A Rocha - a tour of Brooksdale

 

Welcome to A Rocha!

 (It's pronounced a-rausha.)

This is a remarkable place in South Surrey BC, 

    not far from the US border and from the Pacific Ocean.

The sign can be found at the corner of 16th Avenue and 192nd street.  

The fine print says "environmental stewardship."   
Our son Paul has been with A Rocha for the past 8 years.  
And so every year we come and get involved in helping.

A Rocha is all about creation, conservation, Christians and community.

It started about 20 years ago in Portugal 

    and has spread to about 20 countries of the world.  

We would love to give you a tour.  So let's walk up driveway.

The place is called Brooksdale - that's the name of this local A Rocha site. 

We are passing the the house where the site director lives. 

Glancing over to the left you can see "the Coach house."
But we'll get there later.

Yes, there are a few sheep who graze under the watchful eye of the lama.

And here's a close-up view of the tree we are standing beside.  The mosses are flourishing! 

Another sign at the top of the driveway, and we have to decide which way we will turn on the loop.

We get a closer look at the Coach House on the left. 

To you right you see the "Main house."
Let's turn right and go around the loop.  

This 8-bedroom home was built by a lumber baron about 80 years ago.
The entire property was a country get-away for a wealthy family in Vancouver. 

We live upstairs in the Main House during these 4+ weeks that we are here as volunteers.  
Front door...

Side door...
Come on in!  Let's check out what's goes on in the Main House.

Lots of healthy food gets cooked here by the staff and the "interns."
 

It's mealtime so we gather to say grace.

 At noon, there are lots of people around the dining tables, sometimes only 12...  

but often 30 or 40 hungry folks.
Some are staff, some are interns staying for a few months, some are volunteers and others are friends dropping by.  

The people at A Rocha come from all over the world.
At the present time there is an intern from Singapore and another from Germany.

There are many activities, including morning prayers at 9 am.
On Thursday evenings anyone can join in playing the music.

If you look out the kitchen window you see the Little Campbell River down in the valley and beyond it is a pond where we often see ducks swimming.  Deer come to graze. 

We won't tour the house right now, but just to let you know, besides the kitchen and eating area, there is also a dining room, a library and a very large living room - almost 30 feet long.
This home is a wonderful place for hospitality.  Many visits, meetings, workshops, and large gatherings happen here.  We have enjoyed hosting our guests by the fireplace.  

Let's get back to our tour of the property. 
Next to the Main House is the River Tree - where you can purchase delightful handmade gifts.

Let's pause to say hello to the Canadian executive director and his wife.   The Kostamo's live nearby. 

Continuing on the loop you see the root cellar.  It stores lots of veggies.

Beyond the root cellar and to the right you see the barn.  Around the barn are the gardens where our son Paul grows veggies.  This summer he will be providing weekly veggie bins to 70 households!  All these folks have purchased a "share" in the crop. 

 

An amazing ceiling in the loft of the barn...

Ken's job in this last month has been to build a new greenhouse.  Here is a glimpse of him getting started (bending the pipes).  You can find out more about that in a separate blog.   

Near the barn the chickens are scratching and fluffing in the dust. 

Let's keep going past this long row of holly trees...

To our left you see the kennels for the fox hounds, at least that's what they used to be.
 Now the kennels are full of tools for those who take care of the grounds. 

Up ahead you can see the shop.  One section has an array of tools and long work benches to fix or build anything. The open door is where the tractor is parked.  Ken loves getting on the tractor and going out to till the garden.  The farmer comes out in him when we are here! 
The little summer kitchen you see is now a science lab for the interns as they work in conservation.
To the right in the picture below you see the office where 7 admin staff keep very busy. 

And now we round the loop and come to the coach house.

The coach house was built with servant's quarters.  At the present time it houses an A Rocha staff  family, plus about 8 interns.

It was built with a drive through for the horse-drawn coaches.  Notice the mounting block for horseback riding.  Brooksdale had a strong equestrian flavour. 

Here's a front view of the coach house.

 And if you turn around you find that you are directly across from the main house.
But there is an acre of lawn in between.  
If you haven't figured it out yet - around here everyone does a lot of walking! 

 

This is what it looks like at night...  

This view includes a delightful birdhouse.

 Thanks for coming on this tour.

 Hope you can sometime see this place for yourself.

 

I'll walk you back to the road and past my favourite blossoming tree.
Notice that it's starting to get dark  in the last picture!
Bye for now!