When The Great Outdoors Beckons…
Walking trails take you along the creek and ponds, into the woodlands next to the homestead, and skirt the hay fields for a good stroll and exploration of our ‘pocket wilderness’ – a 7 acre remnant of the coastal douglas fir forests that once extended along eastern Vancouver Island.
Gardens and orchard, a giant cedar grove, barns and the old homestead cabin, are but a stone’s throw from the farmhouse.
Three philosopher ‘rescue’ sheep, woolly-minded Socrates, Herotodus and Socrates, reside in the lower field all summer and the dry upper field during the wet winter months.
The Pacific Flyway brings all sorts of winged wonders, passing on by and in stopovers as they migrate along the coast. Canada geese and trumpeter swans frequent the spring skies.
We enjoy regular visits from eagles and hawks, ravens and crows, herons and ducks, deer and river otter. A friendly cat or two wander the grounds, and beautiful and friendly Canadian champion collies also reside on the premises …one and all quite pleased to pose for photos!
Flowers are always blooming, birds always singing, owls hootin’, and the annual spring frog concert is absolutely fabulous.
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Collies
Every few years we have a litter of ‘Lassies’.
Our ‘rough collies’ are CKC registered …smart, easily trained, affectionate, healthy ‘n happy, family-raised wee fur-balls o’ fun!! And cute, definitely cute. Oh yeah, and brave – they’re just a’waiting a big hero rescue of Timmy-down-the-well!
As a rule collies are extremely flexible, and complement the schedules and routines of those they live with. So, if you are high energy, they will be. If you just hang around reading, they’ll just hang around on the floor – and will be perfectly comfortable doing so.
Collies fit into any household, and they’re great at letting you know if visitors are coming. They can live indoors or out, prefer people company but get along just fine with cats!
If you would like to see what our collie pups look like fully grown you can check out <www.colliesonline.com >. and scroll down to ‘Highlandblue Collies’. There you’ll find our heritage line – pure sables, merles, blacks and tri-factored sables of the rough collie breed.
Thistle Isle Collies, 2689 Cedar Rd, Nanaimo, BC, V9X 1K3,
(250) 722-7223, <Thistledownfarm@shaw.ca>