the end of our cottage tour

September 14, 2013

By the time we left the Hutchins house, it was 4:15 and we still had three cottages and one historic hotel left to tour.  Obviously, we couldn’t make it to all of them.  By the time we had walked to the next one, it was 4:25.

a driftwood fence on our way

The next house seemed large and a peek inside said to me that it was modern (remodeled in 2008), although the program said it had been built on the footprint of the original cottage.  I was particularly interested in seeing the final tour stop that had been built with two cottages on one lot, so we walked on from the modern one.

on the way, a house with a tower

and a big natural yard with a hammock

I would rather tour a tiny home that a large one…

I found the shape of this one to be interesting.

We got to the second to last house and had a quick look because it was on the way to our parking spot.

house

I took a peek inside while Allan took some photos of the garden.

a peek inside

By now it was 4:40.   There was no way we would make it to that last cottage, the one intriguingly described as “new construction designed to blend with vintage cottages….a duplex designed to resemble two different homes on one lot.  There are many examples in Cannon Beach of two homes built on one lot as families grew in earlier years of Cannon Beach and this fact was used to get the city design review board to approve this concept.  Characteristics of cottages found in previous cottage tours were used and can be found throughout the home.”  The last sentence particularly intrigued me and I wanted to see if I recognized any of those characteristics, but it was not to be because we would have to drive there and find a parking spot, by which time it would be after five.

(Update: As it happens, that duplex (“Inga’s Cottage”) was on the 2017 tour and we did get to see it.)

We decided instead to have a look at the historic Cannon Beach Hotel that featured on the tour and walked the four blocks to see it.

along the way, a mossy arch

arch and fence with hydrangeas

This planting of geraniums catches my eye every time the tour is on the east side!

Allan was impressed with this banana tree along the way.

Cannon Beach Hotel

The program describes the hotel as having been “constructed in 1914 as the Ecola Rooms, but was commonly referred to as the Becker Building.  It was once a boarding house and restaurant for Van Fleet Logging Company employees.  Van Fleet logged from here all the way to Tillamook County from 1938 to 1964.  The Cannon Beach Hotel was admitted to the historic walking tour (year round tours) in 1997.”    By the time we were across the street from the hotel, we realized we could return to see it any time and that we would rather stop at Back Alley Gardens on the way home than enter the hotel on a busy Saturday evening…so we turned back to our parking spot.  Of course, there was more to see along the way.

plants on the west side of a shop

Ivy is a noxious weed indeed…

but here it was clipped into outdoor windows.

That ivy reminds me of the shape of the famous clipped hornbeam hedge at Heronswood.

a cute little cottage on the way to the van

bamboo cottage

an interesting modern shape

I called Back Alley Gardens, thinking they might be open til five thirty and Pam said they had just closed but we should come by for a visit anyway.   So off we went, with no Cannon Beach lingering, to our favourite north coast collectors’ nursery.

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prequel: 1996—Kate’s garden

Kate and Dan

One day in 1996 we went to visit our friends Kate and Dan who lived in Gray’s River, whom we had met when they stopped by in 1993 to look at the Sou’wester. While we worked there, we had no time to visit them, so this was our first trip to their old farmhouse. Bertie immediately disgraced himself by chasing a chicken.  (He caught it but did not hurt it, thank goodness.)  Kate was already not fond of dogs, and he did nothing to improve her opinion.

Kate’s cat on the patio

I’m not sure what Kate and Robert were doing (below), but I think it was that thing where you try to imagine the height of a fence or arbour.

planning and imagining?

Kate was a genius at decorating and hardscaping. She would have the ideas and Dan, when he came home from his job on a tugboat, would do the work.  Note to self: steal this idea:

Kate’s concrete block chair

Kate’s patio

water feature on patio

Kate’s garden was soon to be featured as the cover story of the Oregonian’s gardening section.

Kate’s patio

Below, a corner of Kate’s house with driftwood sculpture; she said she had gotten the driftwood idea from us.

driftwood

arbour and gate

old barn on the property, with pile of decorating ingredients

Inside, Kate painted her house with Mary Engelbreit-ish checks..

inside

and painted designs on furniture.  I was in awe of her talent.

Kate’s furniture painting

We visited Kate one more time, and I may find a photo to add here later, but Robert did not like to visit without Bertie the wild dog, and after The Chicken Incident, Bertie was no longer welcome.

When Kate and Dan parted ways, she moved to Astoria and created another amazing garden, and then to a town further north.  When a friend told me that she had seen a glorious garden in that town and been shown around by the gardener, I asked “Was her name Kate?” and my friend said yes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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