Cullen Gardens Miniature Village

The Entrance Hall

When my two sons were little, their father and I took them to Cullen Gardens Miniature Village once or twice a year.  

I thought it might be an idea to to see whatever happened to that beautiful and wondrous place known as 'Miniature Village'.  It was a place where little people lived together in a tiny village where everyone seemed to be so happy.  

Even as an adult I was lost in the imaginative world of the miniature people, so I can imagine how it must have been for children.

Entering the village

Some pretty bullrushes

Miniature Village was set in a very adult world of breathtakingly beautiful displays of flowers and gardens.  In the summertime, the lawns were of an deep emerald colour never before seen and the trees were manicured to take on shapes of animals or birds.  

 Everything was meticulously arranged to create a small town feel in a real world setting.  In a word, it was adorable. 

A beavers doing

Sadly, as children grow up and change, so does the world around them, and we must let go of the old to make room for the new.  So, on January 1, 2006 Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village closed for good.  The land is still accessible and these pictures were taken quite recently.  It is still used by joggers and photographers alike.  Although the property is owned by the Town of Whitby, it is a municipal park for now.  Although the gardens are modestly maintained, it isn't to the extent as it once was under the former owners.  

Mind you, Cullen Gardens was in the business of selling flora, shrubs, and landscaping services; therefore their business was on display as well as their gardens.  The town of Whitby does not have the same purpose.  

a lovely creek

I don't know exactly what will happen with this land, but there are several scenarios.  One is that it may link up with the Heber Downs Conservation Area (this I hope holds true).  If you check it out on a map, it really is the best way to use the land as Heber Downs Conservation area is only a few kilometres north.   

The Lynde House - circa 1812

After a little reading up, I easily found out that May 14, 2013 (no I didn't plan this) is the closing date of the Purchase and Sale Agreement between the Town of Whitby and the Auberge et Spa Le Nordki Inn. (owners: Chelsea, Quebec).  

It appears, much to the dismay of the locals, they have bought 3 hectares of land located on the 34 hectare property formerly owned by the Cullens.  There are still 31 hectares of property left remaining.  The good news (to me) is that the current buildings will be utilized again. I would have preferred to see it as a historical site, but apparently they are transporting a few of the older buildings to a museum site (ie the Lynde house and the log cabin).  This is a great scenario.  The spa will open all year with two restaurants and a retail boutique, all within existing dwellings.  This isn't my cup of tea, but at least the area will come alive again with a new generation of people to enjoy its surroundings.

Just like yesterday's memories, we found it nostalgic that someone had stuck a poppy in the wooded bridge, so I took a picture of it to say I remember too.

Rosedale Beltline Trail

Glen Bridge

It was a totally unexpected journey last week while walking through the Rosedale Beltline Recreational Trail.  It starts (or finishes depending where you are coming from) just south of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery and winds its way southeast through the David Balfour Park.  It then crosses over Mount Pleasant Road to the east and passes through Craigleigh Gardens.  This is the point where I began, around Bloor and Bayview Streets in Toronto.

Just a footnote: the Beltline trail continues northward along Bayview Avenue in through the Don Valley Brickworks Park traveling northeast through lovely Moore park until you meet up to the Mount Pleasant Cemetery once again.  This will be on another blog entry (Don Valley Brickworks Park).   

So to begin: from Craighleigh Gardens, we could see it was going to be a beautiful night and a whole two hours ahead to explore this part of the trail north along north of Castlefrank Road.

"Rosedale" is one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Toronto.  It is also one of the oldest suburbs as well and home to Canada's richest and most famous citizens. 

House after house, lawn after manicured lawn, it was a pleasure to see and to photograph, where it can be said that one can not possibly take a poor photograph of these homes.  I kept my camera down for the most part so as to keep their anonymity, but sometimes it proved difficult, but this was to respect their privacy.

We saw an entrance to Craigleigh Gardens, and yet no flowers here in bloom.  On exiting the gardens, we passed "Milkman's Lane" and continued west along the Glen Bridge where we passed some of the most beautiful scenery ever expected in Toronto.  

Slight decline to forest floor

My grandmother, who traveled the world over twice, had told me from a very young age that of all the places on Earth, she thought Toronto was the most lovely because of the amount of green space it kept here.  Although I think all cities have their own unique treasures, I will agree with her that for a city of this size, it is pretty amazing that its parks still remain intact.

Crossing Glen Bridge

Once you cross over the to the other side of the bridge, there is an entrance to the Rosedale Valley below.  It is along the side of a hill, but it isn't too bad so we decided to go for it, and walk along the slow decline into the forest floor below.

Under Glen Bridge

Under the expanse of the overhead bridge and trees, it isn't long before all is forgotten 'up there' in and away from the noise of a city of a million faces, we're lost in this quiet setting.  Awesome! 


A bit further along, and I notice a waterfall.  Well, more like a large storm outflow from behind fences and rails. There were a couple of people there, and they soon moved aside for me to take some pictures.  
I didn't think the waters that emerged from there were from Yellow creek, and learned later it was from the Spadina storm trunk sewer instead.  It sounds much worse than it is, its really more like a tributary, you know a runoff from the roads and sidewalks and from the Castle Frank Brook.  Mind you, although there's no odour, don't be fooled as these waters are not safe to wade around in.  Not exactly sure what those two were doing there before we showed up.

Spadina Storm Trunk Sewer

Wild Daffodil

Continue, don't you stop now... you are almost done.  David Balfour Park is just across the street at Mount Pleasant Road, and you won't be disappointed.  Here you'll see rows of trees, some native and some foreign to me.  Crack Willow, Black Cherry and Ash, White Pine and Red Oak.  I was the one who didn't know botany right?  Well, I looked some up.  The common varieties I knew such as ferns, shrubs and creeping plants.

Trees at Balfour Park

Massive arches at St. Clair Viaduct

As you can tell by the photos it was getting far too dark to continue taking pictures, so I tried to get as good as a shot as I could of the St. Clair Viaduct, which is this hulking triple arch bridge.  Looking way way up, its an incredible sight and fully functional as this bridge carries St. Clair Avenue over the ravine connecting two communities (Deer and Moore Parks).

Approaching St. Clair Viaduct

Well, the two hours are pretty near up and it has become far too dark to photograph any scenery anymore.  It's too bad because Yellow Creek may have turned out much nicer than it did.  I won't even bother to share what pictures I did take of it. There really wasn't much in the way of water flow to the creek anyways.  Who knows, maybe you will have better luck when you go exploring the trails!  Bye for now :)

I thought it was interesting enough