Sleep in a wine barrel, get pizza at a jewelry shop – only in PEI

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND – This is a province that’s justifiably famous for its seafood and gentle scenery. The beaches seem to go on forever, and the lighthouses are a charming throwback to a simpler time.

On my most recent visit I pulled up in front of Shoreline Design, a jewelry shop on the bay in whisper-quiet Georgetown. A fellow with wind-blown, salt-and-pepper hair and the bushiest of moustaches was pulling a long rod out of what I took to be a kiln. I was thinking pottery, but as I got out of the car I heard him call out “Pizza’s ready!”

Two minutes later I’m chowing down on a nicely charred slice of veggie pizza in the back room of his design shop, where a couple of women are hunched over tables, designing the latest earrings and bracelets to put on display out front. The salty smell of the ocean is mixing with the smoky smell of the pizza.

tells me he fires up the oven once a week and dishes slices out to staff and customers. He says it definitely takes visitors by surprise. “I also call out and say hello when people walk in to the store,” he adds with a grin. “If I scare someone, I know they’re from Toronto.”

Llewellyn ran a seafood company in a previous life, and also worked as an agricultural consultant. He later got into jewelry and pizza-making, and also making chocolates. “What can I say? I’m type A,” he says with a shrug.