Farness Farm, Sidmouth, circa 1950

Margaret Farness and her three small children came to Sidmouth in November 1946. Margaret met and married her husband, a Canadian soldier, in England and was nervous about her new home.

She said, “Being an English war bride, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The trees were dripping wet and it all looked so lonely. A house stood amongst it all. The house I was to live in for the next 18 years.

It was very hard getting used to the primitive way of living – no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no telephone, and a radio with very little reception. I hated this life for a while.”

Margaret grew to love her home and appreciated how productive the land was. They grew all their own fruit and vegetables and had chickens and pigs for meat.

In the 1960s, BC Hydro brought their 165 acres of land for $17,500, which would be equivalent to $167,160 in 2022 currency. It was barely enough to reestablish themselves in Revelstoke.