2915 Cameron Taggart Rd, Mill Bay, BC V8H 1A2
Unsworth Vineyards is a rural agricultural and hospitality property located along Cameron Taggart Road in Mill Bay, British Columbia. Rolling vineyard rows, mature trees, gardens, an early-1900s farmhouse, and contemporary winery architecture give the estate a distinctive place within the southern Cowichan Valley.
The business was established in 2009 after Tim and Colleen Turyk purchased a small vineyard and historic farmhouse. Their goal was to create a welcoming destination connected to the land, local food, and the hospitality they had long shared around their family table.
Today, Unsworth combines working vineyard land, heritage architecture, landscaped visitor areas, a restaurant, and newer production facilities. The property may be considered when routes are being planned for a Victoria wine tour, although individual stops depend on reservations, availability, timing, and the planned route.
Wine Tours Featuring Unsworth Vineyards
6 Hours
Holy Sip - Full Day Wine Tour
Victoria Area Wineries
$169 per person plus GST
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Bachelorette Wine Tours - Full Day Wine Tour
Victoria Area Wineries
$169 per person plus GST
A family-founded Cowichan Valley business
Unsworth Vineyards was founded by Tim and Colleen Turyk in 2009.
The couple already had strong personal ties to the region through summers spent near Shawnigan Lake. Over time, they watched the Cowichan Valley develop into a more established agricultural and culinary destination.
When a small vineyard and early-1900s farmhouse became available, the Turyks saw an opportunity to build a business around the welcoming atmosphere associated with their own family home.
Tim came from the fishing industry, while Colleen brought a strong interest in home cooking and hospitality. Rather than beginning with a traditional winery background, they approached the business through their experience of gathering people around food, conversation, and a shared table.
The name Unsworth also reflects the family’s history. Unsworth was the maiden name of Tim’s mother, Marjorie.
The original Mill Bay property
The Mill Bay estate has commonly been described as a 32-acre farm, although only part of the wider property is planted as vineyard land.
The site includes:
- Cultivated vineyard blocks
- A restored historic farmhouse
- Mature apple and walnut trees
- Herb and vegetable gardens
- Landscaped lawns and flower beds
- Agricultural and production buildings
- A modern visitor facility
- Outdoor terraces and pathways
- Mature trees surrounding the property
This mixture of agriculture, gardens, heritage buildings, and newer architecture gives Unsworth a layered appearance. The property does not look as though it was built all at once. Instead, it shows the gradual development of a rural business over several years.
A restored early-1900s farmhouse
One of the estate’s most recognizable buildings is the restored farmhouse purchased with the original vineyard in 2009.
The farmhouse became the home of The Restaurant at Unsworth. Its traditional form, warm interior, pitched roof, and relationship with the surrounding gardens create a strong contrast with the estate’s newer contemporary architecture.
From the farmhouse and its outdoor areas, the landscape includes vineyard rows, an established apple and walnut orchard, cultivated gardens, and the surrounding Cowichan Valley countryside.
The use of an existing heritage building also connects the restaurant with the agricultural history of the property. Rather than replacing the farmhouse, the business adapted it for a new role while retaining much of its rural character.
The building has since undergone further renovation, including changes intended to improve the kitchen, interior, and seating while preserving the familiar appearance and warmth of the original structure.
Agriculture visible from the visitor areas
Unsworth’s visitor spaces remain closely connected to the working landscape.
Vineyard rows can be seen from several areas of the property, while gardens and mature trees soften the boundaries between agricultural and hospitality spaces. The setting allows visitors to recognize that the estate is an active farm rather than a decorative venue built around a rural theme.
The land changes throughout the year as vineyard growth, gardens, orchard trees, and surrounding vegetation move through their seasonal cycles.
Agricultural activity may include pruning, soil care, planting, canopy management, maintenance, harvesting, compost work, and continued care of the estate’s gardens and natural areas.
This visible relationship between business operations and the land is central to Unsworth’s identity.
A wider vineyard operation
Unsworth’s farming activities now extend beyond the original Mill Bay estate.
The company has reported farming approximately 10 acres of vineyard land at the Mill Bay property while developing a second, substantially larger vineyard west of Duncan. Published information has described the newer site as approximately 40 to 43 acres.
This expansion represents an important stage in the company’s development. It allows the business to grow its agricultural operations while maintaining the original Mill Bay property as its established visitor and hospitality centre.
The two locations also show how the business has evolved from a small family-founded vineyard into a broader Cowichan Valley agricultural operation.
Ownership and continued development
Unsworth was purchased in 2020 by Barbara Banke and Julia Jackson.
The ownership change began another phase of development for the business while members of the Turyk family and long-term staff continued to play roles in its operations.
Since that transition, Unsworth has expanded its vineyard holdings and developed a new production and visitor building at the Mill Bay estate.
