The ultimate guide to Dufferin County, a perfectly scenic summer escape
What Ontario day trip is complete without a boozy butter tart milkshake?
By Caroline Aksich
| July 4, 2025
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This summer, we’re hitting the road with a new series of day trips and overnighters that are perfect for escaping the city without losing a whole day to the highway. Every week or so, we’ll spotlight a different Ontario region and share standout stops that are worth the gas money. First up: Dufferin County and northern Peel. About 80 minutes northwest of Toronto, this scenic stretch of farmland and forest offers blow-your-mind butter tarts, solar-powered breweries and lavender farms so idyllic they’ll make you think you took a wrong turn into Provence.
This proudly Ontarian lavender farm showcases how well the perfumed perennials thrive in local soil, plus everything they can be made into: oil, body butter, ice cream, honey. With 30,000-plus plants, a Celtic stone circle, and a cast of horses, bunnies, ducks and Orpington hens, Avalon is designed for lingering. Owner Alexis Levine wants visitors to stay awhile, stroll by (or wade into) the river, picnic in the fields or feed Kit Kat, a retired racehorse. The farm’s name is a nod to Arthurian legend—Avalon was the mythical “isle of healing,” a place of restoration and communion with nature. True to that ethos, the programming is grounding and lightly indulgent: Self Care Sundays with wellness brand Trove include journalling in the woods, sound baths, lavender hand massages, yoga and refreshments among the blooms. For a more decadent option, there’s high tea by Piano Piano, served picnic-style with panna cotta, smoked salmon and osetra caviar. Pick-your-own bouquets are available in season.
Nearly five times the size of High Park and less than an hour from Toronto, Mono Cliffs is a proper escape into the wild. It may not be Banff, but the 30-metre cliffs and glacier-cut lake make this day-use park worthy of any Dufferin County itinerary. Trails wind through hardwood forest and cedar groves that are home to deer, foxes and other flashy locals (including indigo buntings and scarlet tanagers). Climb to the lookout, dip into the canyon or just let the forest quiet your brain.
Just a three-minute drive from Mono Cliffs Provincial Park, this cozy hideaway is the perfect place to refuel after a hike. Tucked beneath the Mono Cliffs Inn, the pub oozes rustic charm with wood-beam ceilings, a crackling fireplace (in cooler months) and 150-year-old stone walls, plus a miniature electric train circling overhead. The menu goes well beyond standard pub grub: in addition to the beloved burger and Ontario craft beers, diners will find schnitzel, scallop aglio e olio and steak frites. It’s like a pub menu that took a backpacking trip through Europe. There’s also live music on Friday nights.
Come autumn, Spirit Tree is crawling with apple pickers and tractors riding through rows of mutsus and honeycrisps. But this 16-year-old Caledon cidery is worth visiting beyond harvest season. After a few pared-back seasons due to Covid, the bistro is back to serving upscale comfort food that makes creative use of orchard ingredients. Apple-forward dishes like cider-steamed mussels and chorizo with apple chutney are sure bets, but the standout is the wood-fired pizza, blistered to perfection in a stone oven. The Ciderhouse Blues pie—topped with roasted potatoes, caramelized onions, apple slices, mozzarella and blue cheese—pairs perfectly with a glass of dry-hopped cider, a crisp pour that balances ripe fruit with the snap of Ontario hops. Don’t skip the Farm Shoppe for still-warm loaves and aromatic apple pies.
The Badlands sounds like a Mad Max sequel, and the vibe isn’t far off: a rust-red ripple of shale that was formed 450 million years ago at the bottom of a long-gone tropical sea, unearthed by farming and deforestation—and then nearly trampled into oblivion by tourists. The surreal expanse of clay ridges is so striking that it became an Instagram pilgrimage site, causing the park to close for three years and reopen in 2018 with a viewing platform and raised walkways. Most of its 36 hectares (about twice the size of Trinity Bellwoods Park) remain off-limits to preserve the fragile terrain. Book ahead through ParkPass; entry is $10 to $20 per vehicle for 90 minutes, which is plenty if you’re just stopping by for the view.
18825 Shaws Creek Rd., Alton, 519-927-5881, goodlot.beer
This may be Ontario’s greenest brewery. Powered entirely by the sun and rooted in regenerative farming, this Caledon spot walks the eco walk. Eight hop varieties grow on the 30-acre pesticide-free property, which is also home to grazing livestock. The taproom is housed in a sustainably built barn; outside, there are picnic tables, pavilions and live music running Thursday to Sunday. Like the chickens, kids can roam free around the grounds, and grown-ups can sip Farmstead Ale while chef Phil DeWar dishes up Caribbean comfort food—jerk chicken, cornbread and wings—from an on-site kitchen. Trivia, yoga, comedy nights and a disc golf course round out the fun.
With its red roof, silo tower and bank-barn design, this museum looks more like a working farm than a traditional gallery—which is fitting given its focus on the region’s rural roots. Inside, the history of Dufferin County is on full display, from early settler life to a sparkling gallery dedicated to Corn Flower Glass, a once-ubiquitous Canadian brand that populated the pages of Eaton’s catalogues with its delicate pitchers, glasses and vases. On now through August: Unity in Diversity, a juried multicultural art show. Year-round highlights include hands-on kids’ exhibits and settler-era models. Admission is $5, and kids under five can visit for free.
Located in a historic building at the junction of Mulmur, Mono and Adjala townships, this general store has been a local fixture for more than 160 years. Once a post office and supply stop, the site is now a charming purveyor of groceries, gifts and coffee. Visitors will find pickled beets, thick-cut bacon and mushrooms (and mushroom-growing kits), plus tchotchkes, candles and German-made wooden toys. There’s also a café serving brunch classics like crustless quiche, eggs Benny and granola bowls. The pièce de résistance is the Ultimate Boozy Butter Tart Milkshake: whiskey-spiked, topped with whipped cream and finished with a full-size butter tart—because moderation is a city problem.
It all started with a few test vines and a hunch that the hills of Hockley Valley might be grape-friendly—even if they were a far cry from Calabria, where owner Mario Adamo was born and first fell for wine. Twenty-five years later, his eponymous winery now grows 28,000 vines and turns out bright biodynamic bottles with plenty of swagger. Not bad for a locale that’s definitely not wine country. But, bit by bit, the Adamo family has been shaping this 77-acre slice of Dufferin County into something that feels like home. Even the food is Italian: gnocchi, risotto, polpette, bruschetta. In summer, stay for alfresco movie nights in the vines—Mamma Mia pairs surprisingly well with sparkling rosé and popcorn.
385362 20th Sideroad, Dufferin County, 416-716-4844, planetbayou.ca
Forget the boat: this wake park swaps horsepower for cable power, using an eco-friendly straight-line system to tow riders across a 10-acre lake. It’s the easiest (and cheapest) way to learn to wakeboard, waterski or kneeboard—think ski-hill T-bar but wetter. Lessons, rentals and paddleboards are also on offer. And for those who’d rather stay dry, there’s a full disc golf course and lawn games by the shore. Lessons start at $75 for 30 minutes.
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