Tuesday 29 July 2014

Stately Wolfville House


On Sunday I was invited to see a beautiful old house in Wolfville, just 20 minutes down the road.
I was encouraged to bring my camera.

This is the view from the side of the house. It's around 4 in the afternoon.
I drove up a long hill of a driveway that you can see leans down to the right.

The bright sun overexposed many of my pictures of the yard.
Here is a beautiful hosta in bloom, loving the shade.

We're in the midst of cherry season here in the Annapolis Valley,
so I don't know what kind of fruit this tree bears.

A wonderful overgrown rose arbour.

We come into the kitchen from a shaded back porch.

such a simple, elegant window treatment

The door to the basement

an early 19th century English sideboard sits in the dining room

with its handcarved detail

Looking from the dining room into the parlour. 
In the hall just beyond you can see the profile of an old clock.
From the hall you can see into the library. This is the full width of the house.

Now we are in the parlour looking back into the dining room.

Now the front door that is probably rarely used .

Here is that clock that stands in the hallway.
It is late 1700's, English in origin.

carved from top to bottom with a handpainted clockface

The top half of the clock's closet bears a carving of the Bible scene,
Jacob and Esau with the Angel

Below another biblical scen

And the ornate base, a wonderful family relic

Around the corner is the library

It is a pleasant room

The old couch is reupholstered in a plum fabric with brocade of ceramic ware

a small Middle Eastern carpet at my feet

The grandmother of my host, a nurse in the British Army

more lovely old family photos

 What a fabulous family photo

 The glamorous woman on the right is Anne who reminds me of the great opera singer Maria Callas

Here's a jolly life of the party
Everybody has an uncle in the family like this, don't they?

Off of the library is an enclosed porch made into an office. 
Note the wonderfully simple mechanism to lift and lower the back of this chair
 on the bottom right.

A drafting table becomes a desk, a deco stool accompanies it.

an antique ceramic figurine made into a lamp with a paper shade

up close we see he holds an axe

Out the window we see the companion porch still open

This is how it looks and what it looks upon

We go upstairs to a very generous hall.

One of the three bathrooms, I think the simplicity of this one is my favourite

a lovely old chair in one of the other bathrooms

and an old captain's chair in one of the bedrooms
Another old carpet outside the master bedroom

my host's grandfather's army trunk at the foot of the bed

A most impressive view of Bomidon from the master bedroom's window.
Oh, I see some of the spectator's for the baseball game across the street.

The little girl's room 

and finally a picture of the little girl who once slept there.

And so closes this tour of a grand old house in Wolfville that is now on the market.
Once an opthamoligist's home, and later a B&B, this is a home with pedigree.
Hopefully someone who buys it will honour it's historical features and care for it in it's old age.

honouring the past
living the present

4 comments:

barbara@sparrowavenue said...

I guess you wish you could better fill those library shelves with all your books!

A wonderful last picture

Enchanted Blue Planet said...

Well, there certainly wouldn't be enough space for my books, ironically.
And I can't take credit for the last picture; I photographed a poster in the dark hall, hence the "snow", but so worth sharing.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to let you know that we just bought the house, and I am happy to report that we will keep that and honour it's character and historical features for generations to come.
Thank you for the lovely pictures taken last year.

Enchanted Blue Planet said...

How delightful to hear from you. Congratulations and blessings for a wonderful life there!

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