a publication for
VAL DE VIE ESTATE RESIDENTS
October/November 2025
Nature’s Pause Trees have stories to tell if you just take a moment to
for hundreds of years. Near L’Huguenot Vineyards, a
the Estate’s trails and biodiversity corridor. Their two-
notice them. Richard Powers, the American novelist,
150-year-old English oak has been part of the landscape
and-a-half-year-old daughter, affectionately nicknamed
devoted an entire book to just that. In The Overstory,
for generations. London plane trees, first brought to
the “Little Trail,” leads the way on every walk, stopping
he examines our complicated relationship with trees,
London to help clear the city’s air, line paths around the
to inspect bugs or sniff flowers. “We’re always in such a
revealing how they subtly shape the world around us
Estate, providing shade. They are one of the Estate’s
hurry,” her mother Rish says, “but children make you slow
while we often fail to notice. Spending time among them
best indicators of the changing seasons, turning gold
down and really notice the world around you.” Shared
brings calm. Val de Vie HOA Environmental Officer Simon
and crimson in autumn, lush green in summer and in
moments on the Estate rejuvenate, too. Back’s Deli, Café
Allen calls it “natural rejuvenation.” On Val de Vie Estate,
winter their bare branches lend sculptural beauty to
del Sol and the new Val de Vie Evergreen Lifestyle Centre
there’s no shortage of places to experience this. The
the landscape. Residents, such as the Reddy family,
invite residents to share a coffee or a meal, while events
yellowwood is South Africa’s national tree and can live
originally from Johannesburg, have fallen in love with
such as Super Saturday brought neighbours together.