Small Town Ontario: Niagara-on-the-Lake

Last weekend I took a trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake to catch a play as part of the Shaw Festival. Its arguably one of the most beautiful towns in Ontario and its only short drive South from Toronto.

One of the best parts of the trip is that I got to spend the day with three of the most important ladies in my life: my sister, my mother and my dear great aunt.

We walked along the main street visiting some of the quaint stores and glancing at the menus of all the little bistros.

The Shaw Festival is one of the largest theatre festivals in Canada and the second largest repertory theatre company in North America. We had the pleasure of going to go see George Bernard Shaw’s “The Doctor’s Dilemma”. The performance was fantastic and we had a great time. I’ve never seen a play there that hasn’t been extremely well done.

The grounds of the theatre are simple and modern in contrast to the rest of the historic town.

The gardens were beautiful, lush and green.

The rest of the town seems to have maintained everything to keep within the historical name they’ve made for themselves.

Every light post has enormous hanging baskets, overflowing with colourful flowers, and even the street medians are immaculately groomed flower beds.

My sister and I posed for this picture, and then two seconds later I walked into that flower basket. They were that big that they hung low enough to walk into them

Greaves is a great little shop full of jams, jellies and fun kitchen gadgets. The kinds of things that you don’t really need but are adorable none the less (think strawberry shaped bowls and polka dotted tea cozies).

These old painted signs on brick walls are so rare to see in such great condition, but they really add to the charm of a small town like this.

This cafe had to chop down these branches of the tree, but they found a great way to keep it as an interesting pieces – wrapping lights around the branches and hanging lanterns from the ends. I can imagine it looks pretty interesting at night.

The famous Prince of Wales Hotel is absolutely gorgeous on the outside.

Their patio wraps around the side of the building and has some of the most beautiful flower beds on the main street.

Enjoying the sunshine.

I wish I could get my garden to look like this!

Cute little horse drawn carriage.

After our adventures downtown, we drove through some of the neighbourhoods admiring the cute fenced in yards, beautiful gardens and tree-lined sidewalks.

We even took a drive along the water to catch a glimpse of our American neighbours on the other side. Hard to believe that we were just a stones throw away from them.

If you get the chance to go to Niagara-on-the-Lake, I highly recommend coming for a visit. Come and catch a show, visit some vineyards and enjoy some of the best produce that Ontario has to offer.