Hatley Castle National Historic Site

Hatley Park National Historic Site

The site of Hatley Castle is located in Colwood, BC in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island. Hatley Park was dedicated a National Historic Site in 1995.

Come on this extensive walk around the grounds of Hatley Park with me. I covered more than 3 kilometres on this journey. I tried to leave no stone unturned, so to speak. It is an intimate up close encounter with the magnificent trees that adorn the property. I am fortunate to call Hatley Park, my back yard, just a bus ride away.

The property originally purchased by BC’s Lieutenant Governor at the time, James Dunsmuir, in 1906. James and hIs wife Laura had the 40 room mansion built in the Scottish baronial style and was designed by Canadian architect Samuel Maclure. The many beautiful formal gardens were designed by Franklin Brett and George D. Hall. The Dunsmuirs named their estate “Hatley Park”. The castle was occupied by descendants of the Dunsmuirs until 1937, the year in which Laura Dunsmuir passed away. Two years after Laura’s passing the estate was sold to the Government of Canada.

Over the years, Hatley Park has been utilized as a military college, for naval training, known as Royal Roads Military Collage. After being used as a military college, in 1995 the Royal Roads University was opened as a public, degree-granting university. Royal Roads University leases the the campus from the Department of National Defence for $1.00 a year. Today the university manages the heritage preservation and restoration of the acreage and manages all stewardship responsibilities with regards to the site.

Today the site is tended to by 5 full time gardeners, 7 seasonal gardeners, an arborist, a garden curator, groundskeepers and a manager. It is the university’s responsibility to maintain and preserve the park and receives no funding from the federal, provincial or municipal governments. Having limited funding to maintain the parks extensive area, the primary focus of the gardeners is to showcase the Japanese, Italian and Rose gardens. There was a time when a nominal admission was charged to visit the gardens. As of 2019 the gardens are free to visit, however a donation to help upkeep the gardens is more than welcome.

Hatley Park has been used in TV and film for more than 80 years. It has been featured in recent years in the TV series Smallville. As well, the park has been used in the X-Men film series and Deadpool. Many other TV and Films have used the castle as their stately backdrop and it has been portrayed as a mansion, many different schools, a military academy, a luxury hotel, a magic palace and of course the castle that it is. For further information regarding the filming and other interesting facts that have taken place at this spectacular location be sure to visit the website for Hatley Park at

www.hatleypark.ca

In the mid 1900’s my great grandfather, Robert Baxter, assisted in the building of the exterior masonry walls that still stand and surround the Hatley Park acreage.

Thanks for stopping by my channel. I appreciate your visit and would be grateful if you would like my video, subscribe to my channel and tell all your family and friends that you watch my content. I take pride in telling a good story with my “one good eye”, and hope you enjoyed my vision of Hatley Park and Castle.

More fun and exciting content in the works all the time, be sure to check back often and see what’s new.

Thanks,
Corrie

@leftcoastcorrie