Words June Murray Dagnall
Photos Platinum Creative
This beautiful home overlooking Roberts Bay is a very special place and is more than a place to live. It is shaped by family, has been transformed over time and is still filled with the sights, sounds and traditions that have made it meaningful for many years.
The property has been in the family for generations. A small, quaint cabin once stood on the site, belonging to the homeowner’s grandmother. In 1993, the cabin was essentially transformed into the house that stands there today, thoughtfully designed to allow her to age in place with live-in care while remaining in the familiar surroundings she had enjoyed for decades.
This project was much more than simply building a new house. It was about creating a home that would allow a beloved family member to remain connected to the property, the neighbourhood and, perhaps most importantly, the bay she loved.
The family member who eventually purchased the home from the estate has deep roots in Sidney. She grew up in the community, attended North Saanich Middle School and graduated from Parkland Secondary before leaving Sidney to begin the next chapter of her life. Eighteen years later, she returned with her husband and their two young sons, bringing her back to the place she had always called home. The couple’s third son was born in this house, and all three boys grew up surrounded by the beauty of Roberts Bay. The house became the backdrop to their everyday family life full of birthdays and celebrations, busy mornings and quiet evenings, summer days spent outdoors and countless hours simply enjoying the incredible view. Today, the three boys are grown and living and working in different parts of the world; however, they return to the place they call “home” often.
Over the years, the couple gradually transformed the house to suit their family and lifestyle. Wood floors were refinished, bathrooms extensively renovated, solid surfaces added and the landscaping redesigned. Slowly, the early-1990s aesthetic gave way to something more contemporary, comfortable and family friendly. The renovations were substantial; however, the intention was never to erase the history of the house. Instead, the goal was to create a home that worked for the family while respecting what had come before. Through every renovation and change, the one feature that has remained timeless is the setting.
The property enjoys a wonderfully sheltered, warm exposure overlooking Roberts Bay. With protection from the prevailing winds off Haro Strait, the family jokes that they live in the “California of Canada.” It has a unique and inviting microclimate, something they have appreciated for generations. Combined with its walkable location just minutes from Sidney, the property offers the best of both worlds, offering the peace and beauty of waterfront living with the shops, restaurants and amenities of town close at hand.
The back patio has always been the heart of the home. From here, Roberts Bay provides an ever-changing backdrop. Eagles nest nearby, herons fish along the shoreline, and bufflehead ducks return each fall. Seals and otters make regular appearances, and there is almost always something happening on the water. The family affectionately describes the view as a daily “boat show,” with everything from small recreational boats to kayaks and canoes making their way through the bay. Crab boats still fish the bay and there are often luxury, mega yachts that cruise by to one of the half dozen marinas in nearby Tsehum Harbour.
As each day draws to a close, the setting sun casts a warm glow across Roberts Bay, its reflection dancing on the gentle waves. For a moment, the world seems to slow down. It is easy to understand why this view has been cherished by the family for generations, and why they never tire of it.
The view, however, is about far more than its natural beauty for this family – it’s the backdrop to a lifetime of memories. Their grandmother loved sitting by the living room window watching the seagulls and kingfishers. She would take the children down to the beach with buckets and shovels to search for treasures. Tiny crabs were collected, carefully named and then returned to the sea. Those simple adventures became part of childhood, providing the kind of memories that seem ordinary at the time but become increasingly precious as the years pass.
Today, those traditions continue. The next generation still heads down to the beach for seaweed fights and launches the canoe and kayaks toward the little rock and its light at the mouth of the bay. The shoreline that once provided an afternoon adventure for a grandmother and her grandchildren continues to provide the same sense of discovery for the generations that followed. The children who once followed their grandmother down to the water are now adults, but the rituals remain. The beach is still explored. The bay is still watched. The boats still pass. The birds still arrive. And the same sunsets that once framed their grandmother’s evenings continue to light up the water.
The architecture and renovations of this home are beautiful, and so is its sense of place, providing the feeling that this property has been part of something much larger than a single family or a single generation.
The original cabin is gone, but its story remains. The home built in 1993 has been updated and reimagined, but it still stands on the same piece of family land. The grandmother who once watched the bay from the living room window is no longer there, but her love of the water lives on in the children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren who continue to enjoy it. The home’s heart has remained the same: a place where family comes together, where the beauty of Roberts Bay is part of everyday life, and where the memories of one generation become the memories of the next.
