Cottage Country Holidays; Sharing my time at the Cottage


My first of many Ontario cottage country holidays with my Grandparents in the 1950's. 

My Grandpa didn't drive, so my parents took all of us up to Pike Bay, Red Bay and Colpoy's Bay, every year it was somewhere different, for a two week holiday, without a car. 

I watched the local wildlife (raccoons and deer) and my Grandpa fished for dinner. Grandpa and I also picked berries for my Grandma to make jam. 

cottage country holidaysOur evening activity was to walk to the general store to get the mail my grandmother had redirected as well as the daily papers. 

Before bed we played a rousing game of gin rummy and had toasted cheese sandwiches.

When I was a bit older I started visiting Tobermory on the weekends with my best friend and her family. We would play tricks on the other kids to see if we could get them to jump into the cold waters of Georgian Bay. 

We rode different boats everywhere even to get groceries. We boated to Snake Island, Doctor Island and Flower Pot Island before it was part of Fathom Five National Park. 

A big activity was walking between Little Tub and Big Tub and finding somewhere new to swim every day like Dorcas Bay and Dunks Bay.

cottage country holidays

Finally my family started to cottage in Southampton when I was 16 for the last two weeks in August when the lake was the warmest. After renting my parents bought their cottage which is now their home in 1974. 

My parents place soon became too small once there were 6 adults and 4 kids so it was time to look for a cottage of our own.

cottage country holidaysWe bought the land and built our cottage between Southampton and Port Elgin in 1987. 

My daughter and son spent their summers playing tennis at the Southampton Tennis Club and spent their teen years working at the local bakery, as a waiter at the hotel and as tennis instructors.

Now there are four generations of us cottaging in Southampton and my granddaughter has been cottaging since before she was born.

I hope you enjoy my stories about my cottage country holidays and they inspire you to visit the beaches and cottages along the Great Lakes and Georgian Bay in Ontario Canada. 

Seach below for your Ontario Cottage Country Day Trip

bayfield day trip
blue mountian road trip
cabot head day trip
cape croker
clakesburg
dorcas bay
dunks bay
dyers bay
honey harbour
kawartha lakes
kincardine
lake eugina
Lake Simcoe
lions head
oliphant
owen sound
paisley
pike bay
port elgin
southampton
spry lake
sauble beach
goderich
stokes bay
thornbury
tobermory
wiarton
red bay day trip
brucecoastlighthouses

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