Alexandra Blake owns Olivia and Company, a book store on Main St. in historic and picturesque Picton. The store has an impressive array of titles -- more than 30,000 of them.

Walk down intriguing Main St. in Picton, and whether you're a book lover or not, you're sure to notice at No. 182 a big and inviting used book store called Olivia and Company.

Step inside, and in the Poet's Corner, you'll spot a big friendly ginger cat snoozing in one of the many comfortable chairs.

You've met the Olivia part of the store's name.

Next, you're likely to meet a welcoming lady named Alexandra Bake. Born to a Dutch father and New Zealand mother in Bangkok, she's the "and Company" part of the bookstore's name.

Since she came to Picton and bought the book store in 2004, she has made Olivia and Company known across Ontario as a book lover's haven and cultural centre. Collectors come from all over the province to spend whole days there, browsing, reading and buying. On the third Thursday of every month, after closing time at 6 p.m., Bake hosts a reading evening at which authors, volunteers, or sometimes Bake, read aloud from favourite books. One summer evening this year, Saskatoon author David Carpenter read some of his work, accompanied by a musician on double bass.

The rest of Main St. -- the rest of the town for that matter (population about 6,000) -- is well worth a visit, summer or winter, for its variety of shops and eating places in handsome historic buildings. Founded about 1786 by United Empire Loyalists, it was first named Hallowell and later Picton after Major General Sir Thomas Picton, who was killed at the Battle of Waterloo.

Alexandra Bake's story is an interesting one. Her father was working for Shell oil in Thailand when she was born. She grew up there and later in Spain, was sent to boarding school in England and later to Grenoble, France, where she met Canadian students who told her about Queen's University in Kingston and persuaded her to enrol.

She graduated from Queen's in English and philosophy, had to return to England when her student visa expired, but returned to Canada as soon as she could. She worked as a graphic designer in Toronto until her parents decided to retire to Picton where she joined them.

Selling her Toronto house and investing her savings, Bake bought the book store and has since settled down happily in Picton.

I found the big store delightful, and was amazed at its variety -- 30,000 titles -- with lots of Canadian history.

On one shelf, I spotted a book I've been seeking for years. Sidelights of History is a 1975 autographed work by Judy Shiels and Mary Appleby about historic houses in Etobicoke, where I live.

GETTING THERE

Picton, the seat of Prince Edward County, is about 210 km east of Toronto.

For information about the town,call 613-476-9251 or log on to picton-bia.on.ca.

The phone number for Olivia and Company is 613-471-1895. Among the town's attractions are its Crystal Palace and Birdhouse City on Macaulay Mountain.

To get there, take Hwy. 401 east to Hwy. 49 at Exit 566. Go south on Hwy. 49, crossing a bridge over the Bay of Quinte to the town.