We set off along the Green Gables Shore drive, one of the scenic itineraries signed along the PEI roads. We passed through beautiful countryside and along some lovely beach views. The sand in this part of PEI is a rusty red colour which is really neat to see. We made our way to Cavendish to see Green Gables, the main Anne attraction in the area. It is part of Parks Canada and they rebuilt to the original specifications after it had been torn down in the 40s.

Lucy Maud Montgomery didn't actually live at Green Gables; it was the farm where her cousins lived. She visited often and took inspiration from the house, farm and surrounding countryside for her books. We started our visit with the barns which had some information on farming at the time when Montgomery was alive as well as pictures of the family who lived at Green Gables. Next we headed over to the house which they had set up as Montgomery describes in Anne of Green Gables. I really enjoyed looking at all the details from the story that they had included such as Anne’s carpet bag and her broken slate. After touring the house we took a stroll down Lover’s Lane and on to a short loop through the woods near a brook where Montgomery used to wander. There were panels along the way with pictures and quotes from her memoirs as well as information about the birds and vegetation we were seeing. We then decided to take a break for lunch and had a picnic at one of the tables near the parking lot. Rhys had a great time playing on the lawn and trying to eat everything in sight. We decided once again that visiting a popular sight over lunch is the way to go. We had the house to ourselves and no one in our pictures. Afterwards, there were quite a few more people although only one tour group which is pretty lucky we figured!

Afterwards we strolled through the Haunted Woods path, doing the loop twice as Rhys had fallen asleep and we wanted to keep moving. I then headed back through the house to take another look while Anoop wandered outside. We headed back through the courtyard area and we were quite happy that Rhys had passed the 30 minute mark in his nap. It was not to continue past 35 minutes however as a nearby tourist let out an almighty shriek of excitement when she saw her friend had donned the Anne hat with attached red braids. Needless to say, Rhys woke up! We bought a grand total of 2 postcards at the gift shop ignoring all of the Anne paraphernalia before heading over to the info centre to get our Parks Canada passport stamped. While there, we looked at the exhibit with Montgomery’s original typewriter, first edition books as well as information about her life. There was also a short video explaining how Parks Canada had rebuilt the site as well as how Montgomery herself had used it as the setting for Anne of Green Gables. I was so glad to have finally seen the house and landscape which inspired Montgomery as Anne of Green Gables is one of my favourite books and movies. I will definitely have to watch them again soon!

On the way home we decided to drive through the National Park and stop at the viewpoints along the way. The red cliffs along the beach were really interesting to see and we enjoyed strolling along the edge looking at the formations and the dunes. It was very windy so we bundled up as it was no longer the warm 25 degrees of the previous day! We thought about stopping for chowder in a town along the way and pulled over to see where it was. It just so happened that we pulled over in front of a fish shop which sold pre-cooked lobster! We decided that was a much better option than the hot dogs we had planned and picked up two. Rhys conked out only a few minutes from home and was sound asleep… at nearly 6 pm… We had to wake him up since he hadn’t had dinner and it was a bit too early to just transfer him to bed. He wasn’t terribly impressed but was ready to eat as always. We gave him a bite of lobster which he downed at high speed! I managed to extract all of the lobster meat with my hands and jackknife as all of the knives here are serrated. It was very sweet and cooked perfectly – delicious!!!