2015-07-15/16/17 KittyWake Coast, NFLD.

2015-07-15/16/17   KittyWake Coast, NFLD.

Having enjoyed our visit to Dover, we again headed toward Twillingate. Along the way we stopped for lunch at the KittiWake Kitchen in Wesleyville. On the menu was a delicacy aptly named “Cod Tongue”. Yep, you read correctly. The tongue of   Cod are removed and served as a delicacy. We were told that they were originally given to young men as payment for their labor preparing Cod for shipping. Rolled in meal and flour, they are then pan fried like other fish.

Well, we had to try them, and I must say they were OK, a bit gristly but OK. They reminded me of eating pig’s knuckles. Everyone else who spoke of them spoke very highly of them as a simply delicious meal. While they were OK, I don’t think I’ll be ordering them again anytime soon.

As we were leaving the café, we met John and Shirley Hutchens who lived next door. Our motorhome blocked the entrance to their driveway while we were in the restaurant. They were very amiable and actually were happy we parked there as they hadn’t seen a motorhome the size of ours.

John and Shirley had the most beautiful garden you could ever want. John took claim to being the gardener and I must say he has done a wonderful thing. He has every reason to be proud of it. Why  the good Lord never gave me some of that talent I'll never know. Thank you John and Shirley for allowing us to share your garden. Below are some of the pictures I took of them and the garden.. They recently celebrated their 60+ anniversary. Happy Anniversary to you both. May you have as many more as you want.

Moving along, our next destination became the Barbour Home in Newtown in the New-Wes-Valley.The name was created when the towns of Newtown and Wesleyville decided to incorporate to take advantage of money for schools and less government.

                                                    Barbour Estate in Newtown

Newtown is called “The Venice of Newfoundland”, as this remarkable town is built on several tiny islands connected by bridges. The Barbour Estate is a village that was once a prosperous mercantile operation owned by the Barbour family. In actuality, the entire site was devoted to sealing (hunting, processing, etc) fishing (catching, salting, preparing for shipping) and a general store. The homes were built in the 1870’s for Benjamin Barbour and his family. The first in 1875 where all lived for a couple of years.  Another more “modern” house was built later, much more elegant, but unfortunately, due to a lack of funds necessary repairs cannot be made.  It especially needs a new roof.

The village now includes a theater (in the warehouse building), a replica of a schooner, sheds and stages[small houses on the pier with a table to process(clean, gut, filet, etc)  fish, a gift shop and a restaurant. The community was having a local gathering for comedy skits at the theater. We regret that we didn’t stay for the entertainment.