Stepping Back in Time

Up and off for a great breakfast of French Toast and Sausages with Maple Syrup and coffee in the café on the opposite side of the river bank from the B&B, a stones throw away from Sherbrooke Village Museum. Yes, part of the village is now a museum. For those who know Shropshire, think Blists Hill Museum only several of the houses here are still privately owned and two still permanently occupied! Apparently when it was decided to preserve all these old buildings the government decided to turn it into a living museum and employ people to carry on ancient crafts such as smithing, printing and wood turning. Villagers in this part of town were permitted to remain in their houses, which would be maintained by the government until they either died or moved away. At this point the building and the land would no longer belong to them or their heirs. There are twenty five houses and shops which are furnished as they would have been around the 1860s.

Blacksmith

We spent a good chunk of time from our three hours on the site in the Blacksmiths watching him make intricate hooks. He makes and repairs all the metal fixtures and fittings within the village, supplies items to sell in the gift shop and runs workshops for school children to get 'hands on' experience of this craft.

Village street prior to tarmac

We worked our way around the Post Office, Print Shop, General Store, Wood Turners, Telephone Exchange and School Room. As we knew we needed to leave around lunch time and that the villages en route were few and far between, we headed for the Tea Rooms. Oops – big sign outside saying 'Sorry Folks, we're full. A large pre-booked coach party has booked from noon. Please come back at 1.00pm.' Oh well, there's bound to be something on our way to Jeddore Oyster Pound. An hour and a half later we arrived at Sheet Harbour. Hurray, a Pub/Restaurant!!!

So lunch was late. Not too far from Jeddore now. We pulled in to the Fisherman's Museum – sign said 'closed'. Not according to the advert in the 2012 tourist guide. Well at least it was on our route and we hadn't driven for miles to get there! Closed seemed a bit of a pattern on the East shore from Guysborough. We had passed several restaurants/cafés which were no longer open and becoming derelict. Houses too with many up for sale. About 40kms from Halifax there were suddenly other cars on the roads and shops and filling stations.

Bottom of the garden, Elephant's nest

Our B&B is lovely, right on the waterfront with its own little beach and deck jutting into the harbour. However, rearranging our luggage to meet weight restrictions for our flight was top on the agenda.

According to our hosts at 'The Elephant's Nest' in Musquodobit Harbour, the pub/restaurant where we stopped is the nearest east of here. There are a few local eateries not more than a few kilometres west, or the next best place would be in Dartmouth. As we plan to go there tomorrow we went to a nice little 'pub' a few kms west.

What can I say?

Rick had scallops and chip and I had clams and chips. I thought I should give them a try. They reminded me of experiences eating snails- rubbery texture just salty! We had tasted them in our Chowder at Halifax obviously the other fish ingredients pepped the clams up..

Stepping Back in Time

Musquodoboit Harbour, Canada