Prince Edward County, an island community just south of Belleville, has a long history of farmers, wine producers, and artisans.  What better way was there than to spend a few days in The County over this long spring weekend?

Thursday:  But first…  With our first reservation for Good Friday night, we had a night to spare so invited ourselves for dinner and a sleep-over at my cousin John’s and Elaine’s for Thursday (we had to pass by their home in Frankford to get to The County).  What a fun and relaxing start to our mini holiday!  About five years ago, John picked up a guitar so we were no sooner in their home before he and Steve were deep into music speak.  Elaine and I toasted our visit with a celebratory glass of wine and seven hours later! we all forced ourselves to go to bed.  Between conversation, a few bevies, a lovely dinner, and a musical evening (1 ukulele, 2 guitars, 3 singers), it was a huge surprise to everyone that midnight had come and gone.  There was certainly no lack of more conversation the next morning and, after a leisurely brunch, we finally moved on by mid-afternoon with an invitation to stop in on Tuesday night on our way home.  That’s certainly an option!

Friday:  With only about 60km (40 miles?) to travel, we checked into the Harrington House B&B soon after and promptly had a short nap before dinner!!!  The House is quite old and, although it had been recently renovated, our room was quite small – comfy, but small.  We were booked in for only two nights, then we were moving on.  (We were behind the top right window.  The other pictures are the common areas downstairs.)

Knowing there was a strong music influence in The County, I had done a little reconnaissance and lined up a variety of entertainment options for our stay.

We chose Jenica Rayne at The Acoustic Grill for Friday night.  This tiny brew pub in the equally tiny main town of Picton was jam packed but the hostess moved tables around, and even found other tables to squeeze into small spaces, resulting in us scoring a place close to the even tinier stage.  There was a limited menu of pub fare but the food was excellent.  Steve had a Caesar salad with his homemade angus burger and blue cheese; I had a tasty romaine and arugula salad with roasted red peppers, dried cranberries, candied pecans, feta cheese, and sirloin steak strips, topped off with a tangy raspberry vinaigrette.  He drank beer and I had the local Wapoos cider.  (We even had dessert, but don’t tell anyone.)

Jenica brought two other musicians with her – Brian, who played bongos and impressed with some pretty fabulous harmonica accompaniments, and Lynn, a bassist who also sang.  The harmonies those two women produced were enriching and close to magical.  It was an evening of original material and covers, all in the categories of folk, country, and soft rock.  If you are reading this, and don’t know me well, I couldn’t have been happier.

Saturday:  We slept well and got off to a late start, mostly because Steve and our host Brooke spent over an hour chatting, which should not be a big surprise to anyone who knows Steve.  As this is still off-season, with off-season rates, there was no breakfast provided so no obligation to be at a table to be fed.  The motel down the street had an all-day breakfast that not only was recommended by our host, but lived up to its reputation.  We didn’t leave there hungry.

Off we went to Belleville, specifically to Chapters as Steve needed reading material.  While in Belleville, we also found Arden’s Music Store which, of course, Steve had to check out.  Back in the County, and for my patience, we stopped in Bloomfield, known for its unique shops.  It did not live up to its reputation but it is the home to the Agranian Market, a small and quirky little restaurant where we ate dinner.  We both had a lovely homemade tomato basil soup followed by sausages and beans for Steve and gourmet grilled goat cheese with tomato and pesto for me.  Chris Bonham-Carter was scheduled to entertain downstairs in the smaller Speakeasy but, by the time we finished dinner, there was standing room only.  So, we returned to the Acoustic Grill.

As much as I loved the music from the previous night, Mark Sepic didn’t really do it for me.  He had quite the eclectic program, though, (for example, a very jazzy version of Spider Man and the Hockey Night in Canada theme song) and Steve really appreciated his technical guitar skills.

There was more conversation between Steve and our host on Sunday morning so we had another late start.  I am a patient wife…   For the first time in my life, and perhaps the last time, I ate steak and eggs for breakfast – that was a lot of protein, not to mention food on my plate.

This was the day we moved on…  to Huff Estates Winery Inn. We were able to check in early (1pm) and our accommodations were so much nicer, including a free wine tasting and bottle of wine of our choice each of the two days we were there – quite a bit more upscale, thanks to off-season rates again.

    

    

    

The Rotary Club was sponsoring two hikes to two falls, both on private property, and the only opportunity for the general public to check them out.  We started with Jackson’s Falls and, by the time we poked around and took lots of pictures, there wasn’t enough time for the other one.

   

That night, we ate at the Barley Room Pub at The Waring House.  We shared some calamari.  Steve had the pasta special – ziti with sundried tomato and olive sauce.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed the seafood tortellini with shrimp, mussels, scallops and lemon pesto, it didn’t enjoy me and, by 2am, I was in the bathroom.  But before then, we enjoyed more musical entertainment by Cliff Edwards and another guy who played well but definitely didn’t want to be in the forefront.  Turns out, Cliff, his wife Ann Ralph, and a few others, formed the rock group, The Bells, out of Montreal back in the late 60’s (Fly Little White Dove, Fly).  Out of the three nights of entertainment, Cliff was the most low-key and the one who played the most recognizable songs.  Confession time – I did a lot of singing along.

On Monday, thanks to that sketchy seafood I ate the previous night, I still wasn’t well, so had only yogurt and tea for breakfast.  But, Huff Estates has a unique sculpture garden, which we strolled through for over an hour and, by the time we were done, I was feeling much better.

    

   

   

                          

There’s an eastern wine route in the County, which we followed, intending to stop at two cheese factories.  Unfortunately, Fifth Town Artisanal Cheese was closed, but Black River was open and we bought some cheddars and crackers which we ate at a picnic table over-looking Lake Ontario at Sandbanks.

Considering how close Sandbanks is to Montreal and Toronto, it’s quite unbelievable that I’ve never been there before.  The beach is long and spectacular, which most people already know.  After our unexpected picnic lunch, we strolled along the beach and I couldn’t resist this photo opportunity, especially considering the ice was off the lake only two weeks previous.  Yes, it was COLD!

    

    

We liked the Acoustic so much, we went back there for one last dinner.

It poured all day Tuesday – a good day to travel.  Steve had left his watch on the night table at John’s and Elaine’s, so we returned for a do-over (and traded the watch for the steaks we brought with us).  Did you know that the area surrounding Frankford is cheese country?  From a cheese map we picked up in Picton, we drove an arc through back country roads, stopping – and buying (for a small fortune) – a variety of cheeses before we arrived in Frankford.  We also made a quick stop at Church-Key Brewing just outside of Campbellford and brought a few of those goodies with us to accompany those steaks.

Even though we didn’t go far from home, we enjoyed a jam-packed week and a very excellent way to spend an Easter vacation.