This past summer I was able to visit Prince Edward County for the first time and then again for my second time to celebrate two of my favourite 2018 brides-to-be. Heather was up first with her champagne and wine infused #scottydoesntknow Bachelorette in May! I went back mid-August for a cottage weekend in the county, celebrating #whatWOODmegdo in honour of one of my best friend, Meg's bachelorette!
Theme
Rose all Day, Cloud Wine, Champagne Campaign ... you really cannot go wrong with ALL of the wine puns! Heath's Bride Tribe put together this awesome weekend itinerary and also equipped us with 30 bottles of champaigne (hence the Campagne Campagne) that was gone by the end of night 1. I guess you could say we were ready for all of the wine that was to come that weekend!
Where to Stay
The biggest thing to be aware of for PEC is that it still is a very small town so while you can get really cute (and sometimes very instagrammable!) accommodations, they fill up incredibly fast, so my recommendation is that when you decide on PEC as your Bachelorette destination, you book your accommodations ASAP.
As always, there are two routes you can go - AirBnB or the Hotel route. Again, because PEC is quite small the hotels are more-so BnB’s so not a lot of rooms for bigger groups. Another reason to book sooner than later if you want the group to be together.
"Motels":
Cribs on the Creek. The Wellington Cribs is where we stayed for my girlfriend Heather's Bachelorette in PEC this summer and I absolutely loved it! We had a group of almost 30 and so had booked the entire thing. All of the rooms are different sizes and there are two separate buildings. In the main building, the main floor had 1 bed+bath for 2 people. The upstairs of the main building was more of a house vibe and had a massive living room and kitchen and then had different bedrooms off the common area. The second house had a smaller kitchen on the main floor and a couple of one bedroom rooms+bath. The top floor had two massive bedrooms that could hold 3-4 people in a King bed + pull out couch. The bathrooms were probably the best part here which included a massive waterfall shower and a tub!
While we did spend a good chunk of our Saturday off-site, we did still leverage the kitchen and common area in a big way for the bulk of the weekend. We made breakfast, lunch and two dinners at our accommodations which ultimately saved us some money vs going out for every year. And since the brewery closed at 11pm we spent both nights drinking and having all girl dance parties (that tend to get out of control in the best way) in the comfort of our own living room!
The June Motel. I’ve never stayed here but follow them on instagram and it looks super cute, not to mention they have a lot of instagrammable spots if that is your thing! All With rooms named The Wine Studio and Rose Suite. The girls that run the June have also thought of all of the add ons to complete your stay - from Breakfast in Bed to The Sleep Well Kit or Mimosa Kit and to top it off a Detox Retox Yoga Retreat. If you want to get a feel for The June you can check out Madeline Merlo's video for her song Motel Flamingo ... it was filmed there!
I may not have visited The June yet, but after looking at all of these pictures courtesy of The June Motel instagram @TheJuneMotel I need to make sure I book a stay in 2019!
The Drake Devonshire. It is a 13 room boutique hotel with a restaurant, bar and event space right on the water, and similar to The June, a lot of instagrammable spots ;) Again, I can’t speak from experience (other than a more than enjoyable Sunday brunch) but have heard amazing things from people who have stayed for girls weekends or couples retreats. A good girlfriend of mine even got engaged here a few months ago!
AirBnB:
The Cressy House. I stayed at the Cressy House for my second Bachelorette in PEC this summer and we had a great time. There are two houses - the main house and the guest house, a great pool, massive yard and beautiful front patio. We spent the bulk of our time at The Cressy House vs venturing off because there were so many ways to entertain ourselves on site. We cooked most of our meals (with the exception of one dinner). We could enjoy the meals inside or on the back deck by the pool. We spent the day in the backyard by the pool and had an afternoon of Beer Olympics. The nights we enjoyed copious amounts of wine complete with dance parties, fireball and some slap the bag (naturally).
One part of booking with The Cressy House that we didn’t take advantage of is the opportunity for the owner of the house (and renowned Toronto Chef, Grant van Gameren - owner of Bar Isabel/Bar Raval ) to stay with the group and make meals over the course of the weekend. The package may be customizable, but have a group of friends that had him stay the weekend and included two dinners a brunch and an afternoon charcuterie board/apps with wine pairing. While we go for this option this time around, based on a friends experience she said they enjoyed incredible food all weekend long and had the added bonus of his friend and winemaker join to do a wine and cheese pairing without having to leave the comfort of the house.
How to Get Around:
As I mentioned earlier, PEC requires a lot of pre-planning because of the size. Getting around isn’t at all impossible, but they don’t have Uber or Lyft (or golf car tuk tuks!) and only a few cabs in the whole county. For big groups you’ll need to call ahead to book a taxi ahead of time - we managed to get two to take us down the long street from the Cressy House to Waupoos, and on the way home the same guy made the trip twice. For the winery tour booking through a tour company is the best, but there are a lot of private car options that vary in size that might be able to help you. Get to know your surroundings based on where you are staying and if you want to be off site a lot, try to book somewhere that is more central with options to walk to. From Cribs we could walk to a grocery store, an LCBO, the Drake, the Brewery, a bank among other things. For some of the AirBnB options you’re further out and will definitely need to organize rides (or a couple of Designated Drivers) to go offsite.
