Country charm across the border – Quebec’s Eastern Townships
AYER’S CLIFF, QUEBEC — When the newly minted United States of America declared its independence from England, several thousand Americans — including many loyalists — left the country to settle newly available lands across the border in Quebec’s Eastern Townships.
Many generations later, Americans are still hopping across the border to enjoy the area’s rolling hills and pristine lakes, all a mere 75 minutes east of urban Montreal.
If you choose to fly in as we did from the U.S., consider Burlington, Vt.’s small, easy-to-handle airport, where you can rent a car and drive up through the Vermont countryside to the Quebec border.
If you go . . .
- http://www.easterntownships.org or call (800) 355-5755.
- http://www.manoirhovey.com or call (800) 661-2421.
- http://www.ripplecove.com or call (800) 668-4296.
- http://www.escapadesmemphremagog.com or call (819) 843-7000.
- For general Quebec travel, visit http://www.bonjourquebec.com or call (877) 266-5687.
Then it’s a short drive northward to Lake Massawippi, where two five-star inns owned by members of a local family offer what can be your first taste of legendary Quebec hospitality.
Auberge Ripplecove & Spa, on the southern shore of the lake near the village of Ayer’s Cliff, and Manoir Hovey on the northern end near the village of North Hatley, are easy-going places full of country charm and fine service.
They’re partially hidden away in a setting of birch and maple trees. The colors morph into riotous oranges and reds in the fall and succumb soon enough to winter’s snowy embrace, when sleigh bells punctuate the crisp Quebec air.
Visitors can enjoy both properties with a four-night package of two nights at each. When the weather is warmer, the package includes an inn-to-inn boat tour on Lake Massawippi or an inn-to-inn bike tour, with the inns supplying the bikes, daily packed lunch, and car and luggage transport.
There is no charge for the boat tour if passengers have lunch at one of the inns.
Ripplecove, owned by Jeffrey Stafford and his wife Debra, looks like a grand country home, its charming facade resting at the bottom of a grassy expanse on the other side of Lake Massawippi, over which migratory birds make their appearance every year.
When it was opened in 1945, Ripplecove was just a tiny summer fishing-and-hunting resort, opened by the elder Stafford’s.
“There was nothing here at that time,” Jeffrey Stafford said, adding that his pioneering parents had to build a road to the property.
Ripplecove has 33 comfortable rooms and suites, some with fireplaces and terraces, plus three cottages.
Tradition and hospitality continue at the 37-room Manoir Hovey, which was once the luxurious private estate of Henry Atkinson, an Atlanta industrialist.
Like so many other wealthy, 19th-century Southerners, Atkinson loved coming up here to vacation, and in 1900 he built his estate, calling it “The Birches.”
What’s more, he modeled it after George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, complete with classic pillars in a glorious setting.
Atkinson’s mansion became an inn in 1950 and was purchased in 1979 by Steve and Kathy Stafford, who are semi-retired.
It’s useful to remember that with winter just around the corner, you can enjoy seasonal activities at the inns.
For example, Ripplecove has complimentary sleigh rides every Saturday at 4 p.m., along with free skates and broomball equipment for skating in Ayer’s Cliff.
Snowshoes are also available at the inn for use in the surrounding woods and on the frozen lake.
Ripplecove will also supply rods and a hole cutter if you want to try your luck ice fishing. And while you may not catch that elusive northern pike, you might catch trout or perch, which Ripplecove’s chef will cook for you.
At Manoir Hovey, you can snowshoe on the inn’s private trails, go skating on its private skating rink with skates supplied and fish on Lake Massawippi (with a guide available at an extra charge). Manoir Hovey’s chef will cook your catch for you, too.
The influx of Americans has left its mark in this part of Quebec: Many Loyalists intermarried with French Quebecers, and the places they settled still bear English names, like North Hatley, the charming lakeside village of 750 inhabitants you may have seen in films such as “The Human Stain,” starring Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins, or “Secret Window” starring Johnny Depp.
On a leisurely walk around the village, we stopped to chat with a vacationing family who had driven up from Boston, and later we sat under a covered gazebo at the end of the village pier to enjoy baguettes and cheese we purchased at a nearby shop.
After lunch, we stepped back in time at the J.B. LeBaron grocery, a North Hatley fixture since 1888.
LeBaron called her Main Street grocery “sort of a meeting place,” where people can chat with friends at the cash register, just like in the old days, and she noted that the store was seen in the “Secret Window” movie.
The next day we took an afternoon drive down country roads to visit the Abbey of Saint Benoit-du-Lac. Interspersed with their monastic lifestyle, the Benedictine monks produce some very popular apple cider products, which are sold in their monastery store.
About midway along Lake Massawippi and somewhat to its west, lies the picturesque village of Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, where a Catholic church dominates a small hill.
When blooming, it’s worth stopping in Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley to see the many rose gardens at Rose des Champs and sample the rose products in the boutique.
But no matter what the weather or the season, you’ll find Quebec’s Eastern Townships a pure delight.
George Medovoy publishes an Internet travel magazine, http://wwwPostcardsForYou.com.
Short URL: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/?p=113231
Posted by George Medovoy
on Dec 3 2011.
Filed under Featured features, Living, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
