Fintry Estate: A Gentile Gem on the Lake
We have been enjoying a spectacular late fall. The mornings have been shrouded in thick mist from the lakes but that melts away under the still-warm autumn sun. The leaves are stubbornly holding fast to the trees, so there are splashes of bright yellow on the hillsides among the conifers. The mirrored calmness of the lakes is only broken by ducks and geese that sporadically land then take off in squawking flocks.
My husband and I have not driven along Westside road all the way from Vernon to Kelowna for years, so two weeks ago we decided to take our Miata out for one more trip before it gets parked for the winter. It was a grand drive along the undulating road, through grasslands, around curves that threw our afternoon shadow over the lake below. Westside Road has garnered some complaints about pot holes and dangerous curves but its a great road for a little sports car!
About half way to Kelowna we turned left and wound down at steep paved road to a large shelf of land that stretches out into Okanagan Lake. Created as the delta for Shorts Creek that winds down from behind Terrace Mountain and then spills down the mountainside as a spectacular waterfall before flowing into the lake, this area is known as Fintry Estates.
The area had been occupied by First Nation Tribes through the years as a fishing camp and had trail crossing it which were used during the fur trading days.
The first white man to settle here was Thomas Dolman-Shorts who started the first commercial boating operation on the lake with his trusty boat, 'The Ruth Shorts', named after his mother. He would row his boat from Okanagan Landing near Vernon to Penticton.
In 1909 Captain James Cameron Dun-Waters, a wealthy Scot, purchased the estate and called it 'Fintry' after his home in Scotland. He built the manor house in 1910 and developed the estate as a working farm and orchard. He was very wealthy but also pragmatic and visionary.
We parked our car near the impressive octagonal shaped barn, where he raised his prize winning Aryshire cattle. Behind the well-preserved farm buildings we followed a trail that lead to a very long series of wooden stairs that took us up along the waterfall which is well hidden on the treed slope.
It is a rather impressive cascade of several falls and pools and is well worth the effort of climbing the stairs. From the top you get a wonderful view of central Okanagan Lake which was bathed in late afternoon sun.
Here Captain Dun-Waters built an elaborate and functional hydro plant and irrigation system to electrify and irrigate the estate. Consisting of a dam, flumes, pipes, bridges and a reservoir, it was a feat no one believed would work, but it did!
Later we ambled across the broad flat fields, through the vacant camp ground and down to the beach. Here siting on the edge of the water is a massive very substantial old building, which I assume was the old packing house, from the days when Fintry Estates was a very productive orchard. I vaguely recall this building from a trip here in the early 70's . It was mid summer and a wharf extended out into the water where outboard motor boats were moored while their occupants drank cold beer from the pub located in the building.
Today there is no wharf off the building or pub, but there is a boat launch farther along the beach. The beach area is extensive and I can imagine it is a wonderful place to visit in the summer.
Between the farm buildings and the camp ground is the grand old manor house. It is registered on the list of Canada's Historic Places. The design of the house gave it a flavour of being both a pioneer residence and an outpost of British tradition. Local granite was used for its construction.
Apparently during WWI Captain Dun-Water and his wife Alice built and ran a hospital for soldiers in Cairo Egypt, returning to Fintry Estates after the war. Sadly in 1924 Alice died and the manor burned down. Captain Dun-Water rebuilt the manor, much in the same style as the original home and seven years later remarried.
When he died in 1939 his wife found life at Fintry too isolating. The estate was sold for $1 to Fairbridge Farm School, and organization that trained under-privileged British children to be farmers. It was shut down in 1948 partly because of a decreasing number of students coming from Britain. it changed hands several times since then and became a Provincial Park in 1996.
During the summer season I understand that the grand manor house is open for self guided tours and is used as a venue for community teas and tours. During our visit it was closed. I intend to check this out next summer!
About half way to Kelowna we turned left and wound down at steep paved road to a large shelf of land that stretches out into Okanagan Lake. Created as the delta for Shorts Creek that winds down from behind Terrace Mountain and then spills down the mountainside as a spectacular waterfall before flowing into the lake, this area is known as Fintry Estates.
The area had been occupied by First Nation Tribes through the years as a fishing camp and had trail crossing it which were used during the fur trading days.
The first white man to settle here was Thomas Dolman-Shorts who started the first commercial boating operation on the lake with his trusty boat, 'The Ruth Shorts', named after his mother. He would row his boat from Okanagan Landing near Vernon to Penticton.
In 1909 Captain James Cameron Dun-Waters, a wealthy Scot, purchased the estate and called it 'Fintry' after his home in Scotland. He built the manor house in 1910 and developed the estate as a working farm and orchard. He was very wealthy but also pragmatic and visionary.
Later we ambled across the broad flat fields, through the vacant camp ground and down to the beach. Here siting on the edge of the water is a massive very substantial old building, which I assume was the old packing house, from the days when Fintry Estates was a very productive orchard. I vaguely recall this building from a trip here in the early 70's . It was mid summer and a wharf extended out into the water where outboard motor boats were moored while their occupants drank cold beer from the pub located in the building.
Apparently during WWI Captain Dun-Water and his wife Alice built and ran a hospital for soldiers in Cairo Egypt, returning to Fintry Estates after the war. Sadly in 1924 Alice died and the manor burned down. Captain Dun-Water rebuilt the manor, much in the same style as the original home and seven years later remarried.
When he died in 1939 his wife found life at Fintry too isolating. The estate was sold for $1 to Fairbridge Farm School, and organization that trained under-privileged British children to be farmers. It was shut down in 1948 partly because of a decreasing number of students coming from Britain. it changed hands several times since then and became a Provincial Park in 1996.
During the summer season I understand that the grand manor house is open for self guided tours and is used as a venue for community teas and tours. During our visit it was closed. I intend to check this out next summer!
