One week left

Well things have been busy around the Inn for the past week as we prepare it for opening just one week from today. Val and I, and the rest of our team, have been hard at work spitting and polishing. Okay, I didn't really catch anyone spitting, but you get the idea. The scrapers and paint brushes have been out as well doing all those little touchups that are required. Val and I also decided to finally take on the challenge of stripping and painting the floor in the painted room, as we will be setting up our office in there this season and moving the desk out of the kitchen.

Things are starting to green up outside and the buds are getting bigger on the Magnolia bushes. Hopefully they will be in full bloom for the Magnolia Festival taking place in Annapolis Royal in May. Once the indoor cleaning in completed early next week it will be time to move outdoors to tackle the yard and tune up the lawn mower.

Spring really does come much earlier in our part of the province than in others, so you should consider planning a little getaway in the coming weeks. In fact, we have just added a few new packages to our Special Offers & Packages page that we hope will entice you to check us out.

Calling all Golfers

[caption id="attachment_187" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="View from the 18th Tee of the Annapolis Royal Golf & Country Club"][/caption]

The flags are in again early this year and the Annapolis Royal Golf & Country Club opened for the 2009 season on Saturday, April 4th. Opening day was filled with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-teens. A few of the local juniors were even seen playing in shorts and short sleeve shirts.

To help all those anxious golfers who have been itching to get back out since the Fall the Hillsdale House Inn has partnered with the Annapolis Royal Golf Course to provide a couple value priced Spring golf packages. Check out our Special Offers & Packages page for details.

Established in 1925, the course can be considered an historic institution in its own right. In 1992, the course was expanded to a full 18-holes based on the same principles that made the previous course such a pleasure and challenge to play.

Today, the course displays a rare combination of inviting (but not wide open) forest-fringed fairways, natural water hazards, and tricky approach shots without the pretension of an overly tailored course.

We invite you to take advantage of these special offers to discover one of the less known golf courses in Nova Scotia. You will also have the opportunity to explore the first permanent European settlement in North America and the original capital of Nova Scotia, Annapolis Royal.

Opening Soon!!

Well it is hard to believe that the winter closure is almost over, but the Spring flowers are a sure sign that it is time once again to prepare the Inn for our visitors. In fact three weeks from today we will be opening again for the season and there is much preparation to do beforehand. Our team has been called back to start the big "Spring Clean" starting next week. You can only imagine what is involved in cleaning a 10,000 square foot building with 13 guestrooms, 2  large parlours, a dining room that seats 20 -30 people and a large kitchen.

And that's just the inside!

Then there are the 3 acres of lawn and gardens that you always wish will have miraculously been cleaned up when the snow melts to reveal them again. Of course you never get used to the fact that even though you thought you cleaned up all the leaves in the Fall there are almost as many to clean up again in the Spring. However, we have a very special way of dealing with the leaves which I will share with reader in a future post.

Over the next few weeks we will endeavour to share a little of what it takes to get ready to open again.

We are very excited about the thought of welcoming guests to the Inn for the 2009 season. We already know from our early bookings that we will be meeting people from all over North America and across the Atlantic Ocean.

If you are thinking of visiting our part of the world this summer we encourage you to check out the Hillsdale House Inn website and the Special Offers and Packages page of this Blog for ideas.

Introducing Pear Tree Cottage

We are very excited to announce that in addition to all we have to offer for short term accommodation at the Hillsdale House Inn we are introducing this coming season a new weekly vacation rental house called Pear Tree Cottage. This 3 bedroom fully furnished and equipped house is located in Upper Clements, NS on Highway 1 just minutes from Annapolis Royal (4.5 KM), only .5 KM from Upper Clements  Entertainment Parks and 3 KM from the Annapolis Royal Golf Course. The house will be available for rent from May to October and we are currently taking bookings. We invite you to check out the following link to learn more about everything offered at Pear Tree Cottage Vacation Rental House.

