Road Trip To Perth County: The Perfect Getaway For Families With Teens

Disclaimer: We were hosted by Perth County Tourism during our visit to Perth County, Ontario, but all opinions about our experiences are of mine and my family.

I got home one day and told my wife and kids that we’ll be visiting Perth for a couple of days. My teenage son got a puzzled look and asked “Doesn’t it take a couple of days just to get to Perth?”. While I was happy with his knowledge of geography, I had to break it to him that I meant we’d be exploring the back roads of Perth County, Ontario, not Australia.

Travelling with teenagers can have it’s challenges and it’s rewards. On one hand, no one orders from the kids menu anymore, but on the other, they do their research and often have an (insistent) opinion as to where we go and what we do.  We try to do things that we all can participate in and enjoy, for example, in Key West we all went parasailing, and in Philadelphia we had a ton of fun on a Segway tour.  So what did we do in Perth County? Keep reading to find out.

Where is Perth County, Ontario?

Perth County  should not be confused with Perth, Ontario. I made this embarrassing mistake while talking to the Perth County Tourism representative.  The latter is about four hours east of Toronto, whereas the former is about an hour and a half west of Toronto.

Perth County is made up of the municipalities of North Perth and West Perth, and the towns of Perth South and  Perth East. Most people are familiar with the city of Stratford, which is within the county lines, but there’s a lot more to this county than I knew about. The map of Perth County below shows the location of the county in relation to other municipalities within Ontario.

First of all, Perth County is much bigger than  I expected. From idyllic back roads to small towns with friendly people to restaurants with menus comprised of fresh local produce, Perth County has it all and then some. Families would especially love the activities that kids of all ages can enjoy. Have you ever wanted to put on a bee keepers outfit and extract honey from beehives, or get up close with some super cute goats, or sit in a buggy and eat fried chicken? Yes? The good news is that you can do all of that in Perth County.

We got into Perth County on a Thursday afternoon and spent a busy 48 hours exploring Perth County and all it had to offer.

Day 1

Goats On 86

Forget about restaurants, museums, and shopping. When you’re visiting Perth County, the first thing you need to do is stop and play with the goats and alpacas at Goats On 86. They’re located on Perth County Line 86 in Listowel. This was very convenient for us since our bed and breakfast was just a few minutes away.

I honestly thought I’d get some serious cut eye when I pulled into the parking lot but I honestly don’t know who had more fun with the goats, my teenage kids or my wife. The goats are kept in a large pen right off the road and visitors are encouraged to get corn from the dispensers to feed the animals. The only other interaction I’ve had with goats is were when they were cooked in curry and wrapped in a roti but these guys were super cute and they definitely brought out the kid in all of us (see what I did there).

Friendly goat at Goats On 86

Feeding time at Goats On 86

My daughter playing with the goats at Goats On 86

My son playing with some new friends

Feeding the llama at Goats On 86

Fresh Start Bakery

After leaving the goats we headed to Fresh Start Bakery where I had the pleasure of meeting owner Dave Tophen. When I first started this website I focused on the stories of people in the food industry so I really enjoyed chatting with Dave in between him serving his customers.

Dave worked with a major grocery chain for over 20 years but walked away to open his own shop when the grocery decided to switch from house made bread to “thaw and bake” products. The baked goods just weren’t the same so he took all his knowledge and experience and moved to Perth County where he opened up Fresh Start, right next to the house where his wife grew up.

Fresh Start Bakery is located in the historic Gowanstown Post Office. Every day Dave produces a variety of pies, breads, buns, rolls, and some delicious donuts. Apart from baked goods, customers can grab an ice cream cone filled with Kawartha Dairy ice cream or some locally produced cheeses.

Dave Tophen from Fresh Start Bakery

Fresh Start Bakery

Mini Mocha Cake from Fresh Start Bakery

Fresh pastries from Fresh Start Bakery

Freshly made bread at Fresh Start Bakery

Hardwood Haven

Hardwood Haven is a bed and breakfast located on Main Street in Listowel. It was built in 1877 and stepping through it’s front doors makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. Owners Ty and Fay Cross, have spent a lot of time preserving the grand old home and they’re understandably quite proud of their work. Fay is very knowledgeable and she’d gladly spend time walking you through the house, pointing out timeless pieces of furniture and giving you a little story about each piece. The house itself has a very important place in the history of the town, as it’s founder first lived in a little shack in it’s backyard.

