Taking a Chance

John & Peggy Fisher, Roger Pickavance (Authors), Dame Judi Dench (Preface by)  Maple Leaf

Taking a Chance

The First 25 Years of Fishers' Loft Inn

“In 1989, we bought a house overlooking the ocean in the Newfoundland outport of Port Rexton, Trinity Bay — a place we had barely heard of, let alone lived in.”

Thus begins the story of how John and Peggy Fisher took a chance that changed their lives and made an indelible mark on the place they adopted as home.

The Fishers’ big move was the first of several more leaps of faith. The transplanted urbanites went on to transform themselves into innkeepers and to warmly embrace their new community.

Fishers’ Loft is now well established and much loved by all who dine or stay there. Taking a Chance captures the unique atmosphere of the inn, with stunning photographs of interiors, vistas, and the surrounding Bonavista Peninsula, as well as 80 lovingly produced recipes for some of the Inn’s signature dishes.

More than a quarter century after their move to Port Rexton, the Fishers have produced a love letter to rural Newfoundland, sharing their firm belief in the wonderful things that can happen when you take a chance.

Non-Fiction  /  Travel
Published:  July 04, 2023
260 pages

Available format(s)

Format Hardcover  9781778350726  $59.95

“Personal, comprehensive, lavishly illustrated, and detailed-to-the-last-pinch-of-salt.” — The Telegram

“A love letter to this place and those people who have made an impact in the Fishers’ lives.” — Business and Arts Newfoundland

“Inside Fishers’ Loft, it’s more like the way you imagine a tastefully gentrified second home in Devon to be today: cozy, low ceilings, smooth planks on the floor, Farrow & Ball on the walls. The companionable restaurant looks over a winsome kitchen garden that provides root crops and salad leaves, artistically laid with sinuous raised beds that echo the inn’s grass labyrinth.” — Financial Times

“These are without a doubt some of the best accommodations on the Bonavista Peninsula, with beautiful gardens and stunning views. A great on-site restaurant, large conference and events center, and art gallery make this a business and vacation paradise.” — Fodor’s

“Reading this story full of joy, colour, and culture, where everything seems to work out the way it was intended, was as satisfying as any of the meals encoded inside.” — Atlantic Books Today

“Taking A Chance is utterly fulfilling on many sensory levels and a heartwarming inspiration from beginning to end. It is not only a deeply generous book but also, simultaneously, a love letter and an invitation.” — The Miramichi Reader

John and Peggy Fisher met in 1977 while working on the launch of the Adelaide Court cultural centre in Toronto. In 1989 they bought a small saltbox in Port Rexton as a summer home, and by 1990 they had moved to Newfoundland permanently. They opened Fishers’ Loft Inn in 1997, originally as a B&B extension of their home before expanding with additional buildings. Today the inn consists of 33 rooms and suites, an executive conference centre, dining room, bar, and library/sitting room.

Roger Pickavance is a retired professor at Memorial University who has devoted his life to the study of Newfoundland cuisine. He is the author of four cookbooks, including From Codfish to Kippers: Creative Recipes for Fresh, Smoked and Salted Fish and The Traditional Newfoundland Kitchen, a finalist for the 2018 Heritage and History Book Award.