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Time travellers, amateur sleuths wanted for unique Victoria assignment

Ross Bay Villa hosts visual 1860s scavenger hunt on April 1
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Volunteers in period dress gather at Ross Bay Villa on Fairfield Road. The heritage home plays host to a scavenger hunt fundraiser event called Can We Fool You? on April 1. Photo by Nick Russell

Wanted: time travellers, amateur slueths and history fans for an offbeat adventure.

On April 1, the Ross Bay Villa Historic House Museum is hosting Can We Fool You?, a family friendly scavenger hunt and fundraiser event. From 1 to 3 p.m., participants will identify out-of-time and out-of-place items in the meticulously restored rooms of Ross Bay Villa.

Ross Bay Villa, at 1490 Fairfield Rd., was once the home of Victoria’s member of parliament, Francis James Roscoe and his wife, Anna Letitia, who lived there from 1865 to 1879. The home has been restored and preserved to look exactly like how the Roscoe family kept it.

One of the bedrooms serves as an office for the Old Cemeteries Society, which leads tours of the Ross Bay Cemetery on Sundays. The rent the society pays supports the maintenance of the house and garden,which are also available to tour on Saturdays at 2 p.m.

Tickets for Sunday’s scavenger hunt are $10, and can be reserved at info@rossbayvilla.org or by phone at 250-598-1803. All proceeds go toward the upkeep of of Ross Bay Villa, including the ongoing restoration of a children’s room.

anna.james@vicnews.com