This was the first time we’ve ever stayed in a bed and breakfast and after our two night stay I can definitely say I’ve developed a true appreciation of these houses and the people who run them. We stayed in the Towner Suite which was on the third floor of the house. The suite featured a bedroom with a queen sized bed, two twin beds (which were perfect for the kids),  a kitchenette, bathroom, and a sitting room with a couch, a recliner (that my son loved) and a flat screen TV.

As I mentioned before, Hardwood Haven has played a very important part in the history of this town. During the the Second World War soldiers used the house and in the tower of the Towner Suite there are sketches that were done by those soldiers depicting photos of Hitler and other well known figures of the time.

Queen bed in the Towner Suite of Hardwood Haven

Small kitchenette in the Towner Suite of Hardwood Haven

Twin bed in the Towner Suite of Hardwood Haven

Bathroom in the Towner Suite of Hardwood Haven

Guests have access to a full kitchen as well as areas to relax in the living room and a lovely outdoor patio. I was impressed with just how spacious the home was. The bedrooms were big and well equipped. There are two suites in the house, each with their own bathrooms so you do have privacy.

Breakfast was included in our stay and both mornings Fay whipped up a delicious, made from scratch meal to get us going for our day of exploration. What I loved about our short time at Hardwood Haven was that Fay was always willing to sit and chat, and did a great job of making sure you felt comfortable and welcomed. If you’ve never stayed at a bed and breakfast before I think Hardwood Haven should definitely be your first.

Hardwood Haven

Gorgeous tub at Hardwood Haven

Sitting area in the living room of Hardwood Haven

Fresh fruit salad from Hardwood Haven

Guest bedroom at Hardwood Haven

Anna Mae’s Bakery And Restaurant

We were starving by dinner time so we headed to Anna Mae’s Bakery And Restaurant.  Back in 1978 Anna Mae Wagler started this Mennonite restaurant to sell pies as a way to make ends meet after her husband became ill. In 1991 she  moved to the current location and expanded to include a few tables in her new cafe. One evening a customer requested a hot meal and this started the hot meal service that continues up to today.

Anna Mae sold the business in 2001 and the new owners have operated the restaurant with the same business principles ever since. They try to use as many locally produced ingredients as they can, and you can even see their list of local suppliers on their website.

Looking over the menu you’d think that the kitchen never shuts down, as they offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast and lunch are your standard fare, but things change up a bit for dinner. Anna Mae came up with a five week rotating meat schedule which means that customers can plan their visit knowing that their favorite meat option will be available.



When we were there the item that seemed to be flying out of the kitchen the most was their Broasted chicken. Broasting is a process whereby the chicken, or any item for that matter, is deep fried in a pressure cooker. This results in the fried chicken coming out nice and crispy but still moist. The chicken is available everyday and I’m sure the popularity of this dish has helped fuel the growth of the restaurant. We all love fried chicken, so we were very happy when four big plates of chicken landed in front of us. The chicken came with fries, coleslaw, and cheese biscuits, which were all terrific. The pieces were nice and big and my son took the leftovers back to Hardwood Haven as a  midnight snack. Did I ever mention that I’m totally jealous of a teenager’s metabolism?

When you visit, make sure and reserve the Buggy Booth, which is a full sized buggy that sits in the middle of the restaurant. It just adds an extra bit of fun to your meal. Make sure and order dessert because they make over 18 varieties of pies from scratch, as well as muffins, cheesecakes, tarts, cookies and other baked goods.

If it wasn’t so far back to Hardwood Haven I would have walked back just to burn off some of the calories I had just stuffed my face with.

Anna Mae’s menu

Dining in a buggy at Anna Mae’s

My new favorite fried chicken joint is Anna Mae’s.

Chocolate pie from Anna Mae’s

Butter tarts fresh out of the oven at Anna Mae’s

Day 2

After a busy start to our Perth County visit, we started the next day with Fay dishing up a delicious breakfast to help get us going. On the menu were sausages, pancakes (plain and blueberry), fresh fruit salad, yogurt, coffee and tea. As usual the food was served with a side of fantastic conversation but we had to say goodbye and head off on another full day.

