A Fairytale Chalet on Mayne Island
2 Nights in Canada's Xanadu
Content Editor: Alice On
Quietly building her corner of paradise, the owner of this fairy-tale Cob Cottage goes by the name Alexis. With a sprawling heritage orchard complete with chicken, sheep and Tom the llama, the unassuming Cob Cottage has received national and international titles like “Canada’s most sought-after Airbnb listing (2017)” in addition to being a Super Host consistently featured on AirBnb’s page of main attractions.
Inside the Cottage
Of course, much of the attraction can probably be attributed to the strong environmental awareness this cottage was built with - the walls a mixture of straw, sand and clay from the island while driftwood adorns every corner. However, what touched me deeper still was the easy-going hospitality and conversations with Alexis.
Right from the start she greeted us warmly as we rolled in, along the wooden gate framing the property. Unbeknownst to me, on the day of check-in, Mayne Island was especially windy and she had called ahead to offer a full refund if the electricity had not returned. But as fates would have it, I had missed the message on the ferries to the Gulf Islands and a solution had found her cottage before we had!
There was a welcome simplicity to this life and all the characters fitted within it- a petite wood stove, radiating it’s stingy warmth in the living room, the -5 to -2 degrees crisp coolness punctuated by the encasing silence of the television-free night. While she does not provide breakfast there is a spread of butter, milk, cream, apples, fresh eggs, and a divine chocolate banana bread of her own creation available any time you’d like. Like some sort of city dwelling Prometheus, I’d easily spent an hour trying to bring flame into the hearth. I would definitely recommend asking Alexa for some extra newspaper and firewood!
Room Tour On IGTV
A Conversation to Remember
With no particular itinerary we passed our time, eating, lighting the hearth, and making the time for one another. One morning after breakfast, Alexis joined us and shared some food for thought about how her life came to be. For Alexis, it was always clear she wanted to be around animals because they alone brought her an irreplaceable kind of peace. So while the trend for most young people is move to the city to seek their fortunes, Alexis moved to Mayne Island as a young woman in her 30s, to build a life where only a few direct ferries reached and the elegant night was studded with rippling silence.
“After I have children, We have more responsibilities and to figure it out how life goes but have the life you want at the same time .”
How I admired her courage and skill to walk the line between counter-culture goals and the pragmatics of everyday life! I confided in her how I would love to live in such a place, but must return to my busy life. In turn she shared her story of how her life changed with her twin boys, the need to provide a good life for them yet always keeping in mind one must always live for themselves. Over the three days, I couldn’t help but feel Alexis’ glowing AirBnb ranking comes straight from her generous spirit and desire to see everyone get better and better.
“Once we know the kind of life we want, we are on the way to owning it someday. ”
the Fuzzy Healer
Alexis also took the time to introduce her babies - a few chickens, sheep, and a llama named Tom. It was really interesting to watch Tom take on the instinctive behaviour of “guard llama”. Having been at the cottage for several months, its a role he takes on without training. Gently watching over the sheep and people they bond with, llamas have been known to kill coyotes by stomping them to death.
With the animals I feel a type of healing that comes with their purity. While therapy dog programs are more popular, there is a rise of llamas joining the work force of animals visiting long term care facilities, hospitals, and physical rehabilitation clinics. In a New York Times article Llama owners boast of their pets’ sixth sense about people who are needy, ill or frail. Carol Rutledge says that her therapy llama, Knock, will walk voluntarily to the bedside of a hospice patient and stand in silence while the patient reaches for him. Mona Sams, an occupational therapist, has eight llamas and five alpacas in her practice, which serves children and adults with developmental disabilities. A girl with severe cerebral palsy and seizures who visits Sams twice a week says, “I have one llama,” — named Woolly — “. Sams says “She calls Woolly her ‘counsellor,’ and she will spend the first part of the hour telling Woolly what difficulties she’s had, and he just sits beside her for that entire time.”
Back Home but Not the same
I returned home three days later a little bit different. Resting in all the comforts of the modern world I think back to when I woke with the sun to start cooking breakfast on a fire. How easy it is to take our amenities for granted - the ability to flick on the heat to chase away the winter chill, call food to our door at the touch of the phone. We don't have to spend a lot of time on "surviving", but why is it when we don’t have to worry about the constraints of survival we begin to busy ourselves with always asking for more? The obsession with growth taking over our families, neighbourhoods, cities. What could satisfy this ravenous hunger? When does a mind able to be content with what we have?
Let’s Go To Paradise
This trip made me a little more grateful for the things I do have, my family, my parents. It also made me reconsider my point of view a few years ago, complaining about the need for the right environment to do good things. Here is Alexis, thriving in a place many outsiders may consider disadvantaged in resources, development and industry, on her own terms. With the exception of ski lodges, Alexis’ Cob Cottage is probably one of the few British Columbian Airbnb postings with a 95% booking rate in the middle of winter. She said all this because of luck, but having crossed paths for just a few days I would say its from the world of resilient kindness she has built around her.
#Drive slowly at night. Without street lights it can be hard to spot the deer, sheep and other small animals that wander into the road.
#In addition to the winter chill, there are strong winds on the island. Dress warmly and pack windproof clothing.
#If you have severe allergies to animal hair, this may not be ideal.
#Make sure to try Alexis’ super delicious bread. We miss it already!
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當我們不用擔心怎麼“生存”的時候，卻越來越不懂得怎麼“生活”。我們總是要求的越來越多，永遠都不滿足，也許可以把心境回到最開始的單純，知足擁有的一切。