Note: It seems I forgot to press a “make public” button on YouTube. In case you missed some of the previous videos, they are now public.

We made a change to the itinerary, chopping our planned long drive to Saint Andrews into two days so yesterday we only had a 2 1/2 hour drive. We’re staying at the Algonquin Hotel, a grand dame of yesteryear.

This morning we awoke to fog that quickly burned off and so we nabbed two bicycles and headed out to explore. I read a little about Kingsbrae Garden but didn’t really know much about it. Little did we know the exquisite experience we were about to enjoy. Here’s a little info from the link above. Kingsbrae Garden was created by John and Lucinda Flemer to preserve and maintain into perpetuity the family’s former estate. With the downturn of industry in the nineties, the Flemers wanted to do something about the rising unemployment and recognized that, by creating Kingsbrae Garden, the job opportunities would keep families in this area. Perhaps what sums this up best is a quote from Lucinda Flemer “Even more important to us, here at Kingsbrae Garden, than growing plants is helping our community and the people of this area grow as well”.

Here’s a slide show of this beautiful place as we experienced it today. Recommend enlarging.

After spending about two hours in total peace, we headed to the cafe for an early lunch. Wow, another surprise. The chef, Alex Haun, chose his home town to open his first restaurant after studying at the Culinary Institute of Canada on Prince Edward Island. He is recognized internationally and seems very at home in this beautiful place. The cafe is only open for lunch and a gourmand, ten course dinner every Friday evening. They are sold out for tomorrow. The setting and the cuisine are both exceptional. We lazed over a charcuterie board with homemade pâtés as well as smoked duck. He is deep into pickling and I immediately noticed pickled spring ramps as well as garlic scapes. The chef came to our table and after serious discussion I have the recipes. Raves from me. We’ll go back tomorrow.

We sat outside but would love to have dinner in the dining room, a sitting room of the former estate. Lucinda Flemer is now ninety one years old and lunches daily in the courtyard. Shortly after I took the picture, Wayne spotted her enjoying lunch with her black poodle.

If that is not enough, a Llama took a walk with a six month old goat.

After vacation naps, we had a sunset dinner of oysters and mussels on the wharf just a short boat ride from Maine.