Karen Brown's Guides

Pacific Northwest
Edition 2005
Re-Published from:
http://karenbrown.com

Q: Can you recommend a nice B & B in Victoria British Columbia? - Z.H.

Charming Inns & Itineraries - Karen Brown’s Guides 2005 - Page 114

This is truly a unique find, tucked away in Victoria’s most exclusive residential neighborhood: a lofty, manor house dating from 1885, superbly restored. While honoring the home’s 19th-century heritage, Sylvia and Ross Main have created five contemporary suites, immense and totally private. Tall arrangements of fresh flowers in oversized vases manage to get lost in these expansive spaces. Enter the main house into a large common room, with 14-foot bay windows, a fireplace, comfortable sitting chairs, and a dining table. The Olympic Grand Suite upstairs is typical of the accommodations here. Enter a large, loft-like room through an arched doorway. The beams in the high ceiling are painted white, a barely-robin’s-egg-blue between them to match the walls. Look across the room and marvel at the water and mountain views through towering 11-foot windows. Here, there’s space aplenty for a king bed, fireplace, sitting chairs, and dining table. The Fairholme Grand Suite - all 850 square feet of it - has 14-foot ceilings, a double Jacuzzi tub with an ocean view, a double shower, and a mix of traditional and contemporary decor: Persian carpets on hardwood floors, oversized chairs covered in creamy-beige slip covers, a 100-year-old chandelier, and a teak dining-room table and chairs. Directions: From downtown, drive east on Fort St., turn right on St. Charles, right on Rockland Ave., then immediately left into Rockland Place.