Day 14 – Thursday June 1/17

June started off with a perfect summer day here in Southern Saskatchewan. Sun with just a bit of cloud, a slight breeze and temperatures in the mid to high 20’s.

After a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked and eaten al fresco, we began an afternoon of touring. Our first gas fill-up in Saskatchewan at $.99/litre indicated that gas prices are lower in this province. Important when you are putting upwards of 60 litres into the tank at a time.

We arrived at Cannington Manor Provincial Historic Site before 1 p.m. Information we had read described a reconstructed village settled by people from Britain in the last half of the 19^th century. These folks had visions of a Victorian Society in the wilds of Canada. 

The site seemed to be closed, but we headed along the road just to see what we could see. Almost immediately we encountered two women in a car who were leaving. They affirmed that the site hadn’t opened for the season but told us that there was no reason not to have a look around. They were history buffs and one of them was from London ON. We had a pleasant chat noting, as one so often does when travelling, that the world is a small place. 

We were just reading the plaque in front of the first building when another car appeared from further into the village site. It was two wonderful young women, park staff, named Emily and Erica. They insisted on opening up buildings and showing us around. We went into the ‘bachelor’s house’. Apparently many of the settlers were younger sons of wealthy families who were sent to Canada to make their way in the world and received ‘remittances’ from the family back home. This source of income meant they did not have to work too hard, but had time for fox hunting, cricket and theatricals – the aspects of British Society the community hoped to recreate. We were also taken into the blacksmith’s forge and the carpenter’s house.  However the highlight of the afternoon was making rope! Emily and Erica got out the materials, including an ingenious metal pulley contraption that actually twisted the twine. The staff told us how to set up and twist the twine to make strong 12 ply rope. (photo) 

How amazing! We had a private tour with two guides and a once-in-a-lifetime experience of making rope. The sunny, breezy weather added to the overall atmosphere of ”Can this really be happening to us?”

After the staff left we explored the village church (which still operates in the summer). All Saints Anglican Church was the first Anglican church west of Winnipeg. 

After a look around the cemetery, we ate lunch at a shaded picnic table surrounded by birdsong and some croaking of frogs. The wind ruffled the grass. It seemed there wasn’t another human for miles. An idyllic picnic.

The drive back to the trailer took us along an historic road where we saw two lovely and very large homes dating to the Cannington Manor period. One was made of wood and no longer occupied. The other was beautiful stone. It is still lived in. 

We have noticed that there seems to be a lot of cattle ranching in the area. A herd of Charolaise was particularly interested in giving us the once over as we drove past. (photo) We kind of felt like celebrities.

Back at the trailer we found we had been overrun with tent caterpillars. We had noticed a lot of them last night and even found one in our bed! Yuck!! But we thought we had cleared them out this morning. However they had returned en masse and decided to make a nest of our lawn chairs. The picnic table was especially overrun. (photo)

A barbequed steak dinner, followed by a campfire later in the evening, completed yet another fine day!