Nova Scotia is green with an abundance of trees growing right down to the water, and there are myriad waterviews in the charming city of Halifax. We stayed in a friend’s house nestled among tall trees on the edge of the Northwest Arm of the harbour, where we enjoyed Canadian hospitality and ate a lot of seafood – halibut, salmon, mussels and lobster. Halifax is overwhelmingly Scottish (not surprising in New Scotland!) and its colonial origins are on display at the Citadel historic site, dating back to 1749 when it became part of the defence complex built to defend the Halifax harbour from enemies of the British Empire. We heard the stirring sounds of bagpipes on our visit there and we climbed the ramparts to view the city and harbour below. We learnt a little about the Indigenous Mi’kmaw people who inhabited the Halifax region for 10,000 years before any colonial arrivals. Wandering along the harbourfront in brilliant sunshine, eating Cow’s Creamery ice cream (Canada’s best) was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

Nova Scotia and the other provinces along the Atlantic coast are known collectively as the Maritimes. Fishing and boating are long-established here and there are many picturesque lighthouses in the bays and coves that are a feature of the coastline. Perhaps the most famous is the lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove, which has a sweet, though possibly apocryphal, story associated with it.

Anne of the Island

We spent a couple of days on Prince Edward Island, which I have wanted to see since I first realised that Anne Shirley, or rather her creator, L M Montgomery, came from there. There is a Green Gables heritage centre featuring a house and barn that approximates the fictional home that Anne shared with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. But it was the surrounding countryside and lanes through the woods that really evoked the spirit of the books for me – Lover’s Lane and the Haunted Wood! The whole island is dreamy, basking in the hot summer sun, its famous red cliffs glowing. It would be wonderful to see it in all the seasons that Montgomery describes in the Anne books. As I wandered, episodes from the stories kept occuring to me – a clear case of association by place!