Canada’s underrated answer to the Hamptons – halfway between Montreal and Toronto

This lakeside enclave in Ontario is home to a host of chic boutique hotels, beaches and wineries, perfect for an autumn escape

Fields dense with towering corn stalks whipped past the car window, each seemingly presided over by a postcard-perfect red farmhouse drenched in afternoon sun. As the country lane veered, a wide expanse of cobalt blue water scattered with sailboats came into view. We had arrived in Prince Edward County, a 1000-square-kilometre barnacle of land attached by a narrow isthmus to the northern (Canadian) edge of Lake Ontario. 
Many have compared this quiet enclave on Lake Ontario’s northern shore to the Hamptons, the holiday hotspot beloved of New Yorkers. Much like its American counterpart, the region is blessed with sandy beaches, wineries, excellent restaurants – many set up by ex-Toronto chefs who gave up city life during the pandemic – and intimate boutique hotels. Though unlike the Hamptons, “the County” as it’s known to locals, is a well-kept secret outside of Canada.
If spending time in Toronto or Montreal, the Ontario countryside makes an excellent addendum and while summer might be the prime time to visit, autumn has its own appeal as the surrounding pine forests turn shades of fire engine red and gold and the crowds return to their city lives. 
Just 124 miles from Toronto, the 13-room Drake Devonshire (rooms from £215 per night not including breakfast) in Wellington is the rural outpost of the much-lauded downtown Toronto hotel of the same name. The hotel sits on Prince Edward County’s southern shore and on our visit its buzzing patio and adjacent lakeside lounge chairs teemed with thirty-somethings from Toronto and steel-coloured waves crashed onto the rocks beneath them.
With a view of the water, we feasted on hamachi crudo and herb-crusted halibut with East Coast mussels. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we made our way to the beachside campfires to toast marshmallows for s’mores, making our first night in Prince Edward County feel like an adult summer camp.
The next day we woke up to a downpour. Fortunately, the Drake’s central location makes it easy to reach several bars and restaurants by foot: the Creekside Cafe, Midtown Brewing Company and vintage-inspired cocktail bar, Duchess and Mexican spot, La Condesa, among them. 
During the summer months, beach days in the dune-filled Sandbanks Provincial Park — about a 20-minute drive from Wellington — are a requisite. Here, mountains of pristine white sand pour into shallow crystalline waters teeming with daytripping families and the occasional windsurfer. 
However, in the cooler, quieter Autumn, the park offers great hiking and walking trails amidst the orange-tinged sugar maples and towering pine trees. Kayaking, canoeing or sailing the region’s more than 500 kilometres of shoreline are also popular pursuits. Along the Black River, a meandering waterway on the eastern side of the county, paddlers can spot wading herons, grazing deer and an abundance of cotton-tailed bunnies. 
For generations, Prince Edward County existed only as a rural farming community, but several decades ago industrious Canadian wine growers discovered its fertile, limestone-rich soil, warm microclimate and identical latitude to Burgundy, France, which make it an excellent terrain for cold climate wines. Wine tours abound in the region, offering to shuttle visitors around the numerous vineyards either by bike or car. We headed for the so-called Taste Trail, a country lane populated by a succession of independent vineyards, distilleries and breweries where we sampled sweet sparkling rosés at the Hinterland Wine Company, fruity Rieslings at the Grange Winery and admired the contemporary art at Huff Estates Winery’s sculpture park, Oeno Gallery.
In late November, the county’s wineries come alive as they celebrate the harvest and their yearly tradition of Wassail (the name is taken from the Old Norse toast ves heill – “be well”), a multi-weekend event in which participants tour the various vineyards stamping wine passports, huddling around bonfires and singing Christmas carols. The festival represents the official closing of the season before winemakers have to bury their vines to protect them from the oncoming winter freeze. Around the same time, the annual Countylicious food festival sees restaurants in the region offering multi-course prix fixe menus at significantly reduced prices. 
Many of these restaurants are clustered in and around the town of Picton, where we dined on our final night. There’s no lack of choice along Picton’s charmingly anachronistic high street, a quiet row of mostly Georgian-style brick shopfronts. Elevated tapas are served at Bocado, refined Italian at Onesta, thoughtful small plates at Theia and even Korean dishes at Sujeo. Flame + Smith, a few minutes away in Bloomfield, serves a perfectly charred burger and an adana kebab served over a fluffy pita made in-house — both grilled theatrically on an open flame at the back of the restaurant.
The last stop on our trip was Mirazule (£425 per night including breakfast), a strikingly modern four-room bed and breakfast run by Ian Nelmes and Miguel De Lemos, who were waiting for us with a glass of local, unoaked chardonnay when we arrive, their matching, shaggy black Dutch sheepdogs bounced at their feet. Designed by Toronto architecture firm blackLAB, the property projects over the crest of a hill on the eastern shore of an 18-hectare wooded property and each of the tastefully decorated rooms naturally offers a panoramic view of the lake. From the garden, guests can make their way down a winding staircase to a private wooden dock to swim in the deep, chilly water or simply admire the setting of a beautiful pine forest and placid bay. 
On our last morning, sitting around the breakfast table at Mirazule, we watch the waves lap across the water under cloudy skies as Ian and Miguel cook farm-fresh eggs and bacon in the kitchen somewhere out of view. The other guests, all couples from Toronto and the surrounding area, trade tips about their favourite secret beaches and restaurants in the county — precious information from longtime visitors that you’ll have to meet in person to find out.
Air Canada flies direct from Heathrow to Toronto Pearson from £470 roundtrip
Laura May Todd was a guest of The Drake Devonshire and Mirazule and received a discount rate at The Ace, Toronto.

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