The business therefore combines several layers of history:
- The early-1900s farmhouse
- The Turyk family’s founding of Unsworth in 2009
- The opening of the restaurant in the following years
- The 2020 ownership transition
- Expansion into a second vineyard
- Construction of a new winery and visitor facility
These stages can be seen in the mix of old and new architecture across the property.
Contemporary architecture beside the vineyard
The newer winery and visitor building was designed by Vancouver-based Simcic Architecture Studio.
Its appearance differs significantly from the restored farmhouse. The building uses a low, angular roofline, broad glass walls, dark exterior cladding, natural wood details, and a strong horizontal form.
The low profile was designed to settle into the surrounding farm landscape instead of rising above it. Large windows connect indoor areas with views of the estate, while an adjacent patio opens toward landscaped grounds.
Below ground, separate cellar areas were created to maintain stable conditions within the production facility. Other functional spaces include work areas for receiving agricultural material, production, storage, and bottling.
Although modern in appearance, the building remains visually connected to the farm through its scale, roof form, landscaping, and relationship with the surrounding rows.
A visible wall of barrels
One of the newer building’s most distinctive architectural features is the barrel wall visible through its expansive glass frontage.
The circular ends create a repeating visual pattern behind the windows, adding texture to the otherwise clean and contemporary exterior.
From outside, the building presents a combination of:
- Broad glass panels
- Repeating circular forms
- A low wooden roofline
- Dark exterior surfaces
- Gravel pathways
- Flowering landscape beds
- Vineyard and farm views
The result is a structure that communicates the function of the business without relying on a highly ornamental design.
Gardens, orchards, and cultivated spaces
Unsworth’s landscape includes more than vineyard rows.
The Mill Bay estate has long featured apple and walnut trees, herb and vegetable gardens, lawns, flowers, and established shade trees. These elements help divide the wider farm into smaller visual areas.
The gardens also reinforce the connection between the estate and the restaurant’s seasonal approach. Produce grown on the property can contribute to the broader farm-to-table identity of the business, while regional farms and suppliers extend that connection across the Cowichan Valley.
For visitors, the varied planting creates a more diverse landscape than a property made up entirely of vineyard blocks. Rows, orchard trees, vegetables, flowers, lawns, and woodland edges each contribute a different shape and texture.
A business connected to local farms
The Restaurant at Unsworth has been developed around seasonal ingredients and the agricultural output of Vancouver Island.
Its business model connects the estate with growers, farmers, fishers, food producers, and suppliers from the surrounding region. This relationship allows Unsworth to operate as part of a wider Cowichan Valley network rather than as an isolated property.
The restaurant, visitor centre, gardens, agricultural land, and event spaces also create employment across several fields, including farming, food preparation, hospitality, administration, landscaping, logistics, and property management.
This combination of activities makes Unsworth an example of a diversified rural business.
Sustainability and soil stewardship
Unsworth identifies soil health, biodiversity, and long-term land stewardship as important parts of its farming approach.
The vineyard team has described the farm as an ecosystem in which the soil, microorganisms, plants, insects, and surrounding environment are connected. This approach places attention on the health of the entire agricultural property rather than focusing only on the visible plants.
The estate is associated with Sustainable Winegrowing British Columbia and other sustainability programs. Its published practices and philosophy emphasize balanced ecosystems, regenerative thinking, biodiversity, and careful soil management.
Visitors may notice signs of this approach in the use of ground cover, gardens, compost, diverse plantings, and less uniform areas around the cultivated rows.
Views across the Mill Bay estate
Unsworth’s scenery is shaped by gently rolling agricultural land rather than one dramatic mountain or lake view.
From the farmhouse, restaurant areas, pathways, patio, and visitor building, the landscape may include:
- Vineyard rows following the contours of the land
- Orchard trees and gardens
- Mature deciduous and evergreen trees
- Working farm areas
- Low hills around the Cowichan Valley
- Open rural sky
- Seasonal flowers and ground cover
- Heritage and contemporary buildings
The setting feels sheltered and pastoral. Mature vegetation gives some areas an enclosed garden character, while the more open vineyard sections create longer views across the property.
The country-road approach
Unsworth is located along a quiet rural road surrounded by farms and rolling countryside.
The approach to the estate is part of its visual identity. Visitors leave the busier highway network and travel through a landscape of fields, wooded properties, rural homes, agricultural buildings, and small roads.
This transition helps the property feel removed from the city even though it remains within practical driving distance of Victoria and Nanaimo.
Because Cowichan Valley businesses are distributed across rural roads, route planning is important. A structured Victoria Holy Sip full-day tour helps coordinate transportation, travel time, property availability, and the overall schedule.
