Stratford 2022: Day 2 - Cycling and St. Marys

Our first day in Stratford was spent walking around the town, visiting the major art gallery, and watching a musical that evening.

On our second day, Rich and I headed out for an early morning bicycle ride which would allow us to explore the part of the city on the north side of the Avon River.  Indulging one of our favourite pastimes, we traversed up and down residential streets by the water, looking for homes with interesting architectural features or garden art. Once again, William Shakespeare’s influence over the city is apparent as we saw a large sculpture of the Bard in front of one of the houses.

The scenery was beautiful as we rode along the Avon River, passing by parks with benches, bridges, and homes with great views of the water.  Along one path, we could see the backyards of the houses.  One quirky home in particular had all sorts of neat sculptures on the lawn and a (dyslexic?) sign tacked onto a tree trunk warning “BEWARE OF GOD”.

Continuing west along the north shore of the river and wiggling up and down the side streets, we rode by St James Anglican Church and stopped at the adjoining memorial gardens dubbed “God’s Holy Acre”. This serene space acts as cremation grounds where loved ones’ ashes can be sprinkled around the rose bushes.  Memorial walls surround the little garden and benches are affixed with commemoratory plaques.  One bench boasts the name of Eric Donkin, a beloved actor at the Stratford Festival best known for roles in the Mikado and HMS Pinafore, who passed away in 1998.

Before long, we had reached Shakespeare Gardens, which was developed by Stratford businessman R.Thomas Orr in 1936.  Previously we had only passed by the entrance of the garden at Huron Street, just after crossing the bridge.  We were happy to finally explore the entire area. The garden was built on the site of the old 19th Century Dufton Wollen Mill that burned down in 1919, with its 65-foot chimney as the only landmark still remaining from those times.  Created to honour the works of William Shakespeare, the garden originally contained only those plants and herbs that were mentioned in the Bard’s plays, such as fennel, tarragon and rosemary.  Now over 60 varieties of flora fill the space, including flowers, grasses, shrubbery and trees, as well as nicely maintained lawns, a path along the river and a bridge to a small island.  A pretty pavilion is a popular setting for weddings.

At the corner of Douglas St. and Huron St. is a pretty house with an ornate gingerbread-styled porch that has a huge portrait of Queen Anne Boleyn hanging underneath.  We had driven by this house before and always admired it.  This time, being on our bikes, we thought we could stop quickly in front of the house for a closer look and maybe a photo.  Just as we approached the house, the owner came out and I thought she had come out to shoo away the gawkers.  Instead, we ended up having a lovely extended chat with her.  She told us about how she acquired the portrait of Anne Boleyn from a friend in Toronto who owned a restaurant that had closed.  I wondered whether this was the Anne Boleyn Pub on Richmond Street that was open for less than a year in 2017, and that Rich and I actually ate at one day while attending the Toronto International Film Festival.

Crossing the bridge at Huron St., we checked out several interesting shops on York St. which were a bit off the main drag that we explored the day before.  Being a vintage watch enthusiast and collector, there was no way that Rich would bypass a shop named “Antiques in Time”.  Sadly, there were no watches that were of interest to him, as the shop seemed more catered towards clocks.  There was an Art Deco-styled clock mounted on a marble base that included figures of a woman and her dog, an entire display case stuffed full of old alarm clocks, and a religious-themed clock shaped like a cross with images of Jesus on each arm.  Gregory Connor Antiques was a more typical antique shop with an eclectic mixture of items for sale.  Rich liked the 19th Century Japanese print depicting a sea battle between Japan and China, while I took a serious look at some pewter napkin rings with 3-D animals attached to them such as a lion and a bird. I like collecting napkin rings, but these were a bit out of my price range for impulse buying. We both liked the multi-purpose gaming table made of wood with marquetry inlays to form chess/checkers and backgammon boards.  To end off our morning, we had a milkshake at Jenn & Larry’s Ice Cream Shoppe (which rhymes suspiciously with Ben & Jerry's ... coincidence??).

In the afternoon, we drove to the nearby town of St. Marys (no apostrophe!) which was about 20 minutes south-west of Stratford. St Marys is nicknamed “Stone Town” due to the numerous limestone buildings and homes in the area.  Even the historic Water Tower built in 1899 has a limestone base with a steel tank.  This water tower is no longer in active use but is still considered one of the town’s major tourist attractions. The gorgeous 5-storey Romanesque Town Hall was built in 1891 using local limestone with contrasting red sandstone to form checkerboard patterns on its facade.  It features a tower with lantern and flagpole perched on top on one side and a round turret on the other.  The four-storied Gothic Revival building on Water Street was built as an Opera House around 1879, acting as a social focal point with performances of Shakespearean plays, musical comedies and vaudeville shows.  Another limestone gem, it has elements of a Medieval castle with battlements across the top and mini turrets on each end.  By 1907, it had been converted into a Flour Mill and in 1987, the Lions Club bought the building, turning it into a commercial space on the ground floor with residential units above. The St. Marys Public Library is considered a “rough-cut” limestone building surrounded by a wall of the same material.  Constructed around 1904, it is a Carnegie Library with the conventional Greek temple that is common to many libraries funded by philanthropist/robber-baron Andrew Carnegie.  Just outside the library is a stone and bronze sculpture depicting a stack of books.

