Saturday 7th July - Pineridge Hollow

Today was a busy day: visiting Pineridge Hollow, Kildonan Park and going to Gill's friends for lunch.   The weather was glorious and a very hot 30deg. 
Pineridge Hollow is around a 30 minute drive from downtown Winnipeg, and sits just outside the scenic Birds Hill Provincial Park at Springbank. The turn of century style Carriage House is home to a restaurant, gift & home store and a farmers market. A unique prairie experience.

Busking Stop

My favourite

 We wandered around in the heat looking at all the farmers market stalls which were selling goods as diverse as bison meat, home grown veg, hand knits, hand made glass ware to name a few.
Inside the Carriage House the goods ranged from furniture, lighting, garden equipment to children's toys. For a more in-depth look visit:
http://pineridgehollow.com/  

Next was to go to Gill's friends, Bob & Susan,for lunch. It was only a short drive and we welcomed the break, it felt as though we had known them for years they were indeed very generous and welcoming.
The house stands in 17/19 acres and Bob soon took Neil for a ride around his land on quad bikes. The main garden was designed, created and built by Bob a magnificent achievement and a true delight. Bob made lunch of freshly fried pickerel, whilst we sat in the conservatory!

The afternoon passed really quickly with much idle chat!
On the way back we drove through Kildonan Park which was established in 1909 by a Polish-Canadian and is one of the largest in Winnipeg. It is home to the outdoor performance area the  Rainbow Stage and the Witch's Hut which opened in 1970. The latter was a centennial project of German community of Manitoba and a gift to the children.

Witch's Hut

We arrived back at Gill's around 6p.m. and after a quick change went to the Round Table Steakhouse for our last meal out.
A fantastic day once again