If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (CAD314.50), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Live like loved-up locals at the Wilfrid, a wholesome 1850s farmhouse spruced into an adults-only B&B by chef and designer dream team Frank and Nancy. Their rural retreat woos with farm-fuelled brunches, wine tastings and hand-in-hand walks through the maple forest. Steamy dates await in the alfresco hot tub and sauna. And fly the love nest and there’s a local-secret beach in reach, as well as Prince Edward County’s pastoral charms to explore. Just be back for aperitifs à deux in the fairylit barn, accompanied by romance-kindling sunsets.
Smith Extra
Get this when you book through us:
A bottle of Riesling from the Wilfrid’s vineyard, plus a day pass to Sandbanks Provincial Park for summer stays
11am. Check-in is at 3pm but flexible, subject to availability.
Prices
Double rooms from £216.32 (CA$370), including tax at 17.52 per cent.
More details
Rates include a daily home-cooked brunch, a decadent five-course affair rustled up from local farmers’ produce and featuring flavours from globe-spanning cuisines. A two-night minimum stay is required.
Also
Unfortunately, the Wilfrid is not wheelchair accessible.
At the hotel
Barrel sauna, hot tub, cold plunge pool, vineyard, fire pit, library with a fireplace and Smart TV, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: Bluetooth speaker, air-conditioning, ceiling fan and organic Telford Basics bath products.
Our favourite rooms
There’s no bad pick thanks to Nancy’s keen eye for curation, with each bedroom featuring bold original art and hand-sourced antiques. If you’re flocking here with friends, the Suite has space for up to four.
Spa
Gazing out over the surrounding fields, the Finnish cedar barrel sauna, cold plunge pool, hot tub and heated changing cabin form an alfresco hydrotherapy circuit. Book your soaking and steaming slot and you’re guaranteed private access, so you’ll only have your date (and perhaps a few deer) for company.
Packing tips
Anthony Bourdain would make for apt holiday reading – his culture-roaming influence is evident in the brunch menus, and cool Montreal artist (and Wilfrid regular) Stikki Peaches' portrait of him forms the focal point of the library.
Also
The converted barn can double as a yoga pavilion – just ask for the furniture to be moved aside, and you can hone your practice looking out over tree-shaded pastures.
Children
Leave the little Smiths at home – this is adults-only retreat is prime ‘just the two of us’ territory.
Sustainability efforts
The Wilfrid places a lot of stock in local, sustainable produce. Most of the ingredients that chef Frank uses are sourced from his network of farmers, fishermen and artisanal producers. Plus, as much as possible is made at home, from hot sauces and jams to fresh-from-the-garden floral arrangements. The hotel also has a zero plastic bottle policy and uses refillable bath products from an organic local brand.
Brunch is served at the communal farmhouse table. After that, scout out pretty alfresco spots – afternoon vino calls for a vineyard-facing swing seat; the barn is the place to catch the sunset, and starlit nights are best spent snuggled up by the fire pit
Dress Code
Down-home denim and your favourite flannel shirt.
Hotel restaurant
There’s no restaurant, but every morning starts around the rustic breakfast table with a five-course, farm-to-table brunch designed to keep you going till dinner. Frank devises each dish daily based on what fresh produce he’s got his hands on, but past pleasures include charred eggplant with ewe’s milk feta, cured pork loin with melon and zucchini, curry-dipped pakoras, and coconut-grapefruit pudding with persimmon purée. You can also order oyster or caviar platters in advance, served late afternoon as a pre-supper treat before popping out to explore Picton’s restaurant scene.
Hotel bar
Delve into sommelier Frank’s personal wine collection in the Cellar shop, where you’ll also find local craft beers, cocktails and creative soft-drink options.
Last orders
You can sit down for brunch at 8.30am or 9.30am – it’s a full-blown, hour-and-a-half affair.
Room service
There's no room service, but coffee and tea, as well as tipples and treats from the Cellar shop, can be brought to in the library from 7.30am until 9pm.
The Wilfrid is a countryside stay in the south of Prince Edward County, a Lake Ontario-lapped headland rich with home-grown produce and towns so charming you’ll be running the numbers on running away to open a bakery there.
Planes
There are a few hubs within reasonable driving distance – it’s two-and-a-half hours from Toronto Pearson Airport, three hours from Ottawa International Airport and just under four from Montreal Trudeau Airport.
Trains
Via Rail runs direct services from Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal to Belleville Station, under an hour’s drive from the Wilfrid. The hotel can arrange transfers from the station on request. Otherwise, pick up your own wheels from the rental service at the station.
Automobiles
You’ll need a car for navigating the County’s winding rural roads, and there’s free onsite parking at the Wilfrid.
Worth getting out of bed for
Stroll down to Exultet Estates for a wine tasting – when a winery with a multi-award-winning Chardonnay is your closest neighbor, it would seem rude not to. Cycle south to Monarch Point Conservation Reserve, a pebbled beach with swim-friendly waters that’s so under-the-radar you may well have it to yourself. Sandbanks Provincial Park, where giant dunes roll down into beaches lapped by Lake Ontario, is a 20-minute drive away. Or mosey up north to discover the mysterious, myth-steeped Lake on the Mountain. Ask Frank and Nancy to fill you in on the best kayaking and canoeing spots – they can help sort kit rental, too.
The Local Store spotlights the County’s best artists, as well as traditional crafts, antiques and vintage finds. And browse bonny village Bloomfield’s boutiques for more locally made souvenirs.
Local restaurants
Prince Edward County’s fruitful farmland and shoreline fuel a flourishing gourmet scene. Spanish spot Bocado is a word-of-mouth hit where the elevated tapas menu is powered by seasonal local produce. For a hearty wood-fired dinner, head to Flame and Smith. Dry-aged steak and sustainably sourced seafood are the stars here, but there’s no slacking on the plant-based front either, with innovative options like lion's mane mushroom steak and ember-roasted squash salad.
Local cafés
Serving home-baked treats, hearty sandwiches and a rotation of artisanal blends from indie Canadian roasters, Beacon Bike and Brew in Picton makes a cute caffeine pitstop with or without a set of wheels.
Local bars
Russ & Co Cocktail Bar in Picton is a cool, saloon-like local with vintage interiors and an inventive craft cocktail list.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this historic B&B in Canada and unpacked their maple syrup and homemade jam, a full account of their bucolic break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside the Wilfrid in Prince Edward County…
You wake in an art-filled bedroom, stirred by the smell of fresh flowers and baking pastries, with no noisy neighbors save for birdsong and perhaps the odd bleat – welcome to the Wilfrid, a cozy farmhouse B&B where hosts Nancy and Frank have fine-tuned the recipe for home-from-home hospitality. A stay in the life of this couple-goals pair involves maximum cosseting and not much of anything else, if that’s how you choose to do it. Each morning, Frank whips up a dream brunch – five cuisine-spanning courses, packed with produce from neighboring farmers and fishers. Follow that up with a cwtch in the fire-warmed library, stirring for a woodland stroll or a cycle down to the local-secret beach. Afternoons are best left clear for languorous laps of the alfresco sauna, hot tub and cold plunge circuit; come evening, cuddle up with a local Riesling in the twinkly-lit barn, where the sunset views are so swoon-worthy they’ve inspired a proposal or two. Kayaking and cute-town-touring are on the cards for restless sorts, but there’s little need to stray far. Frank and Nancy have cracked the code to the Canadian good life – if you want to live like a local, these are the ones to emulate.
