Overnighting at the Prince George Hotel in downtown Halifax, I awoke refreshed and ready for a quick swim in a pool mercifully separated by glass from the snowy outside deck. Breakfast is provided ensuite for executive guest rooms, with ample time for the morning newspaper. As I sipped my coffee, traditional red brick buildings and a rooftop pub across the street caught the sun’s first rays. Hidden from view to the right was the historic Citadel guarding the old town. Foregoing a brisk walk up the hill, I readied my cameras for a scheduled trip to the Annapolis Valley on the Bay of Fundy. ‘Taste of Annapolis’ was the description given the conference pre-trip I had signed on to. www.princegeorgehotel.com/

While collecting a colleague at the nearby Haliburton, a boutique hotel smaller than mine, I poked my head into the renovated rooms just long enough to confirm that I must stay there sometime. www.thehalliburton.com

Arriving in the village of Windsor, we circled a wooden statue of local legend Howard Dill. Howard grows enormous pumpkins on his seed farm, famous for a pumpkin weigh-in each October. "Dill's Atlantic Giant" is the seed variety he recommends.

Little Windsor also proudly claims title to being “The birthplace of hockey” at Dill Farm’s Long Pond. This is a patch of ice on which hockey evolved during games between two boys’ schools as early as 1800. Canadian kids’ street play, the National Hockey League and winter Olympic competitions have become our heritage. And Paul Henderson’s winning goal in the last game of the fiercely contested 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series was arguably the defining moment in Canadian sports. www.town.windsor.ns.ca

Uninspiring food used to be a Canadian mainstay, but today’s chefs are energizing the culinary scene from coast to coast. Within the bright mustard exterior of the Woodshire Inn I enjoyed a fine bistro lunch of hearty corn soup followed with spicy ribs, accompanied surprisingly by local red and white wines.

We stopped into Just Us Café on Highway 1, core coffee shop for a small chain which puts ‘people and the planet before profits’. Head barrista Doug MacInnes whipped up lattes and expressos with such exuberance that he felt apologetic. He makes a mean brew. My choice was an aromatic and robust Mexican coffee infused with snappy jalapenos. www.justuscafe.com

With time on our tails, we headed for the National Historic Site of Grand Pre, inspiration for poet Henry Wordsworth Longfellow’s ‘Evangeline”. The epic ‘Tale of Acadie’ traces love lost when a young couple become separated during the Acadian deportation by the British in 1755. Our visit to the chapel and museum honouring this tragedy was on a late winter afternoon. Crunching through deep snow looking for photo vantage points, I silently applauded the survival of this micro culture, so evident in the tri-coloured Acadian flags and symbols along modern touristic routes such as the Evangeline Trail. www.grand-pre.com

Beth Patillo met us in the store for a tour of the Noggins farm. Her husband, Andrew Bishop, and his brother Stirling are descendants of a planter family given land in 1760 following the Acadian expulsion. Noggins Corner Farm is a year-round hive of farming, family visits and educational programs. A federal government research station just down the road in Kempville maintains an experimental “mother orchard” of varietals. Noggins offers 30 different types of apples in the fall. Beth has strong opinions about her favourites, with cortlands and gravensteins near the top of her list. http://www.nogginsfarm.ca/

In a large barn at Noggins, Melissa Vaughn bags ida reds which have been washed, sorted and treated with Ultra Low Oxygen (ULO) to retain their crisp, fresh taste. Several of her co-workers are from the local Mennonite community, a group long recognized for their own expertise in traditional agriculture.

“What’s a Swiss guy doing here in Nova Scotia?” The question was posed by Domaine de Grand Pré owner Hanspeter Stutz. An entrepreneur with expansive plans for his winery and for Nova Scotia tourism, Swiss émigré Hanspeter is a robust proponent of his products. Quality is the key, he says, foreseeing great potential for domestic wine appreciation and regional economic growth.

His goal is making Grand Pré the leader for wineries and slow food cuisine. His aroma comparison chart, for example, facilitates the identification of wines for visitors whose oenological memories are just developing. With an eye to world markets, Hanspeter has begun producing cider with a ‘tough stuff’ label of a teddy bear in a leather jacket: Stutz cider. http://www.grandprewines.com/

Cape-Breton born winemaker Gina Haverstock followed her passion for oenology through a degree at Brock U., Ste. Catharines, Ontario, then post-graduate studies in Germany, finally mixing chemistry with professional enthusiasm at Gaspereau Vineyards. Constantly experimenting, she loves to share her wine findings with visitors. It was difficult for us to stop sampling various wines, including a unique icewine, with locally made Acadian chocolates. http://www.gaspereauwine.com/

Owner/chef Michael Howlett of Tempest Restaurant chose the right name for our visit. It was a stormy night indeed when we trooped into his open concept dining room of cool elegance in Wolfville. Truth be told, the name is multi-inspired, he said: he lived through hurricane Flloyd when working in the Caribbean, and has a love of Shakespeare. So the name comes honestly.

