a weekend in kingston and prince edward county

In the spring, Geoff and I decided that we would spend this summer taking advantage of our car and taking as many weekend day trips around Ontario as we could, searching for things we hadn’t seen before, fresh air, and for new beaches! So I was thrilled when I got an email from a sweet woman named Carolynn who offered us a weekend away in Kingston, Ontario and Prince Edward County, in conjunction with Kingston Accommodation Partners. Kingston is a historic city a three hour drive away from Toronto with one of the highest number of restaurants per capita in all of Canada, and Prince Edward County is a part of the province that is quickly becoming known for its wineries and food. I had never been to either place before, so how could I turn down this proposition? Impossible. We were given first class VIA Rail tickets, which was a pretty wonderful experience, and joined a group of really lovely people from Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal, all of whom love food and photography. Our first night we had dinner at Tango Nuevo in downtown Kingston, and laughed and chatted the hours away while nibbling on delicious tapas, and started filling Instagram with our #visitkingston hashtag.

The next morning we woke up in our waterfront hotel and walked through a farmers market to get to our diner breakfast (at Morrison’s) before a full day visiting wineries in the sunshine in Prince Edward County.

Our first stop was Hinterland Wine Company, which produces sparkling wines, where we met our host for the day, Alex Fida, who runs Angeline’s Inn in Bloomfield. Then off to Norman Hardie for more tastings and delicious pizza.

We visited three other wineries: Karlo Estates, Hubbs Creek, and The Old Third. I learned so much about wine that day, even though I haven’t been drinking much for the past year or so, and even though I only allowed myself a few sips. Everything was so tasty.

Eventually we found our way back to Hinterland where there was a food truck festival happening. Despite the multiple pizzas consumed at lunch, we were treated to some seafood from Buster’s Sea Cove.

Chuck photographs his tacos while Gabrielle relaxes; Zack, Kelly, Carolynn, and Francis at The Old Third

Once back in Kingston, we had some time to freshen up and explore, and share an ice cream at White Mountain (seriously consumed my weight in snax and dinners that weekend!). Downtown Kingston has some really beautiful architecture and it was so nice to walk along the water as well.

That evening we had an incredible seafood feast at Dianne’s. Some members of our group partied all night, but not us!

On Sunday Geoff and I woke up early to meet Ali and Francis for coffee and croissants from Pan Chancho. We also checked out the antiques market in the square and went for another waterfront walk.

After breakfast we didn’t have much time before we had to catch our train back to Toronto, and because some of our group had opted to take later trains home, they were able to go sailing later that day (lucky!). We were given the opportunity to rent bikes, which we rode to check out the Queen’s University campus and other parts of town we hadn’t seen. The weather was glorious and we were on a high from such a fun, food-filled, lovely weekend.

Thanks, Carolynn, and thanks, Kingston! We will definitely be back!