Our Story - MareGold Centre

Who We Are — Russell & Maryna Floren

MareGold · Victoria Beach & Annapolis Royal · Nova Scotia

MareGold takes its name from two truths. The marigold is one of herbal medicine's most powerful healing plants. And mare — the sea in Italian — turns to gold every evening as the sun drops into the Bay of Fundy. One kilometre of coastline glowing at the end of every day. That is MareGold. Healing and golden.

In 2017 Russell and Maryna found acres of untouched coastal Nova Scotia — open fields, deep forest, three coves, and a kilometre of oceanfront. They walked the land, stood on the cliffs, and it spoke to them. From that moment MareGold was built from nothing — with passion, creativity, and love.

Russell is a filmmaker, publisher, author, antique dealer, auctioneer, and cabin builder who has spent over 50 years documenting vanishing history through his company Lynx Images — 20 films and 40 books, from Europe to Easter Island. At MareGold he builds unique handcrafted cabins, runs a world class curated nonfiction bookshop of over 10,000 titles, and hosts three specialist live antique auctions each year.

Maryna is a medical herbalist, wild forager, biodynamic gardener, botanical cosmetics maker, and herbal educator — originally from Ukraine where she learned plants alongside her grandmother. Trained at the University of East London, she now practices by appointment at MareGold Bookstore in Annapolis Royal, working with over 100 herbs to create individually designed treatments for each client.

Their twins Venezia and Nikolai are six years old and growing up at MareGold — checking in guests, tending the garden, learning to build, and understanding the medicinal plants that grow around them.

Everything at MareGold is curated, crafted, and grown with care. Nothing here arrived by accident.