The Birchdale Letter October 2026

photo credit: SGS

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Breathe Deep. Keep Warm.

The world is spinning faster than ever. There is so much of everything, all the time, and people are getting dizzy with it. Birchdale is attempting something a little countercultural: to offer as little as possible. Less noise, less hurry, less screen. More room to breathe a little more deeply and remember where your legs are.

Out here you think about what it means to keep warm in the winter when wood is your only option. You remember how good it feels to warm your insides in the middle of January with something you canned in the fall. These are things the world is losing touch with, and they matter. Birchdale holds onto them. It acts as a memory bank and a renewal bank, a place where old knowledge is kept safe and where people come to fill themselves back up.

We believe the world needs Birchdale. And we want to do to everything we can to make sure it is here for the world.

 And, as a beautiful sign to keep going, Birchdale recently received the Tourism Business of the Year Award from the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce! We were so surprised, honoured and delighted to be recognized for doing something we love so much.  So, we want to take this opportunity to thank each one of you who came to an event, stayed for an overnight, helped out on the many many projects, and told a friend about this magical place. Without you none of it would be possible. And to top it off we were a little star-struck to have been nominated alongside such stellar (sometimes quite literally ) company: after all the Honourable Mention went to the Deep Sky Eye Observatory. The other nominees are essential contributors to our region: Argyler Lodge and Restaurant, Inner Oaks Holistic Approach, Rodd Grand Hotel, The CAT Ferry/Bay Ferries, TRU by Hilton Hotel, Y Town tours and Yarmouth Waterfront Gallery. 

When Tracey, Nicola and I accepted the award, this is part of what I said:

“Birchdale is an incredible gem that we have been entrusted with. It exists because of the community that has held it up over its 115 years. Like so much of Nova Scotia, and its enduring promise, Birchdale offers this great country, Canada, situated on the northern half of Turtle Island, a unique and incredible experience.”

Ironically, since my last letter, the season has been full to the brim! We have been spinning plates in the hopes that you won’t have to! We marked the turn of the season with our September Petite Retreat, offered a hyper rustic family style take on our or September Sunday Supper with chef Ayzhia Beaton, turned Thanksgiving into a logging, splitting, turkey festival with great company, and welcomed Torontonians for The Kreativity Kibbutz! This retreat offered folks the chance to create AND learn how to start a fire, keep it going, split and stack wood, and to keep warm at night. And Joe Bishara gifted us with two gorgeous loaves of Challah bread for a Shabbat dinner on the Friday evening. Last, and definitely not least,  our annual Halloween!  The trick or treat trail wound past every cabin , the haunted library and the haunted walk offered thrills and chills, the dance party and costume competition and hot cocoa and s’mores kept spirits high and hands warm! Families came from all over the region to join us. Each of these gatherings offered a  break from the fray. A moment out of time. Even Halloween (especially as you waited patiently in your cars to get through the gates!😁thank you!)

Keeping Birchdale alive means tending to it. Its needs and the natural world will always stay one step ahead of us. What a gift! The addition of the wood stove to the Sanctuary has felt huge. It not only warms the space, it gives it a beautiful glow. The fireplace in the Library is almost back up and running. We have been ticking off WETT certification for the cabins we rent, and we will soon be adding tin roofs to our Wood Hotel and the lodge well.

Most places our size would consider an employee of the month. We, every month, return to the same fact: without Nicola Roberts-Fenton bringing her skill and vision to Birchdale, we could not have come anywhere close to where we are. Fact.

This year of immense growth has made it possible for us to dream a little bigger about Birchdale’s future. To ask more questions. What do we need to fix parts of the road? Who can we partner with to make that happen? How can we make sure we have the capacity to welcome more people and still offer the most serene and revitalizing place imaginable? If you have ideas, or know someone who might want to be part of the answer, I would love to hear from you.

Beyond the road, we want to expand our Guiding options at Birchdale. This is where Nicola’s heart lives, and it is one of the most direct ways to help people find their footing in the natural world.. To do it, we need to increase our staffing, and we will be looking to do that next year. Our aim is to keep Birchdale a vital and thriving spot that does Kemptville and the surrounding area proud. We are a long, long way from breaking even, but we have a goal in sight and a community that appreciates the value of this beautiful historic place. It is a gem. And like all gems, it must be polished as often as possible.

On a practical note we will be shutting the water down for the winter in late November. If you are planning a visit after that, we will help you plan around it.

But there is so much still to come! Chef Sam Hoffman returns for our November Sunday Supper on November 15, and we will gather to mark the longest night at the December Solstice during the Petite Retreat, and this January we begin our very first winter of overnight offerings. Snow on the lake, wood stove crackling, a mug of your favourite warm drink. I am completely biased but…this is what the world needs more of.

To breathe deep and to keep warm.

Come back to yourself with us!

As always, thanks for reading,

Sarah

UPCOMING AT BIRCHDALE

You can always reach us at: birchdalelake@gmail.com

If you want to reach out directly you can find me at: sarah@birchdalelake.com