In Moose Brook, Nova Scotia, where the Minas Basin tides rise and fall below the cliffs, Heidi Penning has created more than a place to stay. Ravens Rest Retreat is a place to exhale.

Guests arrive for many reasons: a quiet night away from the city, a family adventure, a wellness escape, a chance to meet Highland cows and alpacas, or simply the promise of sitting outside by a fire with nowhere else to be. What they often find is something much deeper: a retreat shaped by nature, intention, and Heidi’s unmistakable belief that rest is not a luxury. It is something people need.

“The people that choose to stay here, they get it,” Heidi says. “This is not just a place. This is not a waypoint. It’s a place to rest, reset, and recharge.”

The Call of Canada’s Ocean Playground

The story began in 2020 when Heidi was approaching a crossroads. After more than 20 years working in a human rights and equity office at a university in Ontario, she was thinking about what might come next. She had a diploma in agriculture, a love of animals and the land, a passion for people, and a strong spiritual connection to nature. Somewhere in that mix, she felt, was a new chapter waiting.

“I always believed in my heart that there was this one big thing waiting for me,” she says, “and that I would recognize it when it presented itself to me.”

Then – as if by fate – Nova Scotia appeared.

The Moose Brook property seemed to check every box: fields, cliffs, a century home, proximity to Burntcoat Head Park, and a profound sense of possibility. In 2021, Heidi purchased the property sight unseen. She packed up her belongings and her cat and drove east to see the place in person for the first time.

“I really trust my intuition,” she says. “I did not look any further.”

The property was beautiful, if a little overgrown. Then its rich history began to reveal itself. After a short quarantine, neighbours came across the road, including members of the family who had originally homesteaded the land. Some had been born in the house. They brought photos, memories, and stories of the rooms, buildings, and lives that had shaped the place.

For Heidi, it confirmed that she had not simply bought a property. She had become its steward.

“I like to use the word steward as opposed to own,” she says, “because who really owns the land anyway?”

A Different Kind of Getaway

That sense of care runs through Ravens Rest Retreat. Guests can stay in element-themed cabins and cottages, roam the grounds, meet companion animals, book farm tours, and spend time in the Rest-A-Spell Wellness Area. But the retreat is not trying to be everything to everyone. Heidi once considered ideas like an RV campground, but realized they did not fit the peaceful energy she wanted to protect.

“This place is about slowing down,” she says. “It’s about the concept of enough. It’s about everyday abundance.”

That clarity has become one of Ravens Rest Retreat’s greatest strengths. Guests come looking for an experience that feels personal and grounded. They want to meet the owner, hear the stories, learn about the area, and understand the place they are visiting. Heidi offers all of that naturally. She talks about the history of the property, points guests toward local attractions, and helps them experience a part of Nova Scotia that is often overlooked.

“A lot of people don’t think about this part of Nova Scotia,” Heidi says. “Even though we have the park with the highest recorded tides in the world.”

Hospitality, One Small Gesture at a Time

Her hospitality is personal. She decorates cabins for special occasions, picks wildflowers, and once even helped arrange an ice cream cake as a birthday surprise. Many guests mention her by name in online reviews. Some come for one night and return later with friends or family.

While some accommodation operators avoid one-night bookings, Heidi has chosen to keep one-night stays available, even though they create a bit more work. For her, accessibility matters. A single night may be all someone can afford, all they need, or all they can manage.

“I will never back down from the one-night stay,” she says.

That same hospitality extends to pets. With a son who has severe autism and had a service dog, Heidi understands how important animals can be for comfort, support, and travel. And with her background in human rights and equity, she is intentional about creating a space where guests can arrive as themselves.

“Everyone is welcome here,” she says. “Just as they are.”

Growing the Business, Protecting the Magic

The business has grown steadily since its first cabin booking in June 2021, adding more cabins, cottages, and wellness experiences. Financial support from CBDC Hants Kings, ACOA, and WEOC helped accelerate key improvements, including additions that made the retreat stronger as a year-round destination.

“Galen and Jan at CBDC understood my vision,” Heidi says. “They understood the opportunity.”

Like many entrepreneurs, she has also had to learn pieces of the business she never expected: booking systems, digital marketing, website updates, day-use reservations, and the ever-changing technologies behind modern tourism. It has been challenging, but Heidi has learned to ask for help and keep moving.

“If you put your mind to it, you can learn anything,” she says. “And then just ask for help.”

Heidi is also becoming active at a higher level of business development. Earlier this year, she travelled to Scotland to attend the inaugural Global Agritourism Conference, connecting with tourism leaders from around the world and returning inspired to strengthen agritourism throughout Nova Scotia. One of her longer-term ambitions is helping establish a provincial agritourism association that connects operators and promotes the sector’s continued growth.

For now, though, the heart of Ravens Rest Retreat remains its simplicity and its never-ending supply of small, human moments. Guests volunteer to help in the garden. Children ask questions while Heidi makes bread. Strangers meet on farm tours and discover unexpected connections. Sometimes, as people are leaving, she senses they are hovering near goodbye.

“Looks like you’d like to have a hug,” she’ll say. “Can I give you a hug?”

For Heidi, those moments are the real measure of success.

“My heart just swells when I see people who have never met each other before,” she says. “I try to find connections. And I always find them.”

Looking ahead, Heidi does not describe expansion targets or profit margins. Instead, she paints a picture. She imagines children playing together across the property, more laughter on the land, more women’s retreats, more guests slowing down, and more people finding their way to Moose Brook. She is not trying to build the biggest business possible. She is trying to protect the feeling that makes the place special.

“I wake up every day and I go, wow,” Heidi says. “I get to do this.”

At Ravens Rest Retreat, that gratitude is an innate part of the stay: in the cabins on the hill, the animals at the fence, the firelight at sunset, the salt air, and the quiet invitation to rest waiting for every guest.

Thank you to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), who collaborate with us to support small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. Together, we will continue to build a stronger Atlantic Canadian economy, fostering job growth and strengthening our rural communities.