West Perth Wetlands

With full bellies we left Hardwood Haven and headed to the West Perth Wetlands.  These Wetlands are on the outskirts of the community of Mitchell and cover 65 acres.There are 3 ponds there and in each one you can find different bird and animal species. We walked around one, and it was a serene way to start our day, taking in the sights.

Apart from the fantastic bird watching, there are over 10km of trails and more than 4700 different types of plant life. The trails offer differing levels of difficulty. On one section it is very accessible for baby strollers, motorized scooters and wheelchairs. In another, the terrain is a bit more rugged and naturally scenic. This makes it a great outing for families and avid hikers alike.

Kids exploring the West Perth wetlands

West Perth Pond

West Perth Wetlands flower

West Perth Wetlands frog

West Perth Wetlands Pond

Hicks Cafe

Even though we had a hearty breakfast at Hardwood Haven we built up an appetite exploring the wetlands, so we headed over to Hick’s Cafe, which was only about 5 minutes away. Hick’s Cafe is owned and operated by Sean Hazuda and his wife Sandra, AKA The Mad Chef and Betty The Baker. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by Sean as he was cooking in his open kitchen. The atmosphere was amazing with people from different tables all having conversations with each other.  You could tell that this was a favorite spot among the locals.

Sean is a Red Seal chef and  has been in the restaurant industry for over 25 years. He has  cooked all over Canada and in many high-end restaurants in London. The cafe itself is located in a historic building that used to be a hotel, dating back to the 1800’s. While you’re waiting for your food you can peruse some of the books in the restaurant that talk about the area and the actual building that the restaurant is in.



The menu at HIck’s is made up of all day breakfasts, soups, sandwiches, wraps, and some delicious baked goods made in-house by Sandra. As I mentioned earlier, the kitchen is right in front of the customers so they see everything that goes into their food. Sean sources most of his ingredients locally and even has a chalkboard hanging in the restaurant listing the farms and what he gets from each one. I thought that this was a great idea so that diners can actually see where their food came from.

My wife had a soup that was laden with fresh vegetables and local sausage.  On the side was the lightest biscuit we’ve ever had. I say we, because of course I had to try it! My son chose the Hicks Christo which is their take on the classic Monte Christo sandwich, and my daughter and I chose the fish and chips. You could taste the beer in the beer battered fish and the fries were just outstanding! I really wanted to end the meal with some of Sandra’s baked goods but I had no more room.

Sean Hazuda and his wife Sandra

Hicks Cafe fish and chips

Hicks Cafe Monte Christo sandwich

Hicks Cafe soup and biscuit

Hicks Cafe buttertart

Huckleberry Hives

One day I was scrolling through Twitter and I saw a post from Perth County Tourism featuring Jodi from Huckleberry Hives. I had visited an apiary outside of Montreal a few years ago and I thought that since we’ll be in Perth it would be a fantastic learning experience for the whole family.

If you ever plan on visiting Huckleberry Hives keep your eyes peeled when driving there. There are no signs and Google maps doesn’t work as well on these small country roads. Thankfully my son saw the hives in the distance otherwise we would’ve driven right past it.

Jodi Roth is the driving force behind this apiary and you can sign up for one of her three hour tours. You may think that three hours is a long time but you’d be surprised at how the time flies. We started out with Jodi giving us a brief talk about bee keeping and how important bees are to agriculture. Afterwards we slipped into the white beekeeper suits and headed out to inspect some of the hives.



The tour is very hands on with each of us taking turns looking for the queen and removing some of the frames that were filled with honey. In the beginning it was a bit nerve wracking with bees buzzing all around your face, and I knew my daughter was freaking out since she isn’t a fan of insects but after just a few minutes of being totally engrossed with what Jodi was saying she totally forgot about how scared she was.  I noticed she went from being freaked out by the bees to being extra careful when handling the frames. Jodi was extremely knowledgeable, very engaging, and a great guide.

After our time with the bees Jodi led us on a little tour of her garden which were filled with “bee friendly” flowers. We picked some of the edible ones and had them with a cheese and honey tasting on her porch. I don’t have a sweet tooth but I couldn’t stop eating the honey. I have no other way to describe the taste other than “clean”, not at all like what you buy in the store. The kids took turns extracting the honey from one of the frames we took from a hive, and we bottled it up with a chunk of honeycomb. We used it a couple of days later when we had a cheese and charcuterie board for dinner.

