The Rural Voice, 1993-06, Page 20Company's
•
coming
Couple finds hosting
farm vacation guests
both an enjoyable and
an educational
experience
By Keith Roulston
Barbara Markle's face is wreathed
in merriment and the sunny kitchen
echoes with hcr bubbly laughter as
she and hcr husband Brian recall the
scene just days before.
The guests at her farm vacation
home at Brimstock Farm were a
Montreal doctor, his psychiatrist wife
and their son. When Brian had a
difficult delivery with one of his
Limousin cattle, the doctor was right
there, fascinated by the process,
seeing if he could help out.
It's the one of the hidden benefits
of hosting farm vacation or bed and
breakfast guests, the Markles say.
Their doctor friend (guests quickly
become friends) took a greater
knowledge of farm life back with
him, and was wondering how he
could share his excitement with his
medical students.
Farm vacations are an educational
event, Barb says. They help educate
city people about the realities of farm
life but they also help educate the
farm family. Over the four years the
Markles have been hosting visitors
they've had doctors, engineers,
musicians and actors stay, giving a
different view of the world all these
professionals live in. A Japanese
couple helped give them an insight
into another culture. All this
education in turn makes the Markles
more interesting hosts because they
have a much broader experience,
Barb says. "It keeps you current. You
can discuss politics, religion,
16 THE RURAL VOICE
farming, whatever."
Barb Markle is a natural promoter
for farm vacations with an outgoing,
infectious personality. As director for
region 2 of the Ontario Vacation
Farm Association (OVFA)
(stretching from Gorrie and Elora in
the north to Lake Erie in the south)
she attends travel shows to attract
potential customers for farm vacation
homes as well as new host families.
There are many reasons to try
farm vacations, she says. The
financial rewards for OVFA members
range from $2000 a year to 5100,000
for one farm that conducts farm tours
all year round. But the rewards go
much deeper, like the people you
meet and the friendships you make.
And, Barb says, you get a new
appreciation of your own farm, your
own way of life, through the eyes of
your guests. Many guests love to
stand on the deck outside the kitchen
door and just absorb the wide open
spaces and the quiet, Brian says.
People who have spent most of their
lives in the city are amazed at the
stars in the country sky at night.
Things country people begin to take
for granted are an exotic way of life
for city people.
Barb is herself originally a city
person and laughingly admits it's a
little ironic that she is now
introducing country life to so many
urbanites. A Kitchener -Waterloo
resident, she had no farming
background when she married Brian.
Brian and Barb Markle find their
visitors love the quiet of the country-
side as seen from the back deck.
Though he didn't grow up on a farm,
he dreamed of farming one day and
had worked on his brother's farm at
Woodstock whenever he could when
he was younger.
Barb, meanwhile, had always
dreamed of operating a bed and
breakfast. Late in 1987 they
discovered the farm near Amurlee,
close enough to Kitchener that they
could appease their doubting
teenagers by letting them stay in their
old city schools, yet also close to
Brian's family in Woodstock and
close enough to Stratford to provide
guests for the bed and breakfast
business. The house is an original log
home, dating back to 1860.
Eventually they hope to tear the old
insulbrick siding off the exterior and
expose the logs, but for the time
being their efforts have been
concentrated on the interior. The
kitchen add-on at the back has been
gutted and renovated to give a bright,
open feel with plenty of pine
woodwork and a sky -light. The rest
of the home has the feel of the
original house, featuring a
livingroom, a parlour that now has
become a television room and three
guest rooms upstairs. The floors
downstairs have been sanded. All the
walls have been stripped down to
their original plaster and painted,
except the parlour which has the