Our Story

Neil and Helen Reynolds opened The Village Baker Café in 2001 on Bowen Island British Columbia. Helen writes; Bowen Island is a beautiful place surrounded by the waters of Howe sound and no more than a twenty-minute ferry ride from Vancouver. Neil and I came here in the spring of 1999 intending to immigrate to Canada but having no idea where to live. We arrived on the island in a downpour of fairy mist wet weather, which set in for the whole of our stay. But even through the mists and the rain, which seemed to penetrate every piece of clothing, Bowen Island was absolutely beautiful, seeming to come from fairyland, with all the entailed promised wonders. The people are friendly and helpful to strangers, wanting to share the best of their island with a great sense of pride. We had a wonderful stay and as we left on the ferry watching the mountains of Bowen disappear in the haze of a setting sun, we vowed to come back. The next year we arrived as landed immigrants and with the help of many friends, we settled into Island life. Opening the Village Baker in 2001 we had our first daughter Emma in 2002 and second daughter Sophie in 2005. The village Baker has been a success since opening, being a haven and gossip central for islanders and a friendly comfortable place for off islanders, who come back year after year.

You can visit Helen's blog here.