Anne's fictional Green Gables home.

Photo: Tourism PEI/John Sylvester

The delightful home town of author Lucy Maud Montgomery is the setting for her famed Anne of Green Gables series.

These days, tourists far outnumber fiery redheaded orphans and Anne's fictional House of Green Gables is now the most visited site on Prince Edward Island. The heritage-listed house is now also part of Prince Edward Island National Park, a prime bird-watching, hiking and swimming destination boasting 45 kilometres of stunning coastline. The park's most popular swimming area is Cavendish Beach with its signature soft white sand and large dunes.

While in Cavendish, it is also possible to visit the farmhouse where Montgomery wrote the book that spawned a thousand pigtails.

For avid Anne fans there's even a theme park - Avonlea: Village of Anne of Green Gables - where cheery staff in period garb recreate local life in the 19th century.