Mature Travel Magazine

weRECOMMEND
DISCOVER
CANADA’S
STUNNING
BUTCHART
GARDENS
An exquisite transformation
from abandoned mine
to national treasure
BY JASON DUTTON-SMITH
Determined to resurrect her
barren ‘back-yard’, one
tenacious woman set about a
beautification project that now has
to be seen to be believed. Jennie
Butchart created one of the world’s
great gardens.
At the turn of the 20th century,
North American cities were
booming, as they continued their
outward and upward expansion.
Vancouver, on Canada’s Pacific
coast, was one. As the key element
spurning this growth, cement
became an increasingly important
product to shape a rapidly
expanding world.
Returning to Canada from
his honeymoon in England
where he studied the process of
manufacturing Portland Cement,
Jennie’s husband Robert set his
sights on a property 12-miles
north of Victoria on picturesque
Vancouver Island.
What lured him was the huge
deposits of limestone; the main
ingredient in Portland Cement.
Teaming up with his brother
David, the entrepreneurs spent
the next two years refining and
advancing their unique cement
blend. Having mastered the recipe
for success, the demand for their
product exploded.
The brothers also found their
packaging practically sold the
cement itself. Delivering it in sacks,
rather than the standard wooden
barrels of the day, construction
workers were able to carry the
cement across building sites by
hand making it easier to handle and
more time efficient.
While business was booming,
Robert’s wife Jennie was left with
an ugly mine site for a backyard.
While she busied herself around
the estate planting flowers and
shrubbery, the unsightly mess left
behind from the mine bothered her.
16 WWW.MATURE.TRAVEL