day trip - chester, nova scotia

This past week, following an announcement from our Premier declaring all parks and outdoor spaces open for the good of our mental well-being (to be enjoyed at a safe distance, of course), we packed a thermos of tea, piled into the car, and promptly headed to the coast.

The Chester Basin has been on our list of places to drive to for a while now, and it would take more than some grey skies and threatening rain to keep us home.

While I did expect a pretty town sort of set in a bay, and a lot of nicer newer cottages, I didn't expect to find so many charming older homes. I was delighted. As we rounded the inlet and the roads narrowed, the homes with their low roof lines and groomed hedges encroached on the lane ways. They were tucked around the basin and sat proudly on the hill on the other side overlooking the water. So many beautiful homes. I just wanted to get out and wander. Those are my favourite kinds of places - the ones that make you pull over, grab your camera and start walking, not minding if it starts raining, always saying to yourself, "Just one block further, then I'll turn back."

I'm looking forward to returning when the leaves are out and the vines are climbing the picket fences and I can sit on the patio and have a lobster roll.

They had the sweetest library and reading garden.

I absolutely loved the choice of colours for this museum.

I even spotted my first bulbs poking through.

And the first Magnolia blooms!

I think this one is my favourite so far. It reminded me so much of the low cottages in 'Sconset.

I just loved the lower room with all the windows (I imagined it as a cozy sitting room), and the little area above with the bump-out (which also in my imagination, was off the master bedroom).

It had the best view.

Others reminded me of Long Island.

And of course the town had the most charming building for their flower shop. I would take it in a heartbeat.

From there, it wasn't much further down the Lighthouse Route to Peggy's Cove, and with a whole day to waste and a little tea still warm in the thermos, we carried on. We couldn't actually visit the lighthouse as it was still closed off, but just driving around the cove was breathtaking. It was the perfect day to enjoy the waves.

It was grey and wildly harsh, rugged and yet so beautiful all at once.

All the while we just kept looking at each other saying "I can't believe this is where we live now. That we can just head out for a drive and find ourselves in places like this."