Haida Gwaii #2 of #3- The Copper Beech Guest House, Masset

I met Susan Musgrave, back in 1993, when I took her creative writing course at Camosun College in Victoria. It was quite the experience meeting this woman of so many talents. She taught her class well and inspired us to be creative, which was what it was all about. During this time, we all met Stephen, the famous bank robber husband as well. Susan had the whole class to her house, the one with the tree growing through it, on the Saanich Peninsula for a 'grad' party, which was as unique an experience as most of us in her class had up till then.

Her love for Haida Gwaii is evident in her book "A Taste of Haida Gwaii", which I would have loved to have gotten a personal autograph in. I browsed the book while there, and will buy it when I get home as a reminder of our stay.

So, when we had the opportunity to book this guest house for our visit it was a bonus that Susan owned it. Unfortunately, she was not there for our visit, but hey, she was off doing a writing workshop, down in Victoria. It would have been fun to see her again had she been in residence. Whether she would remember me or not is another thing...she must have given hundreds of classes and I am one of many who attended them. If she can remember my short story, "The strange death of Juan Valdez" then she has quite a memory.

As for the guest house: This house is quite simply an amazing peek into the mind of Susan. She is a person of multi talents, with a semi-outrageous personality. The décor suits her to a tee. Eclectic mixes of colour, texture and comfort. The place is loaded with books, many by authors such as Margaret Atwood, Douglas Copeland, who wrote or edited some of their work in this place.

Famous authors have spent many hours here and I can imaging conversations they must have had. Under a previous owner, the place was a get-away spot for former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife Maggie.

The house sits on the edge of the Masset fishing boat harbour, There are 5 guest rooms, and Jenny and I had Garden View, Deb had the Retreat, and George and Karmen had the Chadwick Room. Our host, Faustine, was amazing. Welcoming, intelligent, charming. Over the course of our stay, all of us had great conversations with her, and her breakfasts were amazing. She provided us with tip after tip of things to do and see while on Haida Gwaii.

Faustine is still undecided on what she wants to do with her life, but her indecision on the next steps in her life are just part of the process. It took me 55 years to finally figure out that working was bad for my health, so I quit, and took up travel instead.

On our second night the weather cleared long enough for us to have a fire in the Chinemea and supper on the deck. Supper was a pre-cooked chicken from the Coop and a Caesar Salad, with at least two bottles of wine, maybe three consumed with it.

Rooms at the inn are well maintained, comfortable in the extreme and reasonably priced. The décor is other worldly to some extent, but the emphasis is on comfort and that is delivered in spades. A 4 star rating (out of 5)