Our Story

 

A tete-a-tete surrounded by fall colours in the front crescent garden

A Place to Relax & Enjoy:
the BraeBurn Inn

With hills of the Qu’Appelle Valley to the south and east of it, and trees, grass and bushes surrounding it, the BraeBurn Inn feels like a small piece of paradise. It is just within the boundaries of the Town of Fort Qu’Appelle, and within minutes of all four lakes, two wonderful golf courses and a ski hill, plus the downtown area of Fort  Qu’Appelle.

Background:

The BraeBurn Inn was built as the Valley Trails Motel in 1956. The name was changed to the BraeBurn Inn in 1998 by the previous owners. It was renovated in the 90’s and has been completely redecorated since 1999. Renovations continue to date, including two rooms made wheelchair accessible in 2009-10 with permanent outdoor ramps added in 2011. All the beds and bedding have been renewed, as well as all of the furnishings.

Geothermal heating and cooling, and solar preheating of the domestic hot water were added in the fall of 2008. The preheating hot water system was taken off-line in late 2021. An Exercise Room was completed and opened to guests in 2011. The Office was moved to what had been Room 13 and completed in 2012.
 Renovations to our singles, Rooms 13, 14 and 15 were completed by 2016. During the Winter of 2021-22, we began updating Room 16 for longer-term stays.  It should be ready by the end of March 2022.

Beverly & Pieter van der Breggen took over the corporation 624035 Saskatchewan Ltd. which operates the motel as the BraeBurn Inn in July of 1999 (taking over mid-season proved a real ‘baptism by fire’ with a steep learning curve). They have continued to operate it as the BraeBurn Inn. Their eldest son, Ab, is also a shareholder of the corporation and works full-time for the motel.

Bev and Pieter
Bev and Pieter van der Breggen

Bev and Piet lived in the Village of Fort San for 15 years prior to that, so are no strangers to this area.

Bev is the President of the corporation. She has a background in bookkeeping and administration and served as Administrator of the R.M. of North Qu’Appelle for 20 years before retiring in January 2012. Her first priority now is her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She has been extensively involved in the local museum and  still volunteers extensively in the community. She was honoured in 2019 as a Regina YWCA Women of Distinction Awards Nominee for her contributions and commitment to her community of Fort Qu’Appelle.

Pieter is Secretary/Treasurer, and handles some of the day-to-day operation of the motel, the books, as well as this site, but his ‘happy place’ is doing the yard work required on our approximately 2 acres. He is a supporter of the Qu’Appelle Valley Art Centre, Build the Fort committee, Qu’Appelle Valley Environmental Association and Calling Lakes Eco Museum. He also ensures that this corporation, although small, is a good corporate citizen in support of various local community events and organizations, as well as larger provincial, national and international organizations. Among them: the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, Ducks Unlimited, Fort Qu’Appelle Healing Centre, Kinsmen TeleMiracle, Royal Canadian Legion, Effect Hope (leprosy mission), David Suzuki Foundation and Medicines Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders). Pieter has a background in corporate communications, internet site design and the newspaper business.

Ab and Rhonda
Ab and Rhonda van der Breggen at Banff, AB

Ab is in charge of cleaning, repairs and renovations as well as all the heavy and technical stuff needed. He is pretty much solely responsible for executing room designs and wall-art designs which he and Pieter dream up. Ab has a background in restaurant management and has trained in restaurant and hotel management, passive building design as well as solar panel installation.

Steven van der Breggen (Ab & Rhonda’s son) has been working for the BraeBurn Inn on and off part-time for several years now. He helps Ab with cleaning and repairs as well as renovations. His grandpa Pieter is doing less and less of the physical work around the motel. Good thing too–Pieter’s getting pretty old.

The Name:

The name, BraeBurn, was derived from two Scottish words, brae and burn. Brae meaning “hills” and Burn, “river”–thus River of the Hills. Although Pieter’s parents came from the Netherlands, and the van der Breggen name reflects that Dutch heritage, he likes the Scottish flavour of the inn’s name.

Corporate Information:

Address
750 Bay Avenue South, Fort Qu’Appelle

Snowy night in early winter 2022

Directions
From Highway 10 in Fort Qu’Appelle, turn south at the Shell service station and follow Bay Avenue South as it turns back toward the highway, or east at the Valley Alliance Church (at the bottom of the hill on Hwy. 10 coming from Regina).

Office Hours
Week days: 11:30 am to 11 pm CST
Weekends & Stats: 1:30 pm to 11:00 pm CST

Mailing Address
Box 2377, Fort Qu’Appelle, SK, Canada S0G 1S0

Phone
306-332-5757 ext. 0

E-mail
braeburn@sasktel.net

Internet
braeburn.sk.ca This Site.

Facebook
@BraeburnInn

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