Seasonal character at Unsworth
Spring
Spring brings new growth to the vineyard, gardens, orchards, and surrounding trees. Flower beds become more prominent, while fresh green tones appear across the estate.
Summer
During summer, the property has its fullest appearance. Vineyard rows, gardens, orchard trees, and landscaping create layers of green around the farmhouse and modern visitor building.
Autumn
Autumn introduces gold, yellow, orange, and red tones. Vineyard leaves, orchard trees, and surrounding deciduous vegetation contrast with the darker evergreen trees.
Winter
Winter reveals more of the property’s underlying structure. Trellises, pathways, rooflines, farm buildings, and the contours of the land become easier to see when seasonal foliage is reduced.
Travellers comparing different times of year can read the seasonal guide to visiting Victoria wine country.
Unsworth’s role in the Cowichan Valley
Unsworth functions as an agricultural property, restaurant, employer, event venue, visitor destination, and regional business.
Its development reflects the broader growth of the Cowichan Valley as a destination built around local farms, food producers, rural landscapes, and independent hospitality businesses.
The estate also illustrates how older agricultural properties can be adapted over time. A historic farmhouse remains part of the business, while modern facilities allow the company to expand without removing the property’s original rural character.
Destination guides and regional planning information are available through the Sip Happens wine tour blog.
What makes Unsworth Vineyards distinctive?
Unsworth stands out because several different parts of the Cowichan Valley’s identity are visible within one property.
Notable features include:
- A business founded by Tim and Colleen Turyk in 2009
- An early-1900s farmhouse adapted for restaurant use
- Family and regional history reflected in the Unsworth name
- A rural Mill Bay location surrounded by working farms
- Vineyard rows, orchards, gardens, and mature trees
- A newer vineyard west of Duncan
- A contemporary winery designed by Simcic Architecture Studio
- Underground cellar and production spaces
- A glass-fronted building with a visible barrel wall
- Farm-to-table connections with Vancouver Island producers
- An emphasis on soil health, biodiversity, and land stewardship
- A blend of heritage and contemporary architecture
Together, these qualities make Unsworth one of the Cowichan Valley’s most visually varied rural properties.
Unsworth on a guided regional route
Unsworth may be considered when Sip Happens develops a Cowichan Valley itinerary from Victoria.
However, no individual property is guaranteed on every public tour. Routes may change according to:
- Property availability
- Group size
- Confirmed reservations
- Seasonal schedules
- Private events
- Road and traffic conditions
- Travel times between rural locations
- The overall flow of the day
Guests can review the Sip Happens wine tour FAQs for more information about transportation, itinerary planning, property requests, and tour-day arrangements.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Where is Unsworth Vineyards located?
Averill Creek Vineyard is located at 6552 North Road near Duncan, British Columbia. The property sits on the slopes of Mount Prevost in the Cowichan Valley.
How far is Averill Creek from Victoria?
Unsworth Vineyards is located at 2915 Cameron Taggart Road in Mill Bay, British Columbia. The property is in the southern Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island.
When was Unsworth Vineyards founded?
Tim and Colleen Turyk founded Unsworth in 2009 after purchasing a small vineyard and early-1900s farmhouse.
Why is the business called Unsworth?
Unsworth was the maiden name of founder Tim Turyk’s mother, Marjorie. The name was selected to honour the family’s heritage.
How large is the Unsworth property?
The wider Mill Bay farm has commonly been described as approximately 32 acres. Published company information indicates that about 10 acres at the estate are actively farmed as vineyard land.
Does Unsworth operate another vineyard?
Yes. The company has developed a second vineyard west of Duncan. Different published sources describe the newer property as approximately 40 to 43 acres.
Is the restaurant located in an old farmhouse?
Yes. The Restaurant at Unsworth occupies a restored farmhouse dating from the early 1900s. The building has been renovated while retaining its heritage character.
Who designed the newer winery building?
The contemporary winery and visitor facility was designed by Vancouver-based Simcic Architecture Studio.
What does the Unsworth landscape include?
The property includes vineyard rows, an apple and walnut orchard, herb and vegetable gardens, mature trees, lawns, flower beds, patios, pathways, heritage buildings, and modern facilities.
Who owns Unsworth Vineyards?
Unsworth was purchased in 2020 by Barbara Banke and Julia Jackson. The Turyk family and long-term team members have continued to contribute to the business.
Is Unsworth committed to sustainable farming?
Unsworth states that its farming approach emphasizes soil health, biodiversity, balanced ecosystems, regenerative thinking, and long-term land stewardship.
What kind of views are found at the estate?
Views include rolling vineyard land, gardens, orchard trees, farm buildings, mature forest, low hills, and the rural Cowichan Valley landscape.
Is Unsworth included on every Sip Happens tour?
No. Stops depend on property availability, reservations, timing, group requirements, seasonal operations, and route logistics.
