Greater Victoria has a population of over 300,000 permanent residents, but its numbers are boosted significantly by the two to three million visitors that come to our fair city every year as well. Victoria has twice been chosen the best city in the Americas, and Vancouver Island as a whole is typically rated the best island to visit on the west coast.

This large population of residents and tourists has resulted in Victoria having an abundance of Community Resources to offer to both residents and visitors alike.

We have more than half a dozen first class community recreation centres, including the Juan De Fuca Rec Centre only a short drive from Birds of a Feather B & B.

And food and wine? Victoria has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in North America except San Francisco, and with good reason.  Victorians love to dine out, and visiting tourists benefit from the thriving industry here, where you can have almost any kind of cuisine, from East Indian or Asian to traditional European-style restaurants, to restaurants specializing in seafood or vegetarian dishes.

The Colwood area is generally known as part of the western communities of Victoria and more specifically known as the Westshore. 450 year old Douglas Firs, majestic Garry Oaks, rugged west coast beaches, parks, trails and birding are native to this southern tip of Vancouver Island. Parks and trails feature views of downtown Victoria and the Strait of Juan de Fuca as far as the U.S. coastline.

Colwood is rich with heritage sites such as Hatley Park, Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse and the 1913 St. John the Baptist Heritage Church.

The Galloping Goose hiking and bicycling trail runs right through Colwood, connecting to downtown Victoria to the east and to Sooke to the west, and beyond Sooke where it ends at a once thriving 1864 gold mining town, Leechtown, where 4,000 miners once worked more than 1,000 mining claims.