Fredericton, New Brunswick

Situated 100km or so inland from the Bay of Fundy on the banks of the Saint John River, FREDERICTON, the capital of New Brunswick, has a well-padded air, the streets of its tiny centre graced by well-established elms and genteel villas. There's scarcely any industry here and the population of 81,000 mostly work for the government or the university, at least partly fulfilling the aims of one of the town's aristocratic sponsors, who announced in 1784: "it shall be the most gentlemanlike place on earth". Fredericton has few specific sights, but the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the gift of that crusty old reactionary Lord Beaverbrook (1879–1964), is outstanding and there are several intriguing reminders of the British army in the handful of buildings that have survived from the old Military Compound.