Going to the dogs at Bluff Hollow B&B
Did you know there was a place on the Sunshine Coast where your dogs can take you for a holiday?
Bluff Hollow Bed & Breakfast in Garden Bay is a truly dog-friendly getaway: the entire property, cottage, and main house are all off-leash zones, with amenities every discerning dog will sniff out. They can swim in the country pond, go for hours long backwoods rambles on the network of trails, listen for squirrels, get their own special blankets & towels (guess who gives the toweling off and massages? You, that’s right!), and there are treats too… as well as a doggie-height mirror. It would be a dream destination for students in vet tech schools, as well.
When I visited, co-host Ann Harmer said many dog owners visit with dogs who have never been off leash in their lives, living the city lifestyle. “I remember one family who arrived with their child and dog; they were stunned that they didn’t need a leash for their dog… and the next day I came upon their daughter and the dog, just sitting together, and they both looked so happy.”
Bluff Hollow is located up in the country behind Garden Bay Lake. As soon as you turn down the drive you’ll notice masks and faces adorning the cliffs to the right of the driveway and all along the pond. Halfway in there is a sign that declares the start of the off-leash property. I walked with Ann, my dog Cougie bounding down the trails with her yellow retriever, Silas. The two dogs raced up and down the hills, checking out every fork and returning to us with lolling tongues and body language that telegraphed ‘happiness’.
That’s not the only reason to visit Bluff Hollow. Ann and her husband, Rick, are active in the social fabric of the Sunshine Coast, and have a diverse range of interests and surprising niche interests. Ann is the President of the Sunshine Coast Mushroom Society, and operates at expert level in using fungi for dyeing fabric and fibres. We looked at a rainbow of colours created by using mushrooms and mordants: blue, silver, gold, tawny brown, rich brown, orange, pink, purple, red. Amazing. She pointed out several varieties of mushrooms are verboten for indoor dye pots, and showed me a pot on the go on a hotplate in the laundry room, as well as a hammock loaded with fibre of all colours.
The fungi also has amazing use in papermaking, and Bluff Hollow has an ‘Artist’s Package’ with a workshop in creating a bowl fashioned of paper made from pulped mushrooms. Her business, Shroomworks, offers an excellent starting point for learning the alchemy of fungi.
The masks in the driveway are created by Rick Harmer, through his business, “Cement Works“. He sells these individually made concrete works (masks, faces, ammonite fossil, and treble clef) and runs workshops for creating the masks, often tied in with weekend stays via the “Artist’s Package” as well. Rick is also involved in the not-for-profit side; he chairs Habitat for Humanity on the Sunshine Coast.
Every stay also includes a full gourmet breakfast served in the main house, and Rick is some kind of cook. The day I visited he was making mozarella and ricotta cheeses, and shared his plans to move into the infinitely more challenging levels of cheesemaking.
Bluff Hollow breakfasts are an art form: Finnish Oven Pancake, Turkish Breakfast, Gourmet Oatmeal, and homemade biscuits for the four-legged family member(s).
Or, go for the ‘Foodies’ Three Nighter” getaway for the breakfasts, tiffin lunch for your hike, and a cooking lesson from Chef Rick ringside at the kitchen island followed by dinner with Rick & Ann. You’ll also get a gift certificate toward another memorable meal at The Restaurant at Painted Boat Resort, where young chef Spencer Watts will dazzle you with his beautifully creative creations.
I had such a good time visiting with Ann and Rick – it was hard to tear myself away to head back to Sechelt.
For all of you who get to stay there: lucky dogs!
BLUFF HOLLOW B&B
www.bluffhollow.ca
604-883-3678
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