Great day in the County – November 2020

Wow our weather lately has been amazing ! It has been unseasonably warm, 15-20 Celsius and it is supposed to continue for a few days. So this past Friday, we decided to drive to Prince Edward County, this is one of my favourite areas and I have blogged about it before. Depending on where we are going it takes us from 30-50 minutes to get there. PEC (Prince Edward County) has lots of little villages and towns, the three primary ones being Picton, Wellington and Bloomfield. If you like touristy areas, this is the place for you to go.

We quite often stop at Campbells Orchards on the way for a fresh scone and to buy some applies and vegetables. This is a great place for fresh produce and fresh pastries but we did not stop here today, we had come here a few days ago to purchase apples. We like to make a bunch of apple crisp and freeze them.

But I digress………on to the County….first stop Wellington Bakery. This is without question our favourite bakery in North America. And trust me, we have been to a LOT of bakeries. My husband LOVES pastries and baked goods, I cannot stress this enough, if he sees a bakery sign, we’re going. One time we were in a city in Northern Ontario, in a sketchy neighbourhood I might add, but he had spotted a bakery sign and there was no stopping him. Unfortunately it was located right next door to a Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang Headquarters, we DID NOT LINGER. lol

But I digressed yet again, so back to the county. Joe and Lorie are wonderful people who run Wellington Bakery. I love their chelsea buns while Clint goes for their cinnamon buns and cookies. They also have terrific breads, buns, croissants and more. The ham and cheese croissants fresh out of the oven are so delicious.

On to Wellington Bay; there are usually lots of ducks and swans there but none today so we will continue on………

We drove around the area at Isaiah Tubbs Resort and found this little cabin.

We ended up at the Sandbanks Provincial Park and parked and walked around the shoreline of Lake Ontario. We took a trail through the forest while we were there.

Then we headed to Point Petrie. We stopped here and there. One of the dirt roads we took, (sometimes we take roads maybe we shouldn’t) but this one was okay. We do have an off road truck so we can do a lot of traveling that most vehicles can’t do. I like this look below, I tried it in B&W and left it in colour. What do you think?

We always find strange things when we are off on dirt roads. One time this year as we were off roading, we found a pink bra hanging from a tree; today we found keys hanging in a tree and then someone’s undergarments!

Most of the roads we did today were okay, lots of water puddles though which is odd because it hasn’t rained for quite a while.

We found the cutest spot on the beach and someone had spray painted writing and pictures on these huge rocks.

We headed to Prince Edward Point National Wildlife area and drove some dirt roads off the main road. We drove out to Little Bluffs Conservation Area but it has been closed off so we couldn’t walk the bluffs.

Well we left about 830 this morning and now it’s after lunch so time to check out a couple of craft breweries that have opened in the past year before we head home. We haven’t had a chance to check them out so here we go!

First off, Slake Brewing Company located in Picton. I could not believe the road to get to it! It’s 0.7 kilometres from the road to the parking lot and a very winding road ! All we could think was, who is plowing this in the winter ? lol We didn’t stay, but we did buy some beer to take home and we haven’t had it yet but it’s a very interesting spot, we’ll eventually make it back there. They are open Friday to Sunday 11-6 pm and Wednesday and Thursday 12- 6 pm. Not sure if they change to winter hours or not.

Then we went to Prince Eddy’s Brewery in Picton, we have been here many times. I particularly like their Cream Ale and So Many Friends NEIPA. We bought a few new ones there to take home. They also have an on site food truck serving Caribean Fusion food. We didn’t stay so I am not sure if they still use them, but years ago when we went there for the first time, we got a taster tray, or sampler tray. They served the beer in small taster glasses and then put them on a skateboard. With the WHEELS LEFT ON! ………..well this was a disaster waiting to happen! It kept trying to roll off the table. Too funny.

Next stop is Matron Fine Beer located in Bloomfield. The road getting to the brewery was, well interesting to say the least, but they did warn us with a sign. This is a cute place and they are still working on it, at least I hope they are! They are building a second outdoor patio at the back of the building. The inside is really cute and they have lots of room. We purchased some beer to take home, including IPAs and ales. They make lower alcohol beers, all under 6.5% and they are in small cans, 355 ml. They have a large outdoor patio at the front of the building. The brewery is open Thursday 12-5 pm; Friday and Saturday 12- 7 pm and Sunday 12-5 pm.

Last stop was Gillingham Brewery, I think one of my new favourites. This was a cute spot and they have a terrific outdoor space, particularly in this pandemic. They have 4 separate walled areas with picnic tables for seating with heaters; two tables in the centre with gas fireplace tables and then of course they have a big campfire with Adirondack chairs all around. We were able to get a warm spot at one of the picnic tables. We shared a taster tray (maybe two) as well as purchasing some for home. I love IPA’s and they had a terrific IPA called Down Yonder. And they had a Porter for Clint as that is what he likes. Open Thursdays 12-5 pm; Friday and Saturdays 1130-6 pm and Sundays 1130-5 pm. I really like this place and I wanna go back………soon.

So that was our day, great day, long day but I would do it again tomorrow!