Ontario Travel – Peterborough:
The Elmhirst’s Resort and the 4th Line Theatre
I had really enjoyed my first-hand introduction
to pioneer life at the Lang
Pioneer Village this morning and arrived late
at my next stop: the Elmhirst’s Resort in
Keene, about 25 km southeast of Peterborough and
just about 90 minutes east of Toronto. I was greeted
by Stephen Elmhirst, a member of the fourth generation
of Elmhirsts that have been running this resort.
His great-grandfather purchased this huge 240 acre
property in 1903 and originally ran it as a fishing
camp. His grandfather then built cottages and developed
the waterfront. And during the 1980s his father
started an aggressive expansion of the resort and
added the Hearthside Dining Room.
The Elmhirst's Resort, a great destination on Rice
Lake, 90 minutes from Toronto
Today the Elmhirst’s Resort has 30 cottages,
a luxurious spa, an indoor and an outdoor pool,
riding stables and a health club. Stephen explained
that the resort is also an extremely popular destination
for weddings and special events, with its gorgeous
location on the north shore of Rice Lake. Naturally,
watersports are extremely popular with the guests,
who can use canoes, kayaks, paddleboats or hydrabikes
or even rent different types of powerboats. Every
afternoon Stephen’s nephew takes guests out
on his boat for waterskiing.
Loads of fun for the guests at the waterfront of
the Elmhirst's Resort
In the upstairs banquet room Stephen showed me
the phenomenal view out over Rice Lake through the
giant picture windows. With a length of 32 km and
a width of 5 km, Rice Lake is quite narrow and shallow,
and it is extremely popular with fishermen due to
its rich stocks of large-mouth bass, walleye, and
muskey. The name of the lake is derived from the
wild rice fields that were once cultivated here
by native tribes.
In addition to power boating, all sorts of watercraft
are available for the guests
Prior to joining his family’s business, Stephen
was an air traffic controller, and when his family
asked him to come back to the resort he decided
to take up cooking and became the kitchen manager
for the operation. But aviation still runs in his
blood as I found out when Stephen took me to the
Wild Blue Yonder Pub. This popular watering hole
is decorated in the memory of his grandfather Arthur
Elmhirst who was a test pilot in World War II. The
resort even features a 2500 foot landing strip where
pilots often fly in to have lunch in the aviation-inspired
pub.
The bar in the aviation-inspired Wild Blue Yonder
Pub
Stephen also touched on another important point:
the resort’s commitment to farm-fresh locally
grown food. To that end the Elmhirst family raise
their own Black Angus beef on the property, have
a ½ acre kitchen garden and their own free-laying
hens. The pub serves local beers such as Publicans
from Peterborough, the Church Key Brewery from Campbellford
and Steam Whistle from Toronto. In 2009 a spacious
patio that is surrounded by luscious flower beds
was added to the pub where guests can enjoy casual
meals and a drink in the warm outdoor sun.
Chef de cuisine Michael Sterpin prepared my lunch
As Stephen had to leave, he took me over to the
Hearthside Dining Room where I had a chance to meet
chef de cuisine Michael Sterpin. My table was set
up in the corner with a gorgeous easterly and southerly
view over Rice Lake and Michael started to explain
my lunch to me: my starter was an heirloom tomato
salad with Mariposa Farms goat cheese and a broken
balsamic vinaigrette, followed by a Linwood Acres
Farm cold poached trout with yellow tomato salsa.
Healthy, tasty cuisine using high-quality local
ingredients is a priority at the Elmhirst’s
Resort. Michael said he only needs to walk into
the kitchen garden to pick farm-fresh home-grown
produce.
My appetizer is ready for me: an Heirloom Tomato
Salad with local ingredients
After a delectable lunch with a gorgeous vista
over Rice Lake, I headed to the spa and met Anne
Marshall to learn more about the spa services. Anne
indicated that the spa is new and is run by Spa
Director Martina Linde, a specialist in Traditional
Chinese Medicine, acupuncture, Tui Na massage, nutrition
and herbology. Martina is also part of the family
as general manager's Greg Elmhirst's wife. The spa
offers various massage treatments, acupuncture,
hand and foot treatments, facials and waxing services.
While we were talking, two ladies were enjoying
getting pampered on their comfortable spa chairs,
right in front of huge picture windows overlooking
Rice Lake and the swimming pool.
Annee Marshall welcomes me to the spa
Then Anne and I walked outside onto the lakeside
patio that is a frequent location for weddings.
The grounds of the Elmhirst’s Resort are immaculate
with their perfectly groomed lawns and colourful
flowers. Two full-time gardeners take care of the
gardens at the resort. A huge life-size chess board
is located on the west side of the main building,
the location of many father-son chess lessons. Anne
added that guests come here from the Greater Toronto
area, from Peterborough and many other parts of
Canada. During the soccer world cup the resort hosted
guests from Argentina, Germany and the UK, which
made for very interesting discussions at the bar.
The huge outdoor chessboard - a popular gathering
place
Next we hopped onto an ATV as Anne promised that
“now we are going to see the horses”.
We quickly drove to the air strip and Anne mentioned
they have a regular guest from Dubai who flies his
own plane here from Toronto and stops for lunch
at the pub. In the distance she pointed out a building
that holds the pool and office heating system which
burns environmentally friendly biomass. Environmentally
sustainable operations are important here at the
Elmhirst’s Resort.
