One of my favorite days on our vacation this past summer was our day in Victoria BC. It is interesting how you end up with your favorite days. Is it a combination of the perfect weather, attraction, mood, or something altogether different? I propose that it is a combination of all those things plus a little something else too. Expectation. We had been saving and planning for our Alaskan Cruise for almost two years and we had carefully picked all of our excursions. When you put that much planning into a vacation you can’t help but have some expectations about how you want your trip to turn out. Our Alaskan Cruise was fabulous so don’t get the wrong impression here. However, the day we spent in Victoria we had no firm plans and it was a fly by the seat of your pants kind of day, and I think because there were no expectations attached to it I was able to fully enjoy the adventure that unfolded before us rather than hoping it was all I had anticipated.
Staying in Victoria after we got off of our Disney Alaskan Cruise was always the plan, but we weren’t sure on what we wanted to do there. Once we had checked into our hotel we browsed through the in room booklets that tell you about the area. One of the places that stood out to us was Hatley Castle.
Hatley Castle was the home of James and Laura Dunsmuir. James was the son of Robert and Joan Dunsmuir. Robert was a coal baron, railway developer and politician in British Columbia in the 1800’s. His son James took over his father’s business and in the early 1900’s built this home for he and his wife to spend their retirement days in.
On the day that we arrived we got there early before the castle opened for tours. However, the ground's keepers were busy at work and encouraged us to explore the gardens to our heart’s content. They said that one of the peacocks had just had babies and if we looked carefully we might be able to spot them. Leah and I took them up on their offer and eagerly set out to discover the baby peacocks. The gardens are separated into many different areas highlighting the different garden styles of the times. There was “The Bog Garden” near the creek bed, “The Chinese Gardens”, “The Rose Garden”, “The Italian Garden” and the place Leah wanted to see the most “The Green House.” We rambled over bridges and through garden gates. We did happen upon the new baby peacocks, and beyond the furthermost gate we even discovered the green house, which was locked. We learned that every fern, flower, and plant had been transplanted to this area and perhaps the only native thing in the garden were the tall pine trees.
Once the castle opened we then took the hour long tour of the inside. Upon the death of James and then Laura Dunsmuir the home went to the state of British Columbia. The home then served as the headquarters for the Royal Cadets Training Academy. Currently it is part of the Royal Roads University Campus and is still used to this day for classes and university administration offices. Our tour was of the ground floor only and some of the rooms were not available for us to go into because of summer classes being held. Because it is a working university rather than a museum the inside restoration was not as grandiose as you would have hoped from looking at the outside. It was very beautiful and we learned some unique history. They have used the building as a set for one of the X-Men films and during WWII this was a possible place for Queen Elizabeth II and her family to escape to if the fighting became to intense where she was in England.
Once we finished our tour of the castle we decided that in order to get the full picture and history of this place we needed to also visit Craigdarroch Castle.
Craigdarroch Castle was built by James’ father Robert. This castle was a museum that was fully restored to the time period of the late 1800’s when it was built. Unlike Hatley Castle that is surrounded by gardens and nestled near the shore this Castle is smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood of homes surrounding it on either side. There are no gardens or grounds and is not nearly as romantic on the outside as the other. Once, you step inside though you are not disappointed. This home is grand and glorious. With the self guided walking tour map you are able to make your way through each room and read about the history of the pieces in that room. They even had a walking map tour for the kids with an I spy kind of feature where you must locate the item pictured in each room. Sometimes this was easy, other times it was hard and well hidden. The kids enjoyed their scavenger hunt which left me peacefully able to dream and fanaticize about all of the history and grand parties that must have taken place in this home.
Steve and I decided that touring both castles is the only way to do it right. You get a much better idea of the full magnitude of these impressive homes when you see them together. I wish that they sold a combination tour package that gave you some sort of discount if you buy both at once, but they don’t.
We ended our day with a tour of Butchart Gardens. It was late enough in the day that we didn’t have the heat and the crowds had thinned a bit. The transformation of this once rock quarry turned into sunken gardens is an unbelievable sight to behold. The gardens are beautiful and there is much to explore within it’s grounds but between these and the gardens of Hatley Castle my favorite was Hatley Castle. I found the gardens of Butchart to be much more formal and less intimate than the ones of Hatley Castle. Perhaps it was because of the thousands of people vs. Leah and I being the only ones at Hatley. The dirt paths vs. the paved clearly marked walk ways of Butchart, or the many secret gates that kept us intrigued as to what we would find next vs. the intricately detailed map that laid out our path before us.
By the end of our day we were fully exhausted but also filled with so much fascinating history and beauty. This was by far much different than our previous trip to Victoria. If you ever find yourself on Vancouver Island I would not miss out on the opportunity to spend your own day touring these stately mansions.
I'm linking up with The Tablescaper "Oh The Places I've Been"
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