Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island is a charming seaside town where we have our own cottage, and I want to share with you why we love this place so much.
Welcome to Letters From Windermere. My monthly blog will arrive in your inbox on the third Wednesday of each month. I write about:
- HISTORY: mostly Western Canada history, plus anything else that interests me.
- WRITING: info about my historical novel, Finding Flora, coming in April 2025.
- BOOKS: one good book recommendation every month.
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But First, My Book News
I’ve been dashing around to various book stores here on Vancouver Island to let them know about my new novel Finding Flora, now available for preorder at ANY bookstore.
Call, email or visit your favourite independent, or order online from Amazon, Kobo, or any other online bookseller, and it will be ready for you on April 1, 2025.
Visit this new page here on my website for the synopsis, plus information about how to preorder: Finding Flora.
And now, Westward Ho to Vancouver Island!
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Qualicum Beach: The Location
Back in 2012, we came here to visit friends and fell in love with the place. We looked around and bought a small bungalow built in 1983. Since then we have spent a few months here each year, and the rest of the time it’s used by family and friends.
(At times we have been sorely tempted to move here full-time, but since we now have five grandchildren living near our permanent home in Invermere, that is not likely to happen.)
The town is located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, about 45 minutes north of the ferry terminal in Nanaimo, adjacent to the town of Parksville.
Vancouver Island is BIG, bigger than many states and even countries. It is home to 25 percent of the world’s temperate rainforest. With temperatures that very rarely drop below the freezing point, it also has the mildest climate in Canada.
It’s so warm that palm trees grow here — like this one in the back yard of our bungalow!
See photos of our home away from home here: Palm Tree Cottage.
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Qualicum Beach: The Environment
No photograph can do justice to the beauty of this spectacular beach located just a few blocks from our house. At low tide, the sand seems to go on forever. It’s a perfect place to walk, listen to the gulls crying overhead, and watch for seals. In the summer, the water is delightfully warm and perfect for bathing.
At the southern edge of Qualicum Beach is French Creek Harbour, a real working fishing port, as can be seen by the large number of fishing vessels at the dock. There’s a shop nearby where we can buy fresh seafood straight off the boat.
Smack dab in the middle of town is a gorgeous park called Heritage Forest, with stunning old-growth trees and walking trails.
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Qualicum Beach: The People
New developments and condominiums are springing up all over the island as urban refugees flee from their overpriced cities, but Qualicum Beach has stoutly resisted the pressure.
One reason is that it is a retirement community, with almost half of the population (about 10,000 residents) being seniors, and they do NOT want their town to change. I am in total sympathy with them!
(As a side note, when we first came here thirteen years ago, we marvelled at all the elderly people. Now that we are also seniors, I recently remarked to my husband: “Did you notice the people around here don’t look that old any more?”)
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Qualicum Beach: The Downtown
The town has a real old-fashioned feel to it, with a well-defined walkable downtown area. The town’s municipal building houses not only administration offices, but a lovely public library.
The streets are lined with mature trees and adorned with enormous planters and flowerbeds. In fact, this whole area is a mecca for gardeners since everything grows so quickly due to the warmth and the moisture.
Qualicum Beach does not allow any chain-owned businesses here, so you won’t find any big box stores or fast food joints. One rare exception is Dolly’s Home Hardware, which in 2023 was named the Best Home Hardware in Western Canada.
Mostly, though, the shops are small and owned by local residents who seem to know everybody in town. The owner of Revived Vintage specializes in refinishing vintage furniture, with some stunning results.
You can tell it’s a senior-friendly town because the downtown filling station offers Full Service.
Even the public toilets are charming!
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Qualicum Beach: The Arts
Many of the folks who retired here from other parts of Canada are actively interested in the arts, and it’s obvious when you look around.
The historic Village Theatre was built as a movie house in 1948, and has been used for live theatre for the past thirty years. The banner celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Echo Players in Qualicum Beach, a talented theatre troupe.
The Qualicum Beach Museum is another historic building, converted from a former powerhouse. It contains a large number of historical artifacts dating back to the days before Europeans arrived on Vancouver Island, plus an enormous collection of fossils found in this area.
The Old School House Arts Centre, was once — you guessed it — the local school in Qualicum Beach. It served students from 1912 to 1952. It currently houses ten artist studios, art galleries, classrooms, and gift shop.
This stunning metal sculpture by Qualicum Beach artist Jessie Recalma stands at the edge of the beachfront, in the centre of a roundabout, illuminated by interior lights in various colours.
Finally, no visit to Qualicum Beach would be complete without multiple visits to my favourite bookstore, the fifty-year-old independent Mulberry Bush Book Store, now owned by Warren and Christina Kinney (who just happens to be from Eyebrow, Saskatchewan in my home province!)
Here I am showing Christina a copy of my new novel, to be released in April 2025. The shop has already racked up a number of preorders for the book.
(I’ll be back in the spring to do a book event at Mulberry, so please watch for it!)
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Book of the Month
The biggest explosion in the world, prior to the atomic bombs falling on Japan, occurred during the First World War on December 6, 1917 in Halifax harbour, when two munitions ships collided. The blast killed 2000 people, blinding and maiming thousands of men, women, and children.
That’s the background for this novel, When the World Fell Silent, about two women whose lives are forever changed by this disaster. One of them is a Bluebird, a Canadian Army nurse; and the other is a war widow with a young child. It’s a very powerful and moving story.
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Happy Ending
Last week I read aloud the last chapter of the last Harry Potter book, the final and seventh book in the series, to my granddaughter Nora.
I started reading the first one over Zoom in March 2020 when covid struck. She was only seven years old at the time and now she is eleven!
We have read on evenings and weekends, in different countries and different time zones, for a total of 4,000 pages.
It was a wonderful way to connect with her, and I’m going to miss it unless she wants to continue with another series.
To mark the occasion, Nora dressed in her Harry Potter robes.
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Canadian friends and family, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We are heading back to our permanent home in Invermere, British Columbia, but first I’m taking a detour to Winnipeg, Manitoba, to delve into my family history.
All you genealogists out there will appreciate my enthusiasm for prowling around graveyards — a very appropriate undertaking, this close to Halloween!
My next Letter will arrive on November 20, so please mark the date on your calendar. Remember, I love to hear from my readers and I answer every message.
Fondly, Elinor
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