Anne and I head off on our tour of the resort
Adjacent to the airstrip is the sizeable kitchen
garden where guests can pitch in with the daily
harvest in the morning. Then we turned around and
started to head eastwards up into the hills. We
stopped at the chicken coop where Anne called the
chickens with a cheerful “Come here, girls”,
and sure enough, 48 chickens started to come over
to greet their human friend. These chickens lay
60 eggs a day which are all used by the resort’s
kitchen.
These friendly chickens lay 60 eggs a day!
As we drove up the hill, Anne told me about the
myriad of activities available at the Elmhirst’s
Resort. Summer activities include walking, bicycling,
horseback riding, various water sports, and even
golf at the golf club right next door. Sea planes
offer sightseeing tours. In the winter, Rice Lake
becomes a skating rink, and snow shoeing and cross-country
skiing entice the outdoor adventurers. Snowmobile
and ATV safaris are offered to the adrenaline junkies,
but many guests prefer to indulge in the couch-potato
package, lazing the day away in their comfy cottages.
The riding horses come and say hello to Anne
At the top of the hill the Free Spirit Riding Stables
came into view where Angie, the trail guide, explained
that they have 11 horses that go out on several
walks with the guests a day. Beautiful Black Angus
beef cattle with shiny black coats were grazing
freely on the pasture. Continuing further up the
hill, the view over the rolling farmland and over
Rice Lake got even better. Anne said that some of
their European guests can’t believe it when
they find out that the land as far as you can see
belongs to the resort.
The top of the hill provides an awesome view over
Rice Lake
To make things easier for resort guests who enjoy
walking on the property, they have set up a bench
by a tree on the hilltop. “Cowboy picnics”
are held in a small meadow area on the hill and
urban dwellers can really get away from it all to
enjoy the country life. Then we headed back on one
of the many forest paths and Anne told me about the
“Wild Women’s Weekends” that the
resort puts on for groups of female friends. During
these getaways six to eight women will stay in a
cottage, drink fine wine, eat great dinners, do
nature activities, embark on ATV safaris, go horseback
riding, get pampered in the spa and more recently
they have even added a pumpkin shooting target practice
to the program.
Guests fly in to have lunch at the Elmhirst's Resort
Our final stop was the wine cellar which also holds
a tasting table. Anne explained that the cellar is
home to some of Canada’s best vintages from
places like the Niagara Region, Prince Edward County,
the North Shore of Lake Erie and British Columbia’s
Okanagan Region. These are wines that can only be
purchased at the winery or here at the resort as
they are not available in the liquor store. Wine
tastings are offered every week, and wine dinners
have become a very popular event among the guests
at the Elmhirst’s.
The wine cellar offers select Ontario vintages
After my whirlwind tour of this amazing family-owned
resort, my head was still swirling with all the
things to see and do at this resort. I have rarely
seen such a broad range of activities and services
offered by a hospitality establishment.
Arthur Elmhirst, World War II test pilot and one
of the hospitality pioneers at the Elmhirst
Now it was on to my last stop of the day: an outdoor
theatre performance at the locally renowned 4th
Line Theatre. I drove about half an hour west from
Keene to the village of Millbrook.
My evening program was a performance of “The
Right Road to Pontypool”, the little known
yet true story of the nearby village of Pontypool
that became a summer haven for thousands of Jewish
immigrants between 1916 and the early 1960s. Keep
in mind that this was in an era when the signs at
Sunnyside Beach in Toronto still said “No
Dogs or Jews Allowed”.
The serene country view at the 4th Line Theatre,
all part of the stage!
The 4th Line Theatre has been in existence for
19 years now and produced many award winning shows
that focus on historic Canadian themes. Director
Kim Blackwell explained to me the origin of this
creative endeavour: Robert Winslow, the Artistic
Director, is an actor, and inherited the 160 year
old family farm from his mother in the 1980s. Not
inclined to go into agriculture, he decided to turn
the farm into a barnyard theatre and staged his
first play there in 1992.
Kim Blackwell, the director of "The Right Road
to Pontypool"
After two months of performances in front of completely
sold out crowds it became clear that the audience
was hungry for topics of historical Canadian relevance.
Since then the theatre has held 22 world premiere
productions that sometimes take up to 4 or 5 years
to come to fruition. The theatre is unique in that
it uses a combination of professional actors and
local volunteers. The biggest production had a cast
of 84 people, and today’s production involved
37 professional and amateur actors.
The barns are part of the backdrop at the 4th Line
Theatre
All parts of the 100 acre farm are used - the three
old barns as well as the surrounding fields. The
action came at me from everywhere, and I was thoroughly
impressed by the acting, the music and the complex
choreography involved in coordinating so many actors.
The atmosphere in this outdoor venue in the rolling
hills of Peterborough is magical, and the Canadian
topics definitely strike a chord with the audience.
Even the parking lot presents a romantic image at
sunset
As the sun was setting, the play finished and the
audience was slowly dissipating. To cap off the
evening I stopped off in the charming historic village
of Millbrook which was celebrating “Ladies
Night”, a yearly event that closes off King
Street with music, dancing, shopping, food and socializing.
I had had another fascinating day in the Peterborough
area and was looking forward to one
more full day here.
