About the owner of this home:

I’m an artist/photographer who enjoys travelling, music, cooking, and Art. I love Nature and am inspired by it. I’m also a passionate birder and an Italiophile. I enjoy Sci-Fi and foreign films. I’ve worked many years as a retailer and always enjoyed meeting people and learning about different cultures and languages. I look forward to making your stay at Il Nido Felice (Italiophile and birder, remember? LOL) a pleasant and comfortable one.

I have very eclectic taste and this is reflected in the dėcor of my house. You will find both European and Asian influences, bright happy colours on the wall and whimsical art scattered throughout the house. I am an amateur gardener and have tried to incorporate certain plants that will attract birds, bees, and butterflies to the garden as well as plants that have pretty flowers and scents. I believe in an organic approach to gardening so it is a constant battle to rid pests as I do not believe in using pesticides. There is a small section of the garden where I have planted herbs such as rosemary, oregano, mint, and chives which guests are welcome to use during their stay.

I speak English fluently and basic Mandarin and Italian. Throw a little Spanish and French into the mix and I say: Welcome, Huānyíng, Benvenuto, Bienvenido, Bienvenue!

The appeal of Dunbar-Southlands (Kerrisdale, Vancouver, BC, Canada):

I have been fortunate enough to have grown up, lived and gone to school in this area for most of my life. So it was natural to find a house in the same area when I got married. It’s a great house – it’s comfortable, cozy and has character.

The house is located in the community called Dunbar-Southlands, an area full of tree-lined streets (i.e. habitat and food for birds and squirrels!) & historically, it is an older community of Vancouver. How old? There is evidence from archaeological digs that Southlands was inhabited by the First Nations people as early as 400 B.C. How cool is that! By the way, when you are staying at Il Nido Felice, don’t forget to check out our glacier rock boulders (you see only the tops of them) still buried in our backyard.

The following information attributed to Terry Slack was taken from the Dunbar Community Center’s newsletter on an article about a similar rock that was unearthed by a work crew on Dunbar Street in 2011: “Technically speaking, the rock is called an erratic. It is made of very hard granite and may have come from the Coast Mountain Range or even further afield. It would have been part of a glacier that covered Dunbar about 14 thousand years ago. When the glacier melted it parked itself on Dunbar’s doorstep. It remained covered with melt water, rock, gravel, and sand until it was discovered by the city crew. It is estimated to weigh in excess of 40,000 lb.”

In our case, we were excavating the backyard during construction of the Laneway House in the back when the workers uncovered 2-3 humongous boulders. They were so heavy that the small backhoe truck they were using to move the soil started to tip when they tried to move the boulders! So the decision was made to leave them be and just expose the tops of the boulders as a retaining wall for the flower beds.

The Unique Benefits at this House:

This fully equipped house is in a great location. It is close to the University Endowment Lands which is adjacent to the Pacific Spirit Regional Park & UBC. We are very fortunate to still have some Old Growth trees in our area. “There is one large swath of old-growth forest, … that remains, & it contains trees that may be about 400 years old! This forest is easily accessible and… highly visible from campus…seen as a wild, ancient skyline that rims the south and western part of UBC campus. This & Stanley Park are the only remaining old-growth forests immediately adjacent to Vancouver” (https://vancouversbigtrees.com/ubcs-forests-and-big-trees/ ). As you can see, this home is unique due to its proximity to Nature in an urban setting. In my travels all over the World, it is alarmingly harder to see birds in an urban setting. I feel blessed that I am able to see or hear daily at least 6-10 different species of birds in my own yard. Birds are an indication of the health of our planet’s ecosystem. To hear a bird sing gives one hope. Centrally located, Il Nido Felice is within a short distance (by car or bus) to UBC, Downtown Vancouver & to the Vancouver International Airport. That means no hour long commutes from house to such destinations as experienced in many cities like London, Rome, or Manila. Your stay at Il Nido Felice will be both Comfortable and Convenient. I look forward to welcoming you here.

*Please note that Il Nido Felice is a non-smoking property (including front and back yards).

We could not recommend this home highly enough. Words cannot describe how comfortable, clean, welcoming and warm this home is.

Vicky K.