McLoughlin Gardens Fund
The Brian and Sarah McLoughlin Park is a new eleven-acre regional park in the Comox Valley, British Columbia. The McLoughlin Gardens Society has formed with the vision of preserving the seaside gardens that surround the beach house while also hosting an artist-in-residence program to run through the summer months, from May to September. For the time being, the program is by invitation.
Over the coming years, the McLoughlin Gardens Society has plans to launch a membership drive, develop walking trails, install informational panels, and raise funds to convert the shed into an artist and writing studio, while also maintaining the house and gardens.
The property was originally developed as a summer residence and hobby farm by Vancouver lawyer Brian McLoughlin and his wife Sarah McLoughlin, a landscape artist and dedicated gardener. Beginning in the 1960s, the family spent many summers at the nearby Alders Beach Resort. In 1975, the McLoughlins purchased an 18-acre waterfront parcel at the end of Tasman Road, off Williams Beach Road. The house, designed by Sarah, was built in 1976. Once they had settled in, Sarah began to create the gardens, working steadily from April to October, building stacked stone walls, and designing a drought-tolerant, deer-resistant, seashore landscape.
In 2016, the McLoughlins completed an ecological gift, originally set up in 2000, and transferred the property to the Comox Valley Regional District as a pedestrian-only regional park. The Comox Valley Land Trust holds the covenant and monitors the property on a yearly basis.
- Please visit mcloughlingardens.org for more information.