"...There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple: Good things will strive to dwell within it..." Shakespeare, The Tempest.

Michael proudly sources local ingredients, believes in sustainable choices, and is closely involved with a school program teaching healthy eating. On the menu: Malpeque oysters with champagne jelly; breast of duck with Grand Marnier/orange glaze, wild rice, barley & cranberry pilaf; chocolate bourbon torte with raspberry coulis; Bahamian-style key lime pie. http://www.tempest.ca/

The little community of Sheffield Mills has become known for its Eagle Watch festival in late January - early February. It all began in 1992 with organizers feeling their way about what to do as visitors arrived first in scores, then hundreds, to watch the daily feeding of dead poultry to resident American bald eagles. Organizer Richard Henniger (with eagle button) and fellow volunteer, retired biologist Jim Wolford, (with binoculars) turned out to greet us. Richard showed up on a raw day wearing a light spring jacket open at the neck while we shivered in our winter clothing as he described the proceedings.

As recently as the 1990’s some farmers were shooting the eagles as predators, but one local farmer, Cyril Coldwell, began feeding dead chickens to these magnificent birds. So numerous are the raptors in this area that the province exported several to Massachusetts during the 1980’s in what has since become a very successful breeding program there. We retired briefly to the community hall to warm up and view videos of past feedings, returning to discover only 2 eagles remaining at the feed site. Early birds get the chickens. www.eaglens.ca

Ultra clean Foxhill Cheesehouse/Fromagerie is owned and operated by Richard and Jeanita Rand. What it lacks in size, it makes up for with ambition, because the Rands applied for both provincial and federal licences, seeking the highest standards of quality in their operation. Although not a big cheese, their quality is excellent, and the variety of semi-hard cheeses is extensive, with some unique flavours such as blueberry and cranberry! Jeanita proudly displayed gelato samples. www.foxhillcheesehouse.com

The evening we arrived, dinner was at Paddy’s Pub on Main Street, Wolfville. Pub brewmaster Wayne Shenkel (standing) is a casual guy who has a knack for making the delicious suds. The pub is popular with the university crowd from Acadia U. As that institution’s website proudly claims, ‘Acadia University has been ranked Canada 's best overall primarily undergraduate university according to Maclean's magazine. It shares top spot with nearby Mount Allison University.’ At Paddy’s we opted for a tasting board of 12 different brews. My salivary glands were suitably appeased, with a personal preference for a dark stout and a lighter raspberry-flavoured ale. As might be expected in a university town, there are numerous online reviews about the food and beer. www.paddyspub.ca

It could be argued that Annapolis is merely another way of saying ‘apples’, with so many orchards dotting the valley. Producer-owned co-operative Scotian Gold manages 40% of stored apples in the province, which means literally tons from Annapolis. A bit of an oddity, the company also sells ice cream, because it always has and does it well. President and CEO David Cudmore believes that Nova Scotia is producing the best Honey Crisp apples anywhere, due to a specific cool Atlantic climate. I didn’t realize apples were such a specialty, but the company has acquired rights to a new variety named ‘Minnesota 249’ which it expects will be another success. Gravensteins are also considered one of the best Nova Scotian varieties. The storage, packing and distribution system employs both traditional and state of the art technology, such as controlled atmosphere rooms behind massive Dutch-manufacture sealed doors. www.scotiangold.com

In fresh snow, the Blomidon Inn resembled a 19th Century painting by Cornelius Krieghoff or Currier & Ives.

Blomidon Inn was our home base during our ‘Taste of the Annapolis Valley’ tour. The property dates from the late 1800s. Built by shipping magnate Rufus Burgess in the style of an English Country manor house, it fairly oozes Victoriana. Not to mention the finely crafted model ships dotted throughout. My room off the second floor landing was, appropriately, the Captain Burgess suite, a Wedgewood blue room with a 4-poster bed so high that I almost needed a running jump to get into it each night.

By chance and good fortune our band of ten celebrated Valentine’s Day evening at the inn. After making a commemorative group photo, we settled into a prepared 7-course feast which (by word of mouth) only added to the inn’s reputation as ‘One of Canada’s ten best inns’ (Canadian Country Inns magazine).
Brothers Michael and Sean Laceby operate the family-owned Blomidon, while their mother, Donna, takes care of the adjacent ‘House of Gifts’. A born host, Mike overseas the operations of the inn while Sean works his magic in the kitchen. www.blomidon.ns.ca/