The village

I have read various gardening blogs recently, that pointed out the fact that gardeners are always showing pictures of their gardens or of their plants, but rarely the context of the garden; that is to say they tend not to show the city, village or place where their gardens grow.
Roche Fleurie is in the middle of fields and forest, but there is a village where we shop and go regularly. I thought I would show you the village.

The whole area is one where two thirds of the houses are holiday homes, where people live only part of the year, especially in summer. In winter, it is not unusual when you go shopping to find yourself the only person in the store.

The marina

Niagara Escarpment (North of village)

We all know Niagara Falls, but we don't all know the  Niagara Escarpment. Niagara Falls is the place where the water of the Great Lakes falls off the Niagara Escarpment. The village is nestled right by the Escarpment. This very long, horseshoe-shaped ridge crosses Ontario and ends up in Wisconsin.

Niagara Escarpment (South of village)

The beach

The main street

The water you see in these pictures is that of Georgian Bay. Technically, it is only a bay on Lake Huron, but in fact it is more like a fifth great lake. There are few farms and no industry around, so the water is very clean. Georgian Bay is an attraction, but so are the fauna and flora. We have many rare birds like the Sandhill crane, and many rare plants (a great many orchids and the largest variety  of ferns in eastern North America).

 

Street by the beach

The winters are very cold and snowy (-20 C is not rare in January), but the summer weather is very nice, especially because nights are cool. Yesterday, for instance, was 26 C, but the temperature dropped to 10 C in the night. There is usually a cool breeze because we are in a short stretch of land between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.

Country outside the village