- a black-suited, high-hatted, ruddy-cheeked man of middle age gliding over a frozen pond with skates strapped on his boots. He wears an ecstatic expression.
(The Winter Room elicits a happy mood in its two guests) Having just emerged from a long Canadian winter, we had no wish to don skates to emulate this long-ago figure. But his apparent happy mood matched ours when we began to take in the Winter Room (there also are Spring and Summer Rooms). "Spacious" and "gracious" are the words that come immediately to mind to describe this room. Thoughtful, too. Contact
info for Victoria Street B&B: In addition to the fireplace and the compelling figure above it, there was a king-size "sleigh bed," which, according to Webster's, is a "type of bed made 1820-1860, the headboard and footboard of which are solid and roll outward at the top." Beds are one thing, but mattresses can be another. The mattress on this bed was everything a middle-aged back could ask for - firm and very comfy. Comforts for the Mind and the Spirit There are also comforts for the mind and the spirit in this room. Chairs and lamps invite reading, thinking and conversation. And if you forget your reading material at home, there is a small bookcase with a selection that will appeal to most tastes. As you get ready for bed, you will head for the bathroom. Its centerpieces are a whirlpool bath, an attractive vanity area, and a shower. A large, wood-framed mirror on the wall above the whirlpool makes the room look larger than it already is - which is considerable. And if, as you are about to climb into bed, you suddenly get the "munchies," there is a coffee-and-tea station outside your room in the hallway. The coffee is freshly brewed. As for the universal soporific TV, it is available, but discretely encased in a wooden cabinet. If bedding down is everything one could wish for in the Victoria Street B&B, getting up is even better.
(What a lovely view uppon arising -- the colorful garden with its formal and informal design elements) Arising, you are drawn to a large wall window that affords an overhead view of the rear garden. And what a view it is! This is a spacious garden indeed, about a quarter of an acre. To the right we saw a flowering cherry tree in glorious pink bloom. A more modest dogwood was also in creamy flower. After taking in these bursts of color, the eye shifts to take in the broader expanse -- a garden that blends formal and informal design elements to achieve a very pleasing whole.
(The garden also charms the imagination with a gurgling pond and waterfall. Marcia LaBelle Cohen photo) A red brick path begins at the back veranda and goes through an arbor arch and proceeds further along to end at a circular, screened-in gazebo. Off to the left is a gurgling pond and waterfall with azaleas and rhododendrons growing nearby. Beds with daffodils, irises and tulips do duty as borders along with tall mature trees. But what about the other B in B&B, breakfast? Dutch Apple Pancake and Sausage! Here our hosts, Marilyn and Gary, did the honors. We began with freshly squeezed orange juice. Warm wholewheat scones were passed around. And then the main event-Dutch apple pancake and sausage. Hot, freshly brewed (and superior-tasting) coffee was poured as conversation expanded. A most satisfying repast; but also a sophisticated, carefully prepared one - well above the average. The B&B experience is, of course, also about conversation, and in this we were quite fortunate. In addition to our hosts, who are interesting indeed (see next article), we had the good fortune to meet Charles Jeffs and his wife, Olive, and their daughters Judith and Carol. They are theatre buffs and were of course drawn to Niagara-on-the-Lake by The Shaw Festival. They were about to travel to Stratford, Ontario to see The Tempest and Hello Dolly at the Stratford Festival. Mr. Jeffs, who is 84, is a World War II veteran who saw action in Europe in the liberation by Canadian troops of Holland in 1945. A lieutenant, he served with the Stormont-Dundas and Glengary Highlanders regiment.
(New friends pose for a photograph: from left, Marcia and David Cohen, Charles Jeff, his wife Olive and their daughter Judith, and Gary and Marilyn Anderson. Marcia LaBelle Cohen photo) Remarkably spry, Mr. Jeffs recounted in detail the battles in which he participated in Holland, especially the one in which he suffered near-fatal wounds. His wife, an English war bride, also recalled with frequent humorous asides the trials and tribulations of her courtship with a Canadian soldier (her family had doubts about Canadian soldiers in general). After bidding fond farewells, we realized that our stay at the Victoria Street B&B had been all too brief. We hadn't played pool in the games room. We hadn't had time to sit in the garden and read. We hadn't had time to stroll at leisure along Victoria Street and the neighborhood it's a part of.
(When visiting Niagara-on-the-Lake, you will most likely be taking in a play at The Shaw Festival. But be sure to leave time for specialty shopping along Queen Street. David Cooper photo, c. The Shaw Festival)
(And then there's always a leisurely stroll through parklands by the lake, of course. David Cooper photo, c. The Shaw Festival)
Oh, next time. When we arrived back in Hamilton, where we live, we found an email from Marilyn. We had inquired about that painting over the fireplace…. Marilyn had researched our question and found that the print was from a painting by Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) titled "The Rev. Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch." The Andersons had obtained the print from the National Galleries in Edinburgh. It is a work of the late 18th or early 19th century - quite in keeping with Victoria Street, the "sleigh bed" in our B&B's Winter Room, and much of Niagara-on-the-Lake for that matter. A "Dream Come True" Marilyn Anderson always dreamt of running a B&B. The Victoria Street B&B is that "dream come true." Marilyn and husband Gary moved here in 1996 from Hamilton, which is about an hour's drive from away. With a design provided by Better Homes and Gardens magazine, they set out to build their dream B&B.
(Hosts Marilyn and Gary Anderson warmly welcome their guests to their bed and breakfast in Niagara-on-the-Lake) The result was a triple dormer-windowed structure, with white-pillared broad verandas in the front and back, which provides every modern amenity and yet fits in with the predominantly 19th-century character of Victoria Street. Marilyn and Gary tweaked the original design for the house so that it would have discreet living and B&B areas. "The idea is for us not to intrude on our guests' space and vice versa," explains Gary.
(The garden of the B&B comes with a place to lounge and enjoy the scenery)
It was Marilyn, with her keen interest in horticulture, who designed the front and back gardens. Gary, who was brought up on a farm in North Dakota, obtained a Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Washington in 1969, when he came to Canada to join the Department of Clinical Epidemiology of the Faculty of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton. He and Marilyn have five children and 13 grandchildren.
(In winter, the games room is a cozy place to be!) Gary retired in 1998, and it was at about that time that he started what is known as a glyconutritional supplementation program.
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