Kingsbrae Garden in St. Andrews, N.B., recently bought one of the most iconic mansions in the area, and work is underway to convert it into an arts centre.
Brad Henderson of Kingsbrae Garden says the gardens’ owner has had interest in the former Hillcrest mansion for a couple of years.
“Everything’s about timing,” said Henderson. “With the evolution of the garden and the footprint that we now have in the arts community, we felt it was good time to expand."
Henderson says the mansion will soon become Kingsbrea International Residents for the Arts.
Kingsbrae is 27 acres of gardens located near the nearly acquired art centre.
"Now that we have Kingsbrae International Residents for the Arts as a location for people to stay, we're going to actually expand in behind here to have six workshops where artists not only stay at Kingsbrae, but they'll also have the opportunity to host workshops,” said Henderson.
Geoff Slater is an artist who teaches workshops. He says the mansion is an ideal place for the gardens to expand.
"Kingsbrae is kind of designed as a place of reflection, within nature, a place for thought and discussion and appreciation of that and this is attached to it so as one of those estates they go together,” said Slater.
The art centre will be up and running this spring for the upcoming tourism season, but renovations will take a couple of years to complete.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ashley Blackford.
