The Village Green

I wanted to say yes because I hate to say no, especially when it's all in fun.

I could have said, "Close, but no cigar," but I didn't want to steer the contest in any way. But I was looking for an exact location and not a general vicinity.

Rockcliffe Park is a neighbourhood to the east-end of downtown Ottawa just past Sussex Drive and the Prime Minister's residence and Rideau Hall, and north of New Edinburgh, before you reach Vanier. It's a sizable but quiet neighbourhood, one that, until 2001, was an independent village.

It's home to a lot of wealthy people, holding some of the richest real estate in the country.

No, I don't live there. Not even close.

In the near-centre of the neighbourhood lies a beautiful park that is part forest, part open garden, filled with sculptures and works of art, as well as memorials to some special people and lovely flowers. It's called The Village Green, and it's the location of this month's Where In Ottawa.

Congratulations to Marc, who has won a couple of photo challenges, but remains an unknown individual. (I assume he wants it that way, and that's fine: I can call him Where-In-Ottawa Marc.)

There were only two clues provided: here they are, explained.

1. Somewhere between public and private—this green space backs onto Rockcliffe Park Public School and is across the street from Ashbury College, a private school. The fastest way to walk from one school to the other is to cut through The Village Green.
2. Think of an Orillia festival—Orillia is a small town in Central Ontario, near Lake Simcoe. This past weekend, coincidentally, it held its annual Mariposa Folk Festival, a three-day music fest. Mariposa is also the name of an avenue that borders The Village Green. The park is also bordered with Springfield Road and Buchan Road.

As I said, I hate to say no, but I did have to do that with the first person who left a guess to this photo challenge. He's one of my Twitter buddies, and though he was close, did actually know the place, I'm sorry to say that his answer was too vague. Simply saying Rockcliffe Park includes all green spaces in this old village, and there is a park that is known as Rockcliffe Park, which has a large stone gazebo, but that's not the right park (I did use that park in a previous Where In Ottawa).

For example, if I posted a photo of Jack Purcell Park, I wouldn't accept Centretown as an answer, even though, technically, that park is in that neighbourhood. But so is Minto Park, and Dundonald Park, and a handful of other parks.

For this contest, I was looking for the name of the park. So, sorry, Jamie. You do know Ottawa, but I'm just really picky.

Next month's location has already been shot and is ready to go on Monday, August 3.

Good luck to everyone.