In mid 1998, Chicory Farm was sold to a local small business owner, and by 2000, we had opened Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotia in a remote wilderness location amidst the Acadian Forest. Drawing on a then-lost local tradition of nature-based tourism, Trout Point Lodge re-invented the importance of a sense of place in Nova Scotia, emphasizing eco-friendly building & management practices at the edge of Atlantic Canada’s largest protected nature reserve: the 225,000 acre Tobeatic. From the start, Trout Point also offered culinary vacations and cooking classes centred on the use of local ingredients, including sustainably-caught or –farmed seafood as well as produce from its ever-expanding gardens.
Built of local spruce logs & granite by local Acadian French artisans, the building fits seamlessly into the local environment, and has followed best practices resulting in a 5 Green Key rating from the Hotel Association of Canada. Trout Point has grown from 2 employees in 2000 to an average of 12, mostly local employees today. Hiring prominently from the nearby village of Kemptville, Trout Point provides on-the-job training and 3 years ago commenced a program to provide interpretive guided experiences of the wilderness area through hikes, kayak trips, and fly-fishing (catch & release). Trout Point’s model of using local natural as well as cultural resources to become a destination in its own right was recognized last year through selection as a 2009 Ashoka/National Geographic Geotourism Challenge finalist.
The economic reality of Nova Scotia tourism’s profound seasonality brought us to Central America, where in 2004 we opened the Inn at Coyote Mountain, a 4-room Inn, 70-acre nature preserve, and cooking school in the central mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here we followed principles learned at Trout Point, though in a different socio-cultural context. All employees came from within 2 km of the Inn—a traditional area of coffee & cattle farms-- the building was built to function without air-conditioning, has a completely gravity-fed water system based on the property’s fresh-water springs, uses alternative energy, and features a grey-water system that feeds fruit tree plantings. Cooking classes used local fruits & vegetables. A reforestation program re-claimed land previously cleared for cattle pasture. Coyote Mountain was hailed as one of the world’s top 10 hotel culinary schools by gayot.com, among the world’s top 10 ultra-boutique hotels by globorati.com/Reuters, and used as an eco-tourism model by various authorities, including the BTEC Travel & Tourism textbook published by Oxford/Heineman in the United Kingdom. It also received favourable travel press, including http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/travel/story.html?id=8f989620-7...
In August, Coyote Mountain will be sold to a tourism official from Ontario, who plans to continue the community-friendly practices we laid down in previous years.
Finally, we also now operate a small vacation rental business and seasonal cooking school in Granada, Spain. Rauda House is primarily a cave dwelling (casa cueva), one of the most eco-sensitive types of housing ever adopted by mankind. Granada Province has the largest troglodyte population in Europe, a traditional dwelling form extending back in history at least 1000 years to Arab times. Hand-carved out of hard clay, the cave houses provide the best natural insulation against the cold of winter and the bone-breaking heat of Andalusian summers. Inexpensive to build and completely natural, cave houses provide a unique experience for travelers interested in alternative living.
In addition, we offer occasional cooking classes, focusing on Mediterranean ingredients and techniques as well as cooking in line with the Jewish, Arab, and Christian cultural heritage of the area.
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In mid 1998, Chicory Farm was sold to a local small business owner, and by 2000, we had opened Trout Point Lodge of Nova Scotia in a remote wilderness location amidst the Acadian Forest. Drawing on a then-lost local tradition of nature-based tourism, Trout Point Lodge re-invented the importance of a sense of place in Nova Scotia, emphasizing eco-friendly building & management practices at the edge of Atlantic Canada’s largest protected nature reserve: the 225,000 acre Tobeatic. From the start, Trout Point also offered culinary vacations and cooking classes centred on the use of local ingredients, including sustainably-caught or –farmed seafood as well as produce from its ever-expanding gardens.
Built of local spruce logs & granite by local Acadian French artisans, the building fits seamlessly into the local environment, and has followed best practices resulting in a 5 Green Key rating from the Hotel Association of Canada. Trout Point has grown from 2 employees in 2000 to an average of 12, mostly local employees today. Hiring prominently from the nearby village of Kemptville, Trout Point provides on-the-job training and 3 years ago commenced a program to provide interpretive guided experiences of the wilderness area through hikes, kayak trips, and fly-fishing (catch & release). Trout Point’s model of using local natural as well as cultural resources to become a destination in its own right was recognized last year through selection as a 2009 Ashoka/National Geographic Geotourism Challenge finalist.
The economic reality of Nova Scotia tourism’s profound seasonality brought us to Central America, where in 2004 we opened the Inn at Coyote Mountain, a 4-room Inn, 70-acre nature preserve, and cooking school in the central mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here we followed principles learned at Trout Point, though in a different socio-cultural context. All employees came from within 2 km of the Inn—a traditional area of coffee & cattle farms-- the building was built to function without air-conditioning, has a completely gravity-fed water system based on the property’s fresh-water springs, uses alternative energy, and features a grey-water system that feeds fruit tree plantings. Cooking classes used local fruits & vegetables. A reforestation program re-claimed land previously cleared for cattle pasture. Coyote Mountain was hailed as one of the world’s top 10 hotel culinary schools by gayot.com, among the world’s top 10 ultra-boutique hotels by globorati.com/Reuters, and used as an eco-tourism model by various authorities, including the BTEC Travel & Tourism textbook published by Oxford/Heineman in the United Kingdom. It also received favourable travel press, including http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/travel/story.html?id=8f989620-7...
In August, Coyote Mountain will be sold to a tourism official from Ontario, who plans to continue the community-friendly practices we laid down in previous years.
Finally, we also now operate a small vacation rental business and seasonal cooking school in Granada, Spain. Rauda House is primarily a cave dwelling (casa cueva), one of the most eco-sensitive types of housing ever adopted by mankind. Granada Province has the largest troglodyte population in Europe, a traditional dwelling form extending back in history at least 1000 years to Arab times. Hand-carved out of hard clay, the cave houses provide the best natural insulation against the cold of winter and the bone-breaking heat of Andalusian summers. Inexpensive to build and completely natural, cave houses provide a unique experience for travelers interested in alternative living.
In addition, we offer occasional cooking classes, focusing on Mediterranean ingredients and techniques as well as cooking in line with the Jewish, Arab, and Christian cultural heritage of the area.
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