Welcome to the Bunny Palace.
It’s tucked away on six acres of Nova Scotia countryside, where blueberries grow, tractors rumble, and two very special rabbits once ruled the roost.
For Luci and Winnie, what followed was friendship, daily adventures, plenty of blueberries – and a bond that continues even after one of them has gone.
This story began with the love of rabbits.
Courta Smith Scott and her 11-year-old daughter, Cielle, live on six acres they bought without ever seeing in person, all the way from Florida. They arrived in Nova Scotia just one week before the first COVID-19 lockdown and immediately began renovating their farmhouse.
Today, Courta works from home and runs a small competitive dance program in her community. Cielle dances with her mom, runs a roadside farm stand, cares for the family’s bunnies – and even drives the tractor too.
It’s a busy household.
But there has always been room for rabbits.
“Bunnies are the easiest pets to have,” Courta says. “They can live in the house or in their own barn.”
The family’s rabbits have a barn of their own, complete with a large run and a fenced outdoor area where they can safely explore. They have a garden to eat from, plenty of space to hop around, and even a blueberry patch that provides both snacks and fertilizer.
The rabbits’ waste gets swept onto the blueberry bushes as fertilizer. The blueberries are then eaten by the rabbits. It’s a remarkably efficient system.
For Courta and Cielle, there is another benefit to sharing their lives with rabbits. 
“Bunnies don’t make any noise, which is important to us as neurosensitive people,” she admitted. “And they are soft and full of love.”
Courta and Cielle had cared for a few rabbits over the years, including a pair of Continental Giants and a tiny Rex. They loved having rabbits around – especially the amusing pairing of a giant and a mini bunny.
But eventually, all of their rabbits passed away, leaving their hearts – and the Bunny Palace – feeling empty.
Then Courta was scrolling through Instagram one day when she spotted Monty.
Monty was at the Cape Breton Shelter and had been there for a long time.
Courta couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“I wrote them and said, ‘If you do transport to mainland, I’ll pick her up and give her a home until the end of her time.'”
At first, she was told the shelter wasn’t able to do a transfer. Then, a week later, the message came: Was she still interested? Would she pick Monty up in Dartmouth?
Courta didn’t hesitate.
“Let me know when she’s ready to come home,” she responded.
When the day came to pick up Monty, Courta decided to surprise Cielle.
But there was another surprise – a different bunny was ready for a home that day, too.
Winnie.
The decision was practically made for them.
“They’ve gotta have a friend!”
So, the family brought both rabbits home.
And Monty got a little something extra, too: a brand-new name. She became Luci, named after Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery – such a lady of dignity and poise. Though, these days, the dignified Luci also answers to Looses, Lucy Goosey, Goosey and simply Goose.
Winnie was named Winnie after Winnie-the-Pooh, they assumed. Courta suspected the name suited her because of her colouring, which reminded her of the beloved storybook character.
Two rabbits.
Two names with literary stories of their own.
And one new friendship.
The pair couldn’t have been more different. 
Luci: the social one.
She comes running to greet anyone who enters the barn and loves sitting in the doorway in the sunshine. On hot days, she can be found relaxing in the dirt patch in her outdoor run. She also loves her daily “hop abouts” outside the barn.
Luci is also an excellent digger. Unfortunately, her family did not appreciate her decision to dig a tunnel underneath the barn. They did cover the hole – and they suspect Luci may not have completely forgave them.
Winnie: more timid.
A sound could send her running to hide. Even though Courta and Cielle visited her every morning and evening with fresh greens and supervised her outdoor adventures, Winnie needed a little more time before she felt comfortable coming out to greet them.
But she had Luci.
And she had a safe place to be herself.
Together, the two rabbits became part of the family. They also became mini celebrities. Everyone wanted to meet them. Everyone wanted to pet them. And everyone wanted to feed them blueberries by hand.
“They also never say no to bananas!” Courta says.
The family admits rabbits make wonderful companions, but there are responsibilities that can surprise people. Rabbits can be messy. They chew. Their bedding needs to be changed regularly. And they have their own ideas about interior decorating.
“Rabbits prefer a messy space, so they will intentionally throw things around and make a mess,” Courta says.
For some families, that can make keeping a rabbit indoors more difficult than expected.
For Luci and Winnie, having their own dedicated space meant they could live more naturally, with room to move, explore and exercise.
They didn’t live in cages.
They had room to hop.
And when the holidays came around, they even got special visits inside the house. The rabbits would come in for presents and playtime with Maci, the family’s indoor cat.
Sometimes Maci would visit the Bunny Palace in her carrier, always under supervision.
It was a little family of four-legged friends, each with their own personality.
And for a while, it was exactly the family Courta and Cielle had hoped for.
Unfortunately, several weeks ago, they had to say goodbye to Winnie. Her passing came quickly and unexpectedly. The family had already been through a difficult health scare with Winnie in March 2026, when she suffered a parasitic infection. But, this time, there was no warning. Winnie’s condition progressed too quickly.
And suddenly, the Bunny Palace felt different.
Luci felt the loss, too.
“She has been a bit down since Winnie’s sudden departure,” Courta says.
But Winnie isn’t far away.
Her family buried her in the blueberry patch beside Luci’s Bunny Palace. 
There, she can remain close to her best friend.
“She can watch over her until they hop together again.”
It is a quiet ending to a story that brought two rabbits together from very different beginnings.
But it is also a reminder of just how much these small animals can mean to the people who welcome them into their lives.
For Courta and Cielle, rabbits aren’t simply pets.
They are family.
They bring companionship without noise, affection without demands, and plenty of personality to a six-acre farm in Nova Scotia.
And Luci is still there, eating blueberries from the bushes beside her Bunny Palace, exploring her enclosure and keeping busy with her daily “hop abouts.”
She also has the cat, as Maci still comes to check on her – under careful supervision, of course.
Luci may have lost her best friend, but she hasn’t lost her family.
And every blueberry she eats beside that Bunny Palace is a little reminder of the friend who shared them with her.
Winnie may no longer be hopping around the farm.
But she will always have a place there.
Right beside Luci.
Right beside the blueberries.
And right where she was always meant to be.