Day 6 Butchart Gardens

We stayed at the Grand Park Hotel in Vancouver for this leg of the journey, but unfortunately, we weren't at all impressed with the cleanliness or the attached restaurant. In fact, we had to abandon the hotel restaurant and head to Starbucks for breakfast just to ensure we ate in the limited time we had!
With breakfast sorted, we boarded the coach with Steve, our guide for the day, and headed out to catch the ferry across to Vancouver Island. As luck would have it, we arrived early and managed to squeeze onto an earlier sailing, granting us an extra bonus hour to explore the island. The 1.5-hour crossing was incredibly smooth, delivering us safely across the strait to the world-famous Butchart Gardens for the morning.
The history of this beautiful place is fascinating: it all started in 1904 when Robert Butchart established a limestone quarry near Victoria, British Columbia. When the pit was exhausted in 1909, his wife, Jennie Butchart, decided to beautify the industrial scar, spending years hauling in topsoil to transform the rugged pit into the iconic Sunken Garden by 1921. The family eventually expanded the estate to include spectacular Japanese, Italian, and Rose gardens, opening the property to the public. Today, it stands as a designated National Historic Site of Canada and is still proudly operated by the Butchart family.
Our trip leader, Glen, took us on a wonderful tour of the estate. It was absolutely stunning and well worth the visit, filled with an incredible sea of vibrant flowers. We also couldn't resist a ride on the Rose Carousel, which was introduced in December 2009 by Robin-Lee Clarke, the great-granddaughter of founder Jennie Butchart. The hand-crafted animal designs were inspired directly by historical family travel journals, and we had a brilliant laugh spinning around on them! 🎠
We spent the morning exploring the grounds before heading off around lunchtime, but just as we left, we were lucky enough to spot a couple of beautiful deer wandering near the edge of the gardens. A perfect end to a lovely visit!Read more