Ever since Hailey dreamed up the idea of building a little inn we have been thinking about what it should look and feel like. We want each suit to capture a bit of magic and romance. Who hasn't daydreamed of staying in a castle on a hill, an inventor's lair or an explorer's home? There will be lots of drawings and maybe even a few models to come before the Hazelnut's design is complete but here is one of our first concept sketches.
Drawing out ideas on paper and visualizing them in our minds is how every great project begins. But to get a good idea of how it will be when built, it is important to actually lay things out on the ground. Today, we spent a sunny afternoon measuring out where the walls for the house will go, driving stakes into the ground and 'walking' through the building. As expected there were adjustments and changes made. Now, it is back to the drawing board to tweak the plans yet again. Tomorrow we'll pull up some of the stakes and then drive them home in a new place and see how the new ideas work at full size.
All dreams have a beginning. The Hazelnut Inn actually began many years ago. Dan and Janis Sawatzky came to the tiny village of Yarrow in 2003. They purchased a small acreage and built a dream shop for their business, the Imagination Corporation. The site was spectacular, in the centre of town and yet surrounded by farmland on three sides. To the south were open fields and the spectacular view of Vedder Mountain towering 3000 feet above. On the east side was a fifteen acre hazelnut orchard which was owned by a man who grew up in the Sawatzky's old farmhouse. He had farmed the land for more than forty years. Unfortunately, a few years ago the hazelnut trees were killed off by a terrible blight and a short time later the owner passed away. The land was cleared and sold, then subdivided into five large parcels. Peter and Hailey Sawatzky purchased the lot adjacent to the senior Sawatzky's land. Here they would build their own dream project. It would be an inn like no other along with a new home to raise their growing family.
