The southeast corner of Ottawa is filled with farms and wide-open spaces, which make it a great day trip destination.
Let’s start in Navan. This community south of Orleans has been growing steadily but still has a village vibe (as you can see from the photo at the top of this post). Pop into J.T. Bradley’s (1220 Colonial Road, Navan), a general store that dates back to 1898, for a cup of coffee and a snack for the road.
From there, head south to the Edwards-Metcalfe area, where Stanley’s Olde Maple Lane Farm (2452 York’s Corners Road, Edwards) offers seasonal family amusements, including a maple sugar bush, Easter egg hunts, wagon rides and a Christmas village. Down the road, RiverOak (2900 York’s Corners Road, Metcalfe) is a winter playground of outdoor rinks and forest ice skating trails.
Wine, food and furniture
Just south of Navan, you’ll find Domaine Perrault Winery (1000 Perrault Road, Navan). Denis Perrault and his family started planting grapevines on their dairy farm in 1999, and today they make and bottle a range of red and white wines, including Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. You can book tastings on the big patio, with sweeping views of farmland.
Perrault also mentored Jan-Daniel Etter, who grew up on a farm in nearby Sarsfield. Etter honed his winemaking chops by working in a Swiss vineyard. His partner Anne Grenon, meanwhile, spent two stints working in the New Zealand winemaking region of Hawke’s Bay. Then together, they launched Vignoble Clos du Vully (2501 Magladry Road, Navan), where they make and sell Riesling, Frontenac Noir, Chardonnay and other wines. Tastings are usually available on weekends.
Sure, “game” is in the name of Bearbrook Game Meats (5396 Dunning Road, Navan). And when you stop by the farm store, you can buy venison, buffalo, elk and so on. But if game meat isn’t your style, you’ll also find great pork chops, steaks, chicken and such. The farm’s animals are free range, grass fed and raised without chemicals. I’ve been buying from Bearbrook for years and have never been disappointed. (The farm shop also sells eggs, condiments, pies, take-home meals and more.)
Normally, I wouldn’t suggest a furniture store as a day trip destination—I mean, how many people consider a dining room set an impulse buy? But if mid-century modern is your thing, stop by Green Wall Vintage (5712 Frank Kenny Road, Vars) for lamps, end tables, sofas and, yes, dining room sets straight out of Mad Men. Note that this is a home-based business, so please call in advance for hours.
If you’ve worked up an appetite by this point, drop into the seasonal Country Grill (5348 Boundary Road, Carlsbad Springs) for burgers made with dry-aged beef, poutine made with hand-cut fries and St. Albert cheese curds, and sandwiches and hot dogs. (As I update this in mid-October 2021, this spot has closed for the winter, but keep this idea in your back pocket for spring.)
Mer Bleue: An ancient bog within the Ottawa city limits
The Mer Bleue Bog (NCC P22 parking lot, eastern end of Ridge Road, Ramsayville) has a dull-sounding name that disguises just how cool it really is. A famous peat bog, protected under international agreements and widely studied by scientists, it has a microclimate typical of boreal forests found much further north. As a result, you can see all sorts of regionally rare plants in the 7,700-year-old bog, including bog laurel, Labrador tea and several types of orchids. The star attraction here for many visitors is the universally accessible 1.2-kilometre boardwalk, which you can reach from the National Capital Commission’s P22 parking lot.
The Mer Bleue area also features some 20 kilometres of wooded hiking trails. They’re not universally accessible, but most of them are quite flat, making them suitable for families and novice hikers. You can reach the trails from NCC parking lots P20, P21, P22 and P23. And if you think you’ll get hungry, bring a picnic! There are several picnic areas, including a sheltered one at P22.
Carlsbad Springs: Victorian resort
The village of Carlsbad Springs, about 11 kilometres southwest of Navan, was originally called Cathartic. Why? In the 1860s, an innkeeper there started promoting the healthful benefits of drinking water from a nearby mineral spring. Eventually, Cathartic became a thriving spa community, with four hotels filled with guests “taking the waters” for their stomach troubles, rheumatism and other maladies; it was renamed Carlsbad Springs in 1906. However, the hot springs fell out of favour after the Second World War. Today, little evidence remains of the community’s glamorous heyday, aside from an historical plaque.
If you go
Navan is 24 kilometres east of Parliament Hill. Driving is the easiest way to get to many locations on this itinerary—although, if you’re really keen, you could cycle. OC Transpo serves Navan, but the schedule is geared to commuters travelling into downtown Ottawa in the morning and heading back to Navan at night.
Looking for more tips on things to see and do in Eastern Ontario and beyond? Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter or pick up a copy of my book, Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100-km Getaway Guide, from which this post is adapted.
Ottawa Road Trips acknowledges that its office, located in Ottawa, is on the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg Nation.