What to Do
Wine Tour - This is the most obvious choice as PEC is known for its wineries. The biggest difference that I found between these wineries and those of the Niagara region are that they are a lot smaller and not always as conducive to large groups, but there is definitely opportunity if you organize your group early enough. You can choose to go out and organize your own transportation and talk to the wineries directly, but for bigger groups I’d definitely look into a pre-booked tour. We had ours planned through Sandbank Vacation Tours and they were awesome! We didn’t need to worry about a thing all day - they worked directly with the 3-4 wineries that we made stops at throughout the day, had a bus big enough to hold a group of our size, gave us information related to the county, the wines or the wineries throughout the day and had our tastings organized. After our first 3 stops we weren’t ready to toss in the towel yet and they had worked their magic to add a fourth stop because of the relationships they have in the region. There are so many amazing wineries in the region and you're going to want to stop at them all, but sadly too many wineries and not enough time! We made stops at Sandbanks Winery (one of the biggest in the region), Hillier Creek Winery, Casa-Dea Estates and Harwood Estates (powered by solar power!).
Yoga - One of the Bachelorette’s had organized a private yoga class at The Drake to kick off our Saturday morning. Our teacher did a great job at guiding us through a morning routine as we faced the water - although some of us were feeling the spins anytime we entered the downward dog position … definitely a fun way to start our day. You can also look to book a private teacher and bring him or her to you (if you have an AirBnB and a sizeable backyard, this might be the way to go).
Where to Eat and Drink:
Drake Devonshire - This is the super cute (but super $$$) boutique hotel I mentioned above, but you don't need to stay there to experience The Drake. They have amazing food for all occasions (lunch, dinner, cocktail hour), but if you’re looking for one meal to spend at the Drake I would definitely recommend booking a brunch! Depending on the size of your group you may be able to book reservations for the main dining area, but for bigger groups there is a private room in the back that we enjoyed a pre-fixe menu including all of the mimosas and about 27 Eggs Bennies.
Waupoos Estates Winery - Waupoos is a little bit deeper into the County, but luckily for us was just down the street from The Cressy House. Waupoos is known for their cider, but also has great wine and incredible food! We booked a dinner for the 20 of us on Saturday night and enjoyed charcuterie boards to start and each were able to select whichever main course we chose.
Midtown Brewery - This brewery was conveniently located in the same lot as Cribs on the Creek when we were staying there. If you’re looking to catch a game on the big screen or enjoy some good brews, Midtown is the place for you. What was really fun about Midtown is that all of the people we had run into throughout the day, seemed to show up here at night - from our yoga teacher to one of the guys from the winery to a couple of the girls working at the local spa! For a period of time it was the most lively place we went to, but as most things in the county they do shut down earlier than you would expect in a Toronto (read: 11pm).
The Hayloft Dance Hall - The Hayloft is (as of right now and my knowledge) the only true ‘bar’ in the County. This is your traditional two-stepping dance hall. Make sure to check the schedule on-line as they’re not always open and there are different bands that play throughout the season. My other tale of caution if you want to make The Hayloft your stop is to plan rides to and from accordingly. In my research, a lot of bus companies won’t pick you up from Hayloft and I can’t imagine one of the few cabs in the County are readily available to pick-up groups. They do have a great shuttle service that you can check out if your accommodations put you nearby the pick up or drop off locations or you may need to coordinate a private service (limo or car) for your group. I haven’t been, but have heard really great things from the groups that have gone for a night out.
At your accommodations - We had great accommodations and were with an amazing group of ladies at both Bachelorettes this past summer that we did spend a lot of time eating and drinking on site. I am going to make a real attempt to learn how to add videos to these blogs in the new year, because I think you'd really enjoy content from some of our dance parties or Celine sing-a-longs ... some shareable (and not so shareable) memories for sure!
Budget
As you can see there are SO many different ways to do Prince Edward County, but you can be sure each one is equally as amazing as long as you're with your friends and creating a weekend with the bride in mind. This is definitely a ball-park, but PEC can be done for as low as $450-500 or you can definitely splurge depending on accommodations, activities, etc.
Accommodations: $150-200
Wine Tour: $115
Meal Out (dinner or brunch): $75
Groceries/Booze: $100-$120
Bachelorette Accessory: $30
Special shout out to the sisters of the brides who did a lot of the heavy lifting to plan these two amazing weekends in the County. Meg and Heath are both incredibly lucky to have you ladies in their lives!
Until my next PEC adventure.
xo
Nicole