Wednesday 17 June 2026--St Andrews is one of numerous towns along the coast that were summer playgrounds for wealthy folk looking to escape urban heat in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most prominent of these here was Sir William Van Horne, who established his summer estate on nearby Ministers Island (visited 23 May 2022 and 27 September 2025). Most of the other similar properties were broken up and sold off between or after the World Wars. In the 1990s, rather than selling their 27-acre estate off for development, the Flemer family worked with the town and the province to transform it into Kingsbrae Garden, which opened in 1998 and is one of the region's top tourist attractions. I shall be such an attracted tourist today, not having visited since the bus touring days.

I walk along the Van Horne Trail from Water Street up to, well, Water Street, which rounds the tip of the peninsula before running into Prince of Wales Street, along the upper part of town. The trail follows the old rail line, which came down the back side of the peninsula and curled into a terminal on St Andrews' waterfront (as best I can figure, close to where the Salt Bight restaurant now stands). There was another station at the Bar Road, for the benefit of Van Horne and his guests at Ministers Island.

I spend about an hour at Kingsbrae, about all my feet can take. The gardens are gorgeous. There are photos.

I have dinner in, then pints at St Andrews Brewing. The footy match this evening is England vs Croatia, the former prevailing 4-2.