A Visit to Creemore {Small Town Ontario}

Last week, Garrett, Lucy and I decided to take a little afternoon trip to the small town of Creemore, Ontario. I’d driven through there the week before while on a day trip and was excited to go back and walk around. I shared a few Snapchats while we were there. (Come follow me for some peaks into the day-to-day stuff at “lifecloverhill“)

There is an adorable downtown area with shops, restaurants, a brewery and even a cute park.

We got there around 5pm on a Wednesday and I completely forgot that most shops in small towns are either not open during more weekdays or close early around 4pm. We still had a chance to peek in the windows of a few shops and check them out, like The Creemore General Store.

I would have loved to walk around the Creemore 100 Mile Store too. Next time!

At a time when many small towns are still struggling to keep their doors open, it’s great to see so many businesses doing well in Creemore.

Along the sidewalks, there were big beautiful planters, overflowing with flowers.

There were even some planters full of fresh vegetables and herbs for anyone to pick. We spotted kale, basil, parsley, peppers…

…and the cutest cherry tomatoes.

Right off the main street is a lovely little town park, tucked behind a gate, with lush gardens and a beautiful fountain.

I even spotted a hive for mason bees! I would love to have one of these at the farmhouse someday and give our pollinators a home!

Creemore is a popular stop for long distance cyclists who are making their way from Toronto. We spotted an Urban Racks Repair Station on the sidewalk, for those unexpected repairs mid-trip.

While scoping out popular small town getaways, I had read about the Creemore House Inn. It was nice to see it up close…and daydream about taking a nice cool plunge in their pool.

Along the side streets, there are many lovingly maintained older homes. Now that we’ve lived in our own century home for over a year, I understand all the love and care that goes into keeping these places going.

This white house reminded me of a smaller version of the Father of the Bride house.

We still had a little more time before our dinner reservation (and Lucy was thankfully still sleeping from the car ride), so we stopped into Creemore Springs Brewery to check out their new retail store.

They had all their beers on tap and were offering samples! Garrett grabbed a few cans to have on hand for the summer.

I loved the rustic industrial look they were going for in the shop.

They even had a chandelier made completely of recycled Creemore Springs beer bottles!

We had made last minute dinner reservations at Creemore Kitchen.

I’d read about it before and had heard good reviews from friends and family, so I was excited to try it out for ourselves. It’s hard sometimes to find good restaurants that are able to cater to my peanut and tree nut allergies, so I was over the moon when I found out they made almost everything from scratch and were able to make it safe.

On our way in, I spotted that they had their own vegetable garden out front – full of leafy greens and herbs. What a great idea for a restaurant – pretty and practical!

The food was amazing! Garrett had a big homemade burger with cheddar, roasted garlic mayo and tomato jam. I tried the organic fried chicken, homemade biscuit, white thyme gravy, potato puree and carrot slaw.

And of course, juuuust as my food arrived, this little lady woke up. Thankfully she let me eat my dinner before she started getting fussy. Look at those cheeks! We have to lift them up to fit her seatbelt straps on, ha! (Her straps were loosened here because I was getting ready to take her out – don’t worry, they were tightened back up before we left!)

It was a gorgeous night, so we sat on the patio for dinner but before we headed back on the road, I looked around the inside of the restaurant. I loved all the mix-matched chairs around the rustic tables. The patio was the same, with a colourful mix of chairs along white picnic tables.

They even have a small coffee and ice cream shop off of the entrance. If we’d had any more room, I would have loved to try their butter tart ice cream!

On the way back home, we parked by a farmers field overlooking the Niagara Escarpment while I fed Lucy. You could see for miles and miles.

Usually, evenings are the hardest time when Lucy is fussy, but she was such a good baby that night – and must have sensed that we really needed a quiet night out of the house. Maybe we just need to drive around every night, ha!

If you’re looking for a nice small town to visit in Ontario, I highly recommend a stop into Creemore. Cute shops, good food and great views. We’ll be back again soon!