Of all of our experiences in Perth County, this visit to Huckleberry Hives was definitely the highlight for us.

Jodi Roth from Huckleberry Hives

The queen bee is the one with the red mark.

Hands on learning at Huckleberry Hives

Scooping honey from the honeycomb at Huckleberry Hives

Saying goodbye to Jodi from Huckleberry Hives

Farm Gate

As I mentioned earlier, Perth County has a large number of farms, so much so that the tourism board has created an interactive Farm Gate map on their site. The map shows the locations of farms, farm gate stores, and local food shops in the four municipalities that make up the county.

After we left Huckleberry Hives we headed to the Cedar Crest Acres farm gate store in Perth East. Cedar Crest operates two locations, one is the store where we were and  the other is the actual farm where the produce is grown. They also offer “pick your own” for a portion of the growing season but we missed it. At the store we ended up getting some vegetables and some juicy strawberries that were picked just a few hours earlier.

Cedar Crest Acres Store

Freshly picked strawberries

Beautiful flowers lining the greenhouse

Farm Gate brochure from Perth County Tourism

Listowel Golf Club Restaurant & Lounge

We headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before heading to the Listowel Golf Club for dinner. The good thing is that you don’t need a membership to the golf club to eat at the restaurant. The menu isn’t huge and is made up of the usual salads, sandwiches, burgers and a few hot entrees. I have to say, it was nice being able to relax on the patio while eating and taking in the sprawling greens of the course while the sun was slowly setting.

Sun starting to set at Listowel Golf Course

Lovely views of the fairway from the patio of Listowel Golf Course

Loaded flat bread from Listowel Golf COurse

Outdoor patio at Listowel Golf Course

It’s cheese pulling time

Day 3

It was our last day in Perth and Fay bid us farewell with another hearty breakfast. This time she whipped up some eggs benedicts with a hollandaise sauce that had fresh asparagus. I’ve never thought about adding vegetables to hollandaise but I might start doing that from now on.

Stonetown Artisan Cheese

I hope that my doctor doesn’t see this but I love cheese, so I was very excited to visit Stonetown Artisian Cheese located in the town of St. Marys.

Stonetown was started by Hans and Jolanda Weber who moved to St. Mary’s with their three children to set up their dairy farm in 1996. Since then the farm has grown, and they now have over 250 cows that produce the milk that cheese maker Ramon Eberle uses to craft their award-winning cheeses.

Ramon himself has a very interesting story on how he landed in his role at Stonetown. When the Webers were starting their factory they placed an ad in a Swiss magazine and Ramon, who was just finishing up a stint at a farm in upstate New York, saw it and applied. He had fallen in love with a girl in New York and this position gave him the opportunity to come back to North America and be close to her. The Webers interviewed him in the airport in Zurich and because he was very familiar with the type of cheeses they wanted to produce, he landed the role and in 2015 produced their first batch of cheese.

This is another great  example of us being able to do stuff that we all enjoyed. My kids are also food lovers, and we got the chance to take a tour of their factory and cheese storage, as well as a cheese tasting.

Stonetown Cheese

Cheesemaker Ramon Eberle from Stonetown Cheese

Aging room at Stonetown Cheese

Cheese sampling at Stonetown Cheese

Some of the cows at Stonetown Cheese

Wildwood Conservation Area

The last stop on our trip to Perth County was at Wildwood Conservation Area.

This conservation area encompasses 3500 acres and guests can kayak, hike, camp, swim, picnic, mountain bike, and do some bird watching. Wildwood also plays an important role in the community by offering environmental education programs to approximately 5000 students a year from preschool through high school.

We did a little hike and we wanted to take a kayak out, but it was very windy and we we decided against that, especially after seeing some people struggle to control their own kayaks. I was a bit disappointed but we thought it would be safest if we didn’t venture out since we’re not very experienced kayakers. But if you love the outdoors then you definitely need to add Wildwood Conservation Area to your list of places to visit while exploring Perth County.

Wildwood Conversation Area

Water fun at Wildwood Conservation Area

Staying on shore at Wildwood Conservation

Lots of options at Wildwood Conservation Area

Kayaks at Wildwood Conservation Area

And with that our trip through Perth County came to an end. We did quite a bit but after going through the literature provided by the Perth County tourism board, I realized that we missed a lot, but that’s alright; it’s a great excuse to go back!

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