Hey Ottawa peeps – got a question for you! Now that the snow is melting and the sun is bright, the sap is running and it’s maple syrup season again. Hooray for spring!!
My brother and his family are coming up to visit for the March Break, and I thought it would be fun to do Sunday morning breakfast at a sugar shack, so I’m collating a list of the best ones in the area. Bare necessities include family-friendly pancake breakfast and maple taffy on the snow, but bonus points for easy hiking trails, wagon rides, animals, and play structures or activities for the kids. I’d prefer something on the Ontario side of the river, but if you know of a really stellar cabane à sucre in la belle province, let me know! Charm also wins out over cafeteria-style folding chairs and stacking tables.
Mmmmm, maple sugar…
And, à propos of nothing, but possibly segueing on the theme of spring, can I show off this picture that I took yesterday that I think is one of my best so far?
Sort of captures the whole spring-melt-sunshine-on-snow feeling of maple season, doesn’t it?
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Proulx Farm! http://www.proulxberryfarm.com/
Weekend activities include: (From their website:)
Watch the sap being collected in the individual buckets from our sugar maple trees some being more then 200 years old.
Visit the syrup shack to see and smell the sap being transformed into real maple syrup. We still produce our syrup using wood burning fires, and bottle it on the premises. Syrup price list
Enjoy a pancake meal or a full traditional sugar bush meal.
Have a taste of the real 100% pure taffy on snow
Horse drawn hay rides through the maple bush.
Nature walking trails.
Visit the petting farm – Touch, feed and learn.
Go on the giant slide, double slide, enjoy the old fort or the view of the farm from the lookout.
Several play parks and structures are also provided for your enjoyment.
We love going here in the summer for strawberry picking, and in the fall to pick our pumpkins and go on hayrides. I’m sure there are other locations around the city, too but this is a great one if you haven’t gone yet!
Temple’s is good but Wheeler’s is the best. They’ve got lots to do there.
http://www.wheelersmaple.com/
Fulton’s is highly overrated if you ask me.
I like Fulton’s for the family stuff outside but their food is bleh. I really like Sand Road Sugar Camp in Moose Creek http://www.sandroadsugarcamp.com/. Really really good food (all you can eat!) and great walking trails.
i agree fultons is good but the food is expensive as well. love the photo!
We have only done Fultons (http://www.fultons.ca/) – not sure why, I think someone recommended it to us. We were impressed, but of course have had nothing else with which to compare it. We are planning to try another one this weekend.
Proulx Farm, just down the street form me
Thank you for all these links! This is our first spring in the Ottawa area (moved from Calgary), so this will be our first chance to visit a sugar shack. I’ve saved all these links to look at with hubs, but for now I’m leaning towards Proulx Farm. Does anyone have links to other farms on the QC side??
Amy, Proulx Farm is a great choice, we love it there, year round there is something to do!
I’ve only ever been to Fultons, and we didn’t go in for pancakes. But they had cotton candy spun from maple sugar which was just divine. We had fun on the walking trails and enjoyed the sleigh ride.
You might want to try the only urban sugar shack in North America. The Vanier Sugar Shack. http://www.sugarbushvanier.com/index.php The site hasn’t been updated for this year’s Sugar Fest, but the number is there for reservations. It’s a tiny shack so you need to reserve. There are walking trails through the Vanier Forest. Short and sweet and perfect for little ones. There is a park and also the Vanier annex of the Public Library if the weather is bust. Can’t say I know about how good the food is though. They do the taffy pull and everything and they have been open for business since last week.
I don’t know the Ottawa area, so I can’t offer up suggestions, but be prepared for one glitch. Last year when I went to a sugar bush, I was informed that there would be no more taffy on snow due to hygienic reasons. Hopefully your local bush folks didn’t get that memo.
Stanley’s Olde Maple Lane Farm! Hands down. I’m salivating just thinking about that breakfast — and it’s got all that other fun farm stuff, too!
http://www.stanleysfarm.com/
Can’t wait for spring to stay lamb-like. It’s time to be out!
(love the fence shot — just gorgeous)
Quebec option – http://www.domaineangegardien.ca
Went there last year – food was excellent, very authentic, but you must reserve! If you want a traditional Quebecois meal, this is the place!
Not much for scenery, though – you’ll see on the website that they’re a family business that has diversified to include a toboggan run and a campground.
We got there after the wagon rides were done for the year due to mud, so you may want to go soon.
My brother-in-law and his wife just purchased The Sand Road Sugar Camp (soon to be renamed Sand Road Maple Farms), just off Hwy 138. Its a work in progress for them, but the food is excellent, and they have horse & wagon rides for the kiddies, plus an outdoor play structure, and some short, yet beautiful trails to explore.
I recently did a post about our first adventure there…
http://fromthedeskofsara.blogspot.com/2010/03/trip-to-sand-road-sugar-camp.html