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Butterfly Interpretive Loop 

The Butterfly Interpretive Loop is an educational butterfly trail that loops around the gardens at Springbank. Native plants and bushes that are known to attract butterflies were planted along the trail with seven interpretive signs to educate trail users about local butterflies, as well as what plants attract them to your garden. This project was completed with the help of a group of students from Sir Sanford Fleming College in Lindsay. Included in the loop is our conceptual longhouse which was designed and erected by Bill Woodworth, an architect with the University of Waterloo School of Architecture in Cambridge.

butterfly

Springbank Pavilion

The pavilion, just south-west of the community gardens, was built in 2011 to provide sheltered space for gardeners, visiting school children, and community groups to rest or partake in events. It is a unique structure designed by students at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture in Cambridge and built by volunteers under the leadership of Laura Knap, a graduate of the school. Most of the wood required for the project was rough sawn cedar harvested from a sustainable forest in Eastern Ontario. The project was made possible by funding provided by the Kalvelman-Fonn Foundation and the Cloverleaf Foundation.

Springbank Trail (300 m)

From the South Parking Lot across Blair Road from rare’s historic Slit Barn, the Springbank Trail parallels Blair Road through meadow and woodland, before ending at the parking lot at the entrance to North House and Springbank Farm. Connections are made here with the Butterfly Loop and the Neuman Trail. This trail offers an easy walk on soil/gravel substrate and is good for hiking, birding and viewing wildlife.

Neuman (700 m)

The Neuman Trail is rare’s newest trail in the Blair Area, named for Martin Neuman, an early supporter of rare. Starting from the Springbank Farm parking lot, the trail branches left from the gravel laneway, paralleling Blair Road southeast along a grassland meadow and through a copse of trees, across a bridge over a small creek, before curving south through more meadow. It leaves rare lands, skirting a stormwater basin and exiting onto Newman Drive (different Newman). No parking is provided at Newman Drive for trail users; it is recommended that the South Parking Lot at the west end of Springbank Trail be used instead. The trail offers an easy walk on soil/gravel substrate and is good for hiking.