Couple with asteroid bearing their name has lodging out of this world
Scott Sutherland
Province
Stay the night and see the stars at Jack and Alice Newton’s Observatory Bed & Breakfast on Anarchist Mountain near Osoyoos. Photograph by : The Canadian Press
Jack and Alice Newton can see a long way from their retirement home perched high on the slopes of Anarchist Mountain above Osoyoos– millions of kilometres in fact.
Or make that millions of light-years.
When the Marks and Spencer retail chain pulled out of Canada in 1999, Jack Newton, manager of the British firm’s Victoria store, opted for retirement.
An internationally recognized amateur astronomer, he and his wife decided to sell their Vancouver Island home and head to where the skies were not cloudy and grey.
Aiming to combine a down-to-earth post-retirement income with his more celestial passions, Newton had a specific spot in mind to build a comfortable bed-and-breakfast with a unique home observatory.
They bought 4.5 hectares on a mountainside high above of Osoyoos because the desert air there is dry and the locale offers more hours of sunshine than virtually anywhere in the lower latitudes of Canada.
“We’re about 1,600 feet above the valley and 2,500 feet above sea level,” said Newton, now 64. “It’s a spectacular location.”
Their Observatory Bed & Breakfast motto: “We promise our guests the sun, the moon and stars and . . . we deliver.”
Operating between May and early October, the house sports two suites and a single “Moon Room” for guests. All have panoramic views over Lake Osoyoos, private baths, satellite TV and Internet connections.
Weather permitting — which is usually the case — a stay includes an introductory tour of the night skies through a 40-cm, computer-controlled, Meade telescope housed in the rooftop observatory.
Newton built the dome over the telescope himself, the “seventh or eighth” dome he’s built in a lifelong pursuit of astronomy that began as a boy in Winnipeg.
He’s recognized now as a pioneer in the field of astro-imaging, his photographs having graced the pages of National Geographic, Life, Newsweek, Photo Life and Astronomy magazines. Newton also has a half-dozen astronomy-related books to his credit and has led expeditions to far corners of the Earth to observe solar eclipses and comets.
And he’s the recipient of numerous awards, including the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal for his contributions to science.
While his wife does not quite share his astronomical bent, she is very supportive. Alice, whom he describes as a “workaholic,” handles the bookings for the B&B, which come from all over the world. “We’re running at about 99.9 per cent occupancy,” he said.
The couple share in a unique honour bestowed by the International Astronomical Union.
“They named an asteroid after us,” he said with pride. “It’s the first husband-and-wife asteroid name for an astronomer.”
But Newton said the B&B doesn’t only attract committed astronomy buffs.
“It’s not your hard-core observers,” he explained. “It’s the family who wants to have an interesting experience.”
Many arrive with no knowledge, having never even looked through a telescope before.
“Of course I love that because that gives me an opportunity to really blow their socks off. They get a tremendous awakening of the night sky, where we are in the universe and how fragile this little planet really is.”
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IF YOU GO
On the web: For more information, visit www.jacknewton.com
© The Vancouver Province 2007
