THE NUT FARM

When the sun shines hot in the Okanagan we look for places that offer shade, preferably on the lakeside so we can enjoy the vista, a picnic and a refreshing swim. We have become creatures of habit putting our lawn chairs on favourite city beaches but occasionally venture across the bridge to look back and see the view from a different perspective. After 34 years in Kelowna we were delighted to explore for the first time the Gellatly Nut Farm Regional Park on the shores of Okanagan Lake in West Kelowna.

In 1900 David Gellatly bought 320 acres at what is known as Gellatly Point. With his family he developed the largest greenhouse in the interior of BC, a box factory, packing house and a wharf which was used by sternwheelers to ship the produce and ferry people on Okanagan Lake.
In 1906 Gellatly began cultivating his nut farm which today is a heritage park with walking trails in the shade of 800 nut trees and shrubs. All the trees are labelled with metal tags bearing names of nuts that I had never heard of.
Late in September the park hosts a fall harvest day where the public can pick and purchase varieties of walnuts, hazelnuts, buartnuts, chestnuts, butternuts and heartnuts.

Looking east across Okanagan Lake at the hills devastated by the 2003 wild fire,
 now green with new growth.

Acres of an arboreal canopy at the Gellatly Nut Farm Regional Park

Walnuts

Hazelnuts

Heartnuts

Chestnuts

Chestnut pod

A storage barn

Some of the trees were massive

The Gellatly summer cottage built in the 1920's