Weekend in Central Ontario.....even when it's not
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Do you like drinking wine in the sunshine? In the comfortable stillness of the summer evening, a group of new-made acquaintances and some familiar returning guests are gathered under the patio lanterns, enjoying a before-or after-dinner drink with Betty and Tony. When it happens, it's like magic! The companionable atmosphere of a superb Bed and Breakfast doesn't get much better than this. The plan is, you arrive early in the afternoon on a fine summer day. After a quick trip round the house and using the convniences, Betty and Tony will take you round the back yard, where beautiful lawns and gardens sweep down to the water. There are a couple of areas where you can sit and watch the boats go by. One has a glass patio table and chairs, the other has chairs grouped aroud the fire pit. There is a pedal boat and a canoe to borrow. The sail boat is available on a carpe diem basis: unplannably dependent on whim and weather. If you want to order in dinner, there is somewhere to enjoy it. There is also a gas BBQ for guests use, in case you have a sudden urge to go buy a steak and cook it. |
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Bailey, the chocolate Labrador, nudges someone's arm and gets them to try to throw her ball over the back yard and into the water for her to fetch. Some of the guests have been out riding the bicycles along the (9 km of paved) Millennium Trails, while others have borrowed the canoe and even ventured through the Dale Drive Tunnel. From time to time, guests arrive by boat from the Trent Severn Waterway, since we are on a branch canal. There's free docking but we won't allow transient boaters to make reservations. If they drop in, that's OK, we will give them a room if there's availability, or we'll take them up the road to the Couchiching Inn and just charge them $20 docking.. There may be Tapas. Betty and Tony have a place you can rent in Spain. |
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Reflections mark the water at the foot of the rear lawn, and across the water the youngsters opposite have finished bouncing on their trampoline. The distant hum of traffic to the local casino is quieter than the occasional splash of a fish jumping in the canal. When it gets dark, we will go and sit around the fire pit. A guest has spent the afternoon idly fishing perch and throwing them back. Someone is going out to Casino Rama to see if there are any last-minute tickets available for the evening's performance. They have brought their Players Card. Other guests have been looking at the menus collected from Orillia's lovely restaurants. |
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The canal, which reminds Betty and Tony of the River Thames at Royal Henley back home in England, is connected to Lake Couchiching on the fabled Trent Severn Waterway, with its forty two locks and numerous lakes, which joins Lake Ontario to Lake Huron at Georgian Bay. This inlet gives us and visiting boaters access to Lake Couchiching close to the Atherley Narrows. There is free docking for two guest boats. We are also close to the historical Atherley Arms, a notorious strip joint. |
No wonder Betty and Tony's is famous. We look forward to seeing you soon!
   
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