Greater Victoria Neighbourhood: Brentwood Bay

Brentwood Bay is a lovely, picturesque village in Central Saanich situated on the Saanich Inlet. It is home to famous attractions as Butchart Gardens, the Victoria Butterfly Gardens and the Brentwood Bay Lodge & Spa. Once a limestone quarry, Butchart Gardens is now filled with flowers, a luxurious 20-hectare estate attracting over one million visitors a year. Victoria Butterfly Gardens houses hundreds of exotic butterflies flying free in an indoor tropical rain forest. Brentwood Bay Resort offers 36 beautifully designed accommodations featuring king-sized beds, down comforters, gas fireplaces, floor to ceiling windows and spa-like bathrooms.

The BC Ferries terminal in Brentwood Bay connects to Mill Bay, providing an alternative travel route to the Malahat for those traveling up-island. Described as the Island’s most Beautiful Shortcut, this is a very convenient and particularly scenic route across the Saanich Inlet.

This rapidly developing village offers excellent accommodation, waterfront restaurants, and all amenities, and is a jumping off point for kayakers, canoeists and mountain hikers. Hiking aficionados will appreciate the excellent hiking and abundance of wildlife in Gowlland Tod Provincial Park which protects one of the last remaining natural areas in Greater Victoria.

Schools include Brentwood Elementary, Bayside Middle School and Brentwood School of Music.

Interesting fact: The town was originally named Sluggett after an early settler, but it was renamed Brentwood Bay for the British town of Brentwood, Essex, hometown of R.M. Horne-Payne, president of the British Columbia Electric Company in the 1920s.