The Birchdale Letter August 2026

photo credit: Tracey Erin Smith

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We really do try to offer you absolutely nothing

I have been resisting sharing this idea.

For a long time I have held Birchdale at a distance from this concept, as though naming the nothingness might change it. But if you want anything, you have to name it. And while I am not looking for nothing, I am looking for something close to it. Maybe the word is expansiveness. The feeling that comes when you breathe a little deeper and feel recharged to do a little more.

Over the course of these past 2 years I have begun to understand what this enchanted place needs to operate. And with this bright light learning under my proverbial belt, we began to dream about what truly “operating” might actually provide.

This year “operating” meant planned events and unplanned surprises. Twyla Tharp, the legendary Broadway choreographer, talks about serendipity being the thing that happens when you prepare. This season has felt like that.

This year we have doubled our revenue and significantly widened our reach.

Rhythm Dialogues came to us with their cross country Airstream Residency Series. This is a co-production with Outside the March, a fabulous Toronto based theatre company, and the Siminovitch Foundation, which annually gifts the richest prize in theatre. With this state of the art retro-fitted Airstream came two of our favourite Alberta-based theatre artists, Blake Brooker and Karen Hines. Two full weeks of convergence and creation. “Convergence” is a word the residency used, and when Videocompany, a stellar video production company, showed up from Montreal to document, and a day later, the arrival of celebrity performer and creator Bahia Watson from Toronto, the feeling of convergence really came into play. In the 24 hours that Bahia was here she paddled out in the lake and saw the northern lights with Nicola, caught a performance by Karen Hines, and slept in Maple cabin where she witnessed the cutest of mice drag a candle across the floor on its way out the door. All of this fails to mention Calvin Peterson the “concierge” who drove and supported the artists on this adventure. Calvin is a circus performer, a director and an all around great fellow who hails from New Zealand and is heading to Sheffield in the UK next!

It’s a lot of details but I wanted to share them because to get a 30-foot Airstream to Birchdale is literally a convergence of many many hearts and minds. And quite frankly, it was such a beautiful thing to be able to provide for here.

Earlier in the season tv cameras were here to shoot Nova Scotia’s own Haunted: Season 4, and Tracey was back with her incredible and powerful SOULO at Birchdale (season 5!). Sandra Phinney and Heather White are here, as I write, with 21 explorers for the annual Writers’ Retreat, now in season 11! And coming up soon, Aidean’s Place is returning for a 2nd time!  And for those of you who have yet to hear, Kerry Lawson is returning to Birchdale next summer for a 20th anniversary reunion of her renowned Yoga Retreat at Birchdale.

To top it all off we hosted a beautiful wedding this month that marks a return to something we have not been able to do in over 3 years.

Northern Scavenger gifted us with a visit and dropped a video last Christmas Eve that highlighted Fir Cabin and the peace of this place. If you have not checked out their work on YouTube, you really are missing out. So many great adventures that celebrate this incredible province.

The idea of close to nothing is not new. This place was, for a time, called New Nothing (Nova Nada) but my particular take came to me during the first Writers’ Retreat we were present for as co-owners, back when I understood almost nothing about this place except that I loved it. Someone asked what exactly Birchdale offers, and I heard myself say: “well…for $1000.00 a night we offer absolutely nothing”. It got a laugh. And it also got a “that’s good”. And both are true. 

People arrived from all over this season, or returned for reasons special to them. Generally though, my sense is that people come here carrying something they want to put down. They leave it in the water or with the trees, or with the laughter they exchanged with the chickens or the chipmunks. And at the end of the day, that really is our whole offer. A place that feels like a hug, that feels safe, and full of provision.  In a world that is turning fast and feeling chaotic, we do our utmost to offer you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I do not think that is a small thing to be able to give people right now. I think it might be the thing.

And while we don’t charge $1000.00 for it, we do see its value. And we are committing all of our efforts towards making this a reality for our guests. A place where we do all the work to be out of the way while you do your own. Whatever that may be.

Operating is everything. Knowing why we do it and how we do it is the difference between a franchise and an original. This place is the original “bespoke”. And boy oh boy does it ever have a lot to offer the world right now.

As always, thanks for reading,

Sarah

UPCOMING AT BIRCHDALE