Even the downtown strip has some stunning architecture.  The building that used to house Andrews Jeweller was constructed in 1884 in the “Second Empire” style and was designated a heritage site in 2008.  Built with red brick in the front and limestone on the side and rear, the building features a large clock that is 4.5 feet in diameter, flanked by ornate wrought iron fencing.  The historic plaque affixed to the building indicates that the building retains its original exterior and interior features.  But when we passed by, the interior looked like it was being renovated (or hopefully restored).  It will be interesting to see what it looks like once the restoration is done.  Other buildings on the main drag still retain decorative elements from their heydays including the building that currently houses Dunny’s Source for Sports.  For a small town, St.Marys has many fun shops to wander into including clothing, knickknack and craft stores, bakeries and coffee shops.  After a hot day of walking around, we stopped by the Snapping Turtle Coffee Roasters for cold fruity herbal ice teas.  This was a really cool space and it was too bad that they were closing soon, so we only had a few minutes to rest before we had to take our drinks and go.

Another historic highlight of St. Marys is the Mill Race, running from Trout Creek, under the Victoria Bridge to flow into the Thames River.  A mill race is a channel that carries a swift current of water used to drive a mill wheel.  This particular one was a limestone canal built in the 1846 to support the saw and grist mills of the Ingersoll family.  While the mill buildings are gone, the mill race survives, along with a Mill Wheel that dates back to circa 1910.

Our final stop in St. Mary’s was the Train Station Gallery, which is exactly as it sounds—a historic train station which still is used as a VIA Rail stop, while the building housing the station has been repurposed as an art gallery.  St.Marys Station originally supported the Grand Trunk Railway which ran from 1852-1923.  To save the building from being demolished, the town stepped in to save and restore it.  St. Marys entered into an agreement with VIA Rail to operate a functioning VIA station with a ticket sales office and waiting area, while using the rest of the space to host rotating art exhibitions as well as a gallery boutique.  Past shows have featured paintings, ceramics, posters, photographs and more.  According to the website, the gallery was supposed to be open until 4:30pm on the day that we were there.  We rushed over hoping to make a quick tour of the exhibits only to find the doors already locked at 4:15.  Disappointed, we peeked through the gallery windows to get a sample of the art, and then walked around to look at the old railway station and train tracks.

As we only had half a day to explore St Marys, we did not get to see and do everything that we wanted to.  In addition to just missing the open hours of the art gallery/train station, we also never got to the museum (another limestone gem), the quarry turned into a swimming pool or any of the hiking and biking trails in the area.  This quaint little town definitely warrants a return trip.

Returning to Stratford for dinner, we had reservations for a South African restaurant called Braai House. We chose this restaurant because its menu was so different and exciting.  It was actually difficult to choose from all the interesting sounding options, so we will need to come back to try some more.  We started off with some flat bread that was freshly baked, possibly in the large wood-burning pizza oven that we saw in the open kitchen.  Then for appetizers, Rich and I shared the Bobotie, which were curried beef and pork samosas with duck egg custard and seasonal chutney, and the Stone Fruit, consisting of a seasonal salad with summer squash, peaches, rooibos, and almond dukkah (combination of herbs, nuts and spices) which was refreshing and delicious.

For main course, I chose the sliced duck breast (served medium rare as I like it) in a peri-peri sauce with vetkeok (South African fried bread) and brassica (vegetable in the cabbage/broccoli/cauliflower family – I think I got broccolini.  Could you tell that I had to Goggle to figure out what was in my meal?  Rich selected the Elgin Pizza which had a herb cream sauce, biltong (lean meat that is salted and cut into strips – similar to beef jerky ), smoked apple and caramelized onion as toppings.  Rich and our friends Glen and Christiane who we were dining with, shared a bottle of Bruce Jack, a wine “hand-crafted” in the South African Western Cape area and described as a Pinotage Malbec.

There were three options for dessert and between us and our friends, we got to sample all of them.  I ordered the Koeksister which were like profiteroles filled with chocolate and macadamia, with a raspberry sauce.  Rich had the Malva Pudding made with almond, apricot and amarula (fruity liquor) while Glen and Christiane shared a Summer Fruit mousse cake made from charred strawberry, mango honey and cashews.

It was interesting to note that on the menu, the appetizer list was titled “Sparks”, the mains “Combustion” and the desserts “Embers”.  This is because Braai House focuses on “open-fire cooking” and “Braai” is South African for grilling. All in all, this was a very fun and unique experience and a nice way to wrap up our two-day getaway.