The days are getting longer, and the weather is getting warmer and that means the maple sap is starting to flow. Sugar Bush season is upon us! For a west coaster, such as myself, getting to visit a sugar shack and sit down with a big plate of pancakes and farm fresh maple syrup, is still exciting. It doesn’t get more Canadian than that!
So I’ve put together a thorough guide to the best sugar bushes the Ottawa area has to offer.
Proulx Maple & Berry Farm / 1865 O'Toole Road, Ottawa
Dates and Hours:
Opening day is Sunday, February 26th, and runs until Monday, April 17th.
Saturday and Sunday: Farm and sugar bush are open from 9:00am-5:00pm
March Break: open all week long 9:00 am-4:00pm
What to Expect:
Proulx offers an all you can eat, serve yourself brunch buffet with 15 menu items from the family recipe book. After you’ve eaten your fill, you can enjoy a maple tour that includes a visit to the production shack, maple taffy stand, a farm with animals, a playground, and a horse drawn hay ride (open on weekends).
If you are coming for brunch, you will also need to purchase admission to access the grounds and sugar bush tour.
Fulton’s Pancake House and Sugar Bush / 399 Sugar Bush Road, Pakenham
Dates and Hours:
The sugar bush season at Fulton's runs from February 18-April 23. It is open every day from 9:00 am to 4:00pm.
What to Expect:
Fulton’s has a 120 seat restaurant with a cafeteria style breakfast offered. After breakfast you can enjoy the nordic and walking trails. Bring your cross country skis and snowshoes, or you can also rent snowshoes there. Visitors can check out the sugar camp and learn to make maple syrup. Children are invited to play games like eye spy and Fulton's ultimate challenge along the walking trails. There is also a toboggan hill. Bring your own sled or borrow one of theirs.
On weekends and holidays there are some extra special activities such as face painting, maple taffy, maple cotton candy, horse drawn sleigh and wagon ride, and you can cook bannock or make a cedar spoon (all available at a price).
The Log Farm / 670 Cedarview Road, Nepean
Dates and Hours:
The Log Farm is open weekends 9:00 am to 4:00 pm from March 4th. until mid April along with the week of March 13th to 17th for March break.
What to Expect:
The Log Farm offers a traditional sugar shack breakfast, including pancakes, sausages, baked goods, coffee and juice. The Log Farm is a historical farm site, where you can see how the Bradley family lived in the 1860’s. The original house and all of the buildings are set up to depict what life for a family would have been like during this period. It is a working farm where you can see all kinds of animals. There is maple taffy on the snow, and a bonfire where you can warm up while waiting for the wagon ride that will take you out to the sugar bush.
Dates and Hours:
Opening day is February 25th, and will run Saturdays & Sundays 9:00 am-3:00 pm until April 16th. It is also open Tuesday March 14th -Friday March 17th 10:00 am-2:00 pm.
What to Expect:
Stanley’s offers an all you can eat brunch at their 350 seat restaurant. The brunch menu is extensive, with so many different things to try. After breakfast, visitors can enjoy a sleigh ride, visit the sugar shack, and watch the sap to syrup process unfold while enjoying taffy on the snow. There is also a petting farm with plenty of animals and a children's play area.
Wheelers Pancake House and Sugar Camp / 1001 Highland Line, Lanark Highlands
Dates and Hours:
Wheeler's is open from 9:00 am-3:00pm every day, but the official maple tapping season kicks off on March 4 with a big party that includes face painting, sleigh rides, and tours.
What to Expect:
Wheelers offers a pancake breakfast, where you order off the menu and have it delivered to your table (different from many of the other buffet style sugar shacks). In addition to the restaurant there is a farm museum and a maple syrup museum, along with an original sugar shack. Children can enjoy the small playground with swings, slide and small zip-line, and they can also visit the farm’s sheep, alpacas, horses and miniature horse. There are trails for walking, snowshoeing and cross country skiing (you can rent snowshoes there).
Temple’s Sugar Camp Restaurant / 1700 Ferguson’s Falls Road, Lanark
Dates and Hours:
Temple's Sugar Camp restaurant opens for the season on March 1st, and is open until the end of April. Wednesday – Sunday 9:00 am-3:00 pm.
What to Expect:
This is a lovely spot, both the building and grounds are impeccably kept and it is a popular wedding site. You won't find many of the sugar bush activities that you do at other destinations, but the menu comes highly recommended, so you can expect a yummy meal (they serve up belgian waffles in addition to pancakes). After breakfast you can take a stroll through the sugar bush trails.
Sand Road Sugar Camp / 17190 Sand Road, Moose Creek
Dates and Hours:
Sand Road Sugar Camp opens on February 28, and runs until the end of April.
What to Expect:
Sand Road offers up a maple farm buffet with plenty of choices. After eating, you can experience the great outdoors through nature trails, horse drawn wagon rides (on the weekends, weather permitting), a play structure, and educational tours. There is no admission fee to visit the camp.
Maple Sugar Shack and Festival at Vanier Museopark / 300 Peres-Blancs Avenue, Vanier
Dates and Hours:
The sugar shack will be open every weekend from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. between March and April. With a special four day festival from March 30 to April 4.
What to Expect:
This small sugar shack seats only 40 guests, and offers a simple, but tasty menu. There is also maple taffy available on site.
The activities really take place during the festival – when you will find a lumberjack competition, axe-throwing, maple tastings, performances by various local artists, jugglers and face-painters. Families can also look forward to visiting live farm animals and sled dogs, playing on inflatable structures, and carnival rides.
The Great Canadian Maple Festival / Festival Plaza, next to Ottawa City Hall
Dates and Hours:
March 3rd to 5th, 2017. Friday it’s open 11:00 am- 10:00pm, Saturday 9:00 am-10:00 pm, and Sunday 9:00 am-6:00 pm.
What to Expect:
This festival is happening for the first time ever in celebration of Canada's 150th Birthday. It's a free event happening right in the heart of downtown Ottawa.
Festival organizers promise visitors a plaid wearing Canadiana experience complete with its own urban sugar bush serving taffy on a stick, maple pork and beans, delicious maple flavoured hot cocoa and more.
The weekend will start with a big pancake breakfast presented by Enbridge. Followed by anything and everything uniquely maple … maple taffy on a stick, maple cotton candy, maple donuts, poutine, maple bacon & more maple bacon … Even maple craft beer & whisky to enjoy in the beer gardens . There will also be live music, a kids fun zone, chainsaw challenge, lumberjack competition