Making the move

In 1990, tired of life in the ever growing city of Port Coquitlam and with upheavals in both of our jobs, Dave and I had decided to make a move to a simpler way of life.

Sixteen years prior, in 1974, we had made the first huge move in our life when, together with four young daughters, we had moved from Lancashire in England to the west coast of Canada.

Dave and I had been on a visit to the area and liked what we saw and there seemed to be lots of job opportunities for Dave, who was a maintenance mechanic. We didn’t want Vancouver, but a smaller town to bring up our four girls.  We bought a very tiny 14ft trailer, so we would have a home to come to.  My cousin Gail and her husband Larry, lived in Washington state and he had volunteered to drive the trailer from their home, to a place approximately thirty miles from Vancouver.

Unfortunately, it was late October when we returned and, at that time, campgrounds were not allowing children for the winter.  Apparently, campgrounds were exempt from paying school tax as long as they only allowed children during the summer months, so very few allowed children in winter.

To find a place for us to live, Larry had to look in the rural area and we finished up in Anmore, which is high in the hills of Port Moody.  It was quite remote but not too far from a small school, so it was fine for a temporary home.

Living in fourteen feet of space, with four girls age between 6 and 9 (yes I agree, very clumsy), plus the two dogs we brought with us, was difficult but we managed.  However getting into a bigger home was high on our list of priorities.

We had been lucky in finding a nice home to buy, in Port Coquitlam and had lived in that area for sixteen years, raised the children to maturity and had two grandchildren already, but it was now time to make another move.

In April of 1990, we came to Penticton for ten days, intending to look around for a campground, with some mobile homes, for a winter income.  Over the winter, we had an agent, from Penticton send us information on what was available.  One of the first things he sent us was the Bel Air Cedar motel, in Oliver.  The small motel would probably give us some winter income and the property also had three small cottages in addition to the manager’s quarters.

The cottages were a big plus to us as one of our daughters wanted to come with us, she was 20 and wanted her own place but near to us.  Dave’s father was widowed and we thought he would like another of the cottages, the third and biggest building, we planned to live in and make it the motel office, leaving the manager’s apartment as a further motel suite.

In Mid April, we arrived to look at the area, saw several places in Penticton, OK Falls and Keremeos.  The next day we came to Oliver and looked at two places that were for sale then arrived at the Bel Air.

The motel was surrounded by cherry trees in full bloom, obviously Mother Nature was trying to win us over.

The motel was a mess, in much need of TLC and much upgrading, the cottages were old fashioned, but solid, there was a good sized pool with some outbuildings, but the three and a half acres of fruit orchard was what decided our future, it would make a perfect campground.  We walked into the orchard, looked around at the surrounding hills and fell in love.  We both felt instantly at home.  We made an offer and did the deal the same day.

We then returned to Port Coquitlam to sell our home, pack up and get ready for life in the Okanagan.

To be continued