Village Squire, 1979-05, Page 16The large double livingroom at Westover Park was once used as
a chapel when the building was a seminary.
know what the prospects were. They did think that maybe being
only 12 miles away from Stratford they might be able to get some
business in the summer from the Festival. They didn't know at
the time, she says, that people were so desperate for rooms that
they were travelling all the way to Kitchener and London to find
hotel rooms to stay in during visits to Stratford.
By the time the decision was made it was too late to advertise
extensively that first summer so they had some brochures made
up and left them off at hotels and motels around Stratford and
with the Festival's accommodation service.
They felt they could have four rooms redecorated and ready for
guests by the July 1 weekend but didn't really expect anyone and
they weren't sure that they were really ready. No one came on
July 1, but on July 2 people started coming and instead of the
four rooms they had ready, they rented out five. From then to the
end of the first summer it was a hectic time. They were new at
the business of hosting people and providing bed and breakfast
and at the same time they were trying to get more rooms ready
for occupancy.
14 Village Squire, May 1979
When Labour Day came business quickly shrivelled to nothing
and they began to wonder how to keep their rooms filled
during the winter months when heating bills soared. They came
up with the idea of hosting conferences and seminars. That
business has flourished so that most weekends see some group
or other staying at the guest house. Midweek business has been
slowly building though it has been hurt by recent government
cutbacks which block groups from holding conferences and
meetings in such out of the way locations.
The winter schedule is taken up mostly with church groups
and board of education groups and by groups interested in
Transcendental, Meditation and psychic weekends.
August still sees the church connection strong with a 10 day
Pilgrimage held by the Scarboro Foreign Mission.
This summer there will be more room available for guests. The
14 rooms in the former residence for the seminary students still
holds the bulk of the guest rooms with 14. In addition there's a
two -room suite in the main building and four smaller rooms will
also be available for the first time this summer in the main
building.
Some of the guests would also like to see Westover Park serve
dinners but. Betty says, they still feel too new at the job of
running a guest house to get involved in a diningroom too. That
may come later.
People come to stay at Westover Park for various reasons. One
lady. Betty recalls. came to stay because she had grown up in St.
Marys and had always been curious about the big house and
when she heard it was a guest house, decided to see for herself.
Others come for the piece and quiet. One recent guest, got up
early every morning to hike down river to watch for birds.
For whatever reason many people like to stay in this old estate
with a truly fascinating history.
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