Sometimes, you need to know where to look to find the special little places…
Ask people anywhere in the world what they know about Victoria and it’s quite likely they’ll mention the Butchart Gardens. Yes, Butchart is certainly worth a visit, but there’s another garden on the peninsula that I love just as much. maybe more, if I’m being perfectly honest.
Nestled in the midst of farms on the Saanich Peninsula, Glendale Gardens is an oasis of calm just minutes from downtown Victoria.
Glendale Gardens on Quayle Road is home to the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific and provides many pathways perfect for strolling through a series of themed gardens including a winter garden (with a huge selection of heathers that bloom early in the season), a Japanese garden, a children’s garden, and growing spaces set aside for vegetables, fruit trees, and berries.
Some of that food winds up in dishes served at Charlotte & the Quail, the onsite cozy eatery which serves breakfast, lunch, coffee, and sweets from 9 am to 3 pm from Tuesday through Sunday.
Soup’s on! No matter what the chef has cooked up on any particular day, it’s always good!
The emphasis on the menu is fresh, local, and wholesome. Delicious is a natural outcome of that farm-to-table philosophy. During the cooler, wetter months, the inside seating is comfy and cozy. During the warmer months, sitting outside under the pergola is positively heavenly. Surrounded by the gardens, the peace and quiet you’ll find here is so nurturing you’ll be happy to linger over your dessert (cashew cheesecake, for example) and cup of Silk Road Tea.
Sourcing as many ingredients as possible from local farms, you never know exactly what will be on the menu - that’s what local, seasonal eating is all about. No matter when you come to visit, expect rich, tasty soups, sandwiches, savoury pies as well as standards like their famous oatmeal pancakes.
When the server offers the seedy bread toast, you aren’t just getting bread with a few seeds sprinkled on top - what arrives at the table is a nutty, gluten-free, low carb offering that’s as unique as this tucked away eatery on the Saanich Peninsula.
Combined with fresh, house-made soup, and chased with a piece of apple and carrot cake topped with whipped cream for dessert, you’ll find yourself delighted and surprised by just how good the food is at Charlotte & Quail.
Wondering about the restaurant’s name? Charlotte the cat has been a fixture in the gardens for years and loves to socialize with visitors - she was happy to lend her name to this dining endeavour. Busy quail strut around the gardens as if they own the place and, of course, Glendale Gardens are located on Quayle Road.
Access to Charlotte & Quail is via the same parking lot as used by Glendale Gardens and you’ll get a discount to the gardens (which are a screaming good deal to begin with) if you show your same day dining receipt when you buy your entrance ticket.
Glendale Gardens (and Charlotte & Quail) are surrounded by hiking trails, farmland, and lakes about 11 kilometres from Victoria. Consider riding your bike from downtown along good bike paths all the way to the gardens (there’s a bike rack and repair stand in the parking lot). Stop for lunch, stroll through the botanical gardens to see what’s growing before heading home again. You’ll feel as though you’ve taken a trip to a magical land far, far away and return from your adventure refreshed, recharged, and well-nourished - body, mind, and spirit.