Village Squire, 1979-05, Page 12Acres of rolling lawn provide leisure for guests and hard work for the families that run the Westover
Park guest house.
Getting away
from it all
Westover Park offers rest,
recreation and a
fascinating past
10 Village Squire, May 1979
It stands by the Thames River, one of the impressive
reminders of the Victorian era. Though small towns have many
large. stately homes lining their streets, living history of the
ostentatious building style of the past century, there are few
specimens like this. It was a big house to start with when two
bachelor brothers Joseph and William Hutton had the stone
house built on the land they had purchased in 1857 on the
outskirts of St. Marys in the southern part of the old Huron
Tract. The stone was taken from the loose rock along the sides of
the Thames. They turned the spacious grounds into an English
garden where people from the community came for strolls
through the beautiful grounds, or did at least until as legend
says, some boys pelted one of the brothers with apples and the
public was banished.
Today people are back at what has become known as Westover
Park. Today the people come not to stroll through the grounds,
but to stay for a longer visit. Westover Park today is a guest
house operated by Jane and Don McArthur and Betty Whitby. In
just two years it's become a comfortable alternative to tourists
looking for accommodation in summer or groups seeking a quiet
place to hold seminars, workshops or conferences during the
winter months.
Westover Park offers accomodations for 20 to 25 persons in a
bed and breakfast set up. It has become a popular spot for
Stratford Festival visitors in the summer months since it is
located only a few minutes away from the Festival Theatre. It
offers many pleasures that an ordinary motel or hotel just can't
offer. There are 19 acres of grounds to stroll through. Part of the
property is kept as parkland while the rest is in a more natural
state. The Thames runs just past the gates to Westover Park. It
seems almost out in the country yet it's only a few minutes walk
to main street in St. Marys with its interesting architecture and
small shops. While there aren't tennis or swimming facilities on
the spot, they are provided in the town, particularly the
swimming where the famous St. Marys quarry provides a huge
swimming pool.
Even though the two bachelor brothers built a house Targe
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