Lorne Elliott Coming to King's Theatre

Lorne Elliott is coming to King's Theatre in Annapolis Royal on Friday, May 1st, and the Hillsdale House Inn is offering a great package including tickets to his performance. Click here for details.

Canadian born, LORNE ELLIOTT has performed from Newfoundland to New York City, from Los Angeles to Australia and points in between. Lorne started performing in 1974 as a folk musician in East Coast Canada. At the same time he kept writing fiction as well as songs, monologues and one-liners. The outcome of such a training is a very special show of comedy and music, totally original, entertaining, up-lifting and foolish enough to make everybody laugh. Along with his unique and wacky performance style, it is the timelessness of his material, joined with keen observations of today's trends that make LORNE ELLIOTT's work so special.

Calling all Fredheads

Fred Eaglesmith is coming to Annapolis Royal to perform at King's Theatre on June 20, 2009, and the Hillsdale House Inn is offering a great package. Click here for details.

"Fred Eaglesmith is what Bruce Springsteen aspires to be, the voice of the small-town common man," says Nova Scotia's Berwick Register. His uncommonly good songs illuminate the uniqueness of what are usually thought of as common people and have evoked critical comparisons to such musical icons as Tom Waits, John Prine, Del Shannon, Link Wray, T Bone Burnett, Steve Earle and even Led Zeppelin, to name a few. He has even been rated as a talent on par with the granddaddy of all populist songwriters. "Eaglesmith delivers passion like few singers since Woody Guthrie," says New York Press. "We know that's a comparison not to be taken lightly."

The Story of Charcoal the cat - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As I sat down to begin the 2nd chapter of “The Story Charcoal the Cat”, I realized that I had forgotten a very monumental occasion in his life. Well I am not sure that he would agree that it was monumental, but it was an event that I’m sure he will never forget and one that greatly altered his life and ours.

Annapolis Royal and area is full of wonderful caring people and those willing to donate numerous hours of volunteerism. A small group of volunteers established a trap, neuter, and release (TNR) program for feral cats, in the County of Annapolis in 2006. They have done an amazing amount of work and have made a significant difference in the number of feral cats in the county. The cats are taken to the vet, checked for disease, given shots, then spayed or neutered, and within 24 hours to 48 hours of rest, the cat is returned to the location that he/she was trapped.

In early September both Paul and I felt that it would probably be best if Charcoal was no longer a tom cat and we were also anxious to have his health checked to make sure he was doing fine. It was a difficult decision knowing he was old, but not sure how old, we had a fleeting moment of indecisiveness thinking it might be unfair to the old boy to change his ways after so long. The moment passed and I called my friend Steve who is one of the organizers of Team TNR and explained our situation, along with stressing how worried I about trapping him. I was sure he would be scared to death and of course once returned and released would leave the Hillsdale House property forever. Steve very graciously offered to come very early one morning to set the trap before our guests were up wandering the property. My only job was to stop feeding him for at least 24 hours so that he would be hungry enough to take the bait. This was a very hard task for me, Charcoal and I were making such progress together and I felt terrible.

The morning arrived, the trap was set, and now all we had to do was wait. Steve indicated that it could take many hours; I have to confess I was so stressed and so worried about how scared he would be when he was caught that I almost called it off. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long and within 2 hours he was safe in his cage, with a blanket over top of him and off to the vet clinic for his life altering experience. The procedure went well, thanks again to Team TNR and to Dorothy who took him home in his cage to her shed for the night so he would be safe.
Dorothy arrived at 6:30 am the next morning and we opened the cage and released Charcoal back to the Hillsdale House property. Naturally he bolted, in his creaky arthritic way and all we could do was hope he would come back. Within 12 hours he returned to his food bowls and amazingly enough didn’t seem to be any more timid than he was before he left.

Whew, it was over, he was no longer a tom cat, his shots were up to date and he even came back to his family - what more could we ask for?

Stay tuned for the next chapter, the winter of 2007!