Canada: Ontario, Laid-Back Family Friendly Resorts in the Kawarthas - Cottage Life with all the Amenities. 
Only 90 minutes northeast of Toronto near Peterborough, ON, the Kawarthas are a beautiful mass of green and blue: about 134 lakes stretch along the Trent-Severn Waterway, weaving between pine forest, stony rock, farmland and sandy beach.
This “land of shining waters,” the aboriginal meaning of Kawartha, has long been known as an ideal rural retreat.
But lesser known are some of the small family resorts set on these lakes: not the big-name hotels and inns where activities and amenities and scheduling take place on a grand scale, but the hidden gems—the small resorts run by families—for families that are open all-year round.
My husband and kids and I visited two such resorts last week. In both, we stayed in a cottage, but with many of our meals cooked for us in a main inn overlooking the water, with all-day kids’ programs and access to horseback riding, golfing, swimming and boating.
Elmhirst’s Resort. The best view I got of Elmhirst’s Resort was from a two-seater Piper Cub plane that resort owner Peter Elmhirst piloted over this expansive property on the north shore of Rice Lake near Keene, ON. From about 500 feet above, we could see how glaciers had formed eskers parallel to the mainland, creating diagonal strips of green against the rippling water.
A long-time veteran of the Kawarthas, Peter’s knowledge of the land and its history reflect his love affair with the region. “Can you see that colony of blue heron nests?” he asked, pointing to some 250 nests settled into the treetops below us.
Through the rumble of the engine, he speaks into a microphone, with the three of us connected by headsets: we see the osprey nest, the native reserve, a sacred burial mound, and—over their own property—the long strip of 30 white cottages, each with their own front lawns and private docks, along the waterfront.
Elmhirst’s first opened as a small fishing camp for American families in the 1920s and now operates as both a family resort and working farm, with several of the family’s four generations living and working on site.
A sprawling 240 acres, with a mile of shoreline, Elmhirst’s location is a big draw. But so is its kids’ program in summer, and the many activities that kids—big and small—can engage in year-round. Each hole of the neighbouring 18-hole golf course has a view of the lake, the fishing on Rice Lake is purported to be some of the best around, and riding lessons, trail rides and sightseeing flights are available daily. There is also a spa in the main inn.
In summer, the Treehouse junior recreation program runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays. Kids aged three to 10 do everything from arts and crafts to building sand castles, tubing, pony rides and canoe lessons. But even when there aren’t supervised programs, there’s lots to keep families occupied. On a hot, humid Saturday in early July, we take our kids swimming in the outdoor heated pool, then join the 11 am farm tour, where we take a horse-drawn wagon up to the barns for a pony ride, with a stop to feed the chickens. Then there’s tubing in the afternoon.
“They’ve got everything,” says one Toronto mother.
“I like the privacy,” comments another, who says she prefers the laid-back cottage set up here to some of the fancier hotel chains she’s been to elsewhere in Ontario.
Elements of this resort feel very basic—the cottages have everything you need, but without the antiques or treasured knick-knacks that you see in cottages that have been in the family for generations. But then the food and wine experience is surprisingly high end. In the Hearthside dining room, which overlooks the water in the main building, their elaborate menu includes the option of a three-course prix-fixe overseen by chef de cuisine Michael Sterpin who once worked at Truffles at the Four Seasons. There’s an extensive wine list boasting 170 Canadian varietals, and weekly wine tastings in their underground wine cellar.
The Sunday buffets are also a big draw. A chef serves made-to-order fruit crepes drizzled in chocolate, waffles fresh off the press, and omelettes with eggs from the farm. There’s a seafood table, a dessert table to rival the most upscale Jewish wedding, and a carving station that includes Black Angus beef raised on the property.
On my last morning, I met Peter’s partner Anne Marshall at the main building at 8:00 a.m. for our power walk. She arrives on a blue moped, holding a wire basket of eggs she has plucked from under the chickens only minutes before. A certified Nordic pole walker, Anne has taken part in charity hikes in as far-away destinations as Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China.
With white hair, a robust energy and tanned clear complexion, I work hard to keep up with her steady clip through some of the resort’s 18 kms of trails, winding through woods, across pastures and hay fields and up the hill beyond the barn, where we share a view with the horses of the glistening lake far below.
Irwin Inn. The Irwin Inn is so understated we almost miss it. Turning onto a small gravel road marked “Irwin Road,” we drive our final few minutes past private cottages until we see an old phone booth and a small oval sign for the inn. To the left, there’s a lovely stone patio shrouded by trees and the office where a young woman hands us the keys to the Scottford, one of their premier cottages overlooking the lake: it’s stunning. We have our own little private pool on the deck, a large master bedroom with a king-sized bed on the main floor, and a double bed for the kids in the upstairs loft. We have separate bathrooms on each floor, and a kitchen and living room area overlooking the lake.
This family resort on Stoney Lake, near Lakefield, Ontario first opened in 1947. Since then, it has undergone gradual renovations, with all the lakeside cottages and suites being upgraded to reflect new world comforts: private outdoor hot tubs, indoor Jacuzzis, wood-burning stoves set into stone fireplaces for candlelit dining in the winter, and free video rentals to cozy up to a movie before bed.
The place is a quirky mix of converging decades. You can relax and let your kids walk out onto the road by themselves like you must have when you were a kid: being on a dead end, the biggest worry is your kids’ ice cream falling out of its cone. And dinner in the evening means a five-course extravaganza. The meals tastes home-cooked, they’re delicious, they’re divine, and the buffet breakfast are all included in your package. But as you sit staring out the window, you realize that the floor underfoot is slanted slightly downward, and the stucco ceiling is so low that a really tall guest could bump his head.
It’s all part of a relaxed feeling. There is no real schedule here. It’s cottage living where you make the lunches and then get served hot food at breakfast and dinner that you’d likely never be able to whip up after a day of relaxation. The kids are off in a program that runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with an hour’s break for lunch. So while they make their papier-mache piñatas and throw water balloons on the beach, you can take a trail-ride through the woods, try a round of golf at the little family nine-hole golf course on the property or—if you’re a more serious golfer—the world-class Wildfire Golf Club only minutes away. Alternatively, you can relax on the beach with a book.
The two girls running the kids’ program are old enough to be responsible, but still young enough to play games like they’re enjoying themselves too. Our kids Antonia, 6, and Felix, 5, are so engrossed in the arts’ program, set up in the rainbow-coloured outdoor pavilion, that they forget to say good-bye when I drop them off.
Unfortunately, we’re only here for a few days, but the schedule for the rest of the week promises a fish fry on a nearby island that the Irwins also own, and a visit from the Reptile Zoo. Some weeks, the older kids will visit the neighbouring Petroglyphs Provincial Park to see the native carvings enscribed on the granite rock, and visit the nearby Warsaw caves.
In the evenings, you can join the kids for their activities, watching them being led around on ponies, taking a sunset cruise, or roasting marshmallows on the beach. And then you retire to your cottage, wiping the sand from your feet, feeling the sun drenched in your skin as you tuck your kids into bed for the night, and sit back, with a glass of wine, to stare out at the darkening sky.
