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Innisfil Tour

Coming north to Barrie? Treat yourself to one of several side trips to explore the delights of the Township of Innisfil.

A tour of Innisfil is going to start with shopping, and what better place to start than the Cookstown Manufacturer’s Outlet Mall located at the Cookstown exit at Highway 89 on Highway 400. The Outlet mall hosts over 50 great brand name stores including designer names in fashion, accessories, footwear, home decor, fine china, and unique gifts. Finding clearance prices on top of already reduced prices makes for a very satisfying trip.

Another style of shopping lies just 3 km west of Highway 400 on Highway 89 in the charming Village of Cookstown. Take a peak to the left at the magnificent view as you climb up the hill to Cookstown. In town you will find an antique hunter’s heaven nestled in among beautifully maintained Victorian churches, homes, gardens and shops. Don’t miss the lovely china and Aladdin lamps at Will Silks General Store, The Occasional Piece specializing in antique chandeliers, The Dragoon, selling antique and unique military toys, Rus in Urbe Antiques, tucked away behind the Princely Pear Tea Room and the Cookstown Antique Market on Highway 27 just north of the public school. In addition to antiques, there is the Gallery on Queen offering exquisite original art and a wonderful collection of gift shops. The Princely Pear has a lovely lunch and afternoon high tea. In The Art Café you can sip a cappuccino and munch on a pastry from the comfort of a cosy sofa or while browsing through lovely original mosaics and bead jewellery collections. The Wagon Wheel has a great breakfast and traditional grill menu for lunch while the New Penny Restaurant offers family dining for both lunch and dinner. The South Simcoe Theatre stages great plays and musicals throughout the year with matinees often on Sundays. Check their web site for their calendar.

For adventurous, active families, a stroll 3 km north on the Trans Canada Trail (that passes through town just east of Tim Hortons) will take you along an easy trail through idyllic cow pastures and over bridges crossing streams teeming with fish (keep your eye out for the resident otter at the second bridge) to a site surrounding the third bridge where beavers have constructed their own “all inclusive resort”. Everyday you can spot fresh activity, with beaver footprints in the numerous dams and teeth marks on tree stumps, but the beavers themselves are very shy and hard to spot. Keep your eyes pealed and look hard into the forest on both sides of the trail and you will see a vast network of dams, lodges and ponds. For the less physically ambitious, you can park your car on Concession 5 of Essa, just west of Highway 27 (3 km north of the centre of town) where the trail crosses the road, and walk south less than ½ km to the dams.

Leaving Cookstown, travel north on Highway 27 to Thornton for an elegant dinner at the Village Inn Steak House located in the historic Queen’s Hotel. If it is still too early for dinner, stop for an ice cream cone at the quaint Hoppies Ice Cream Co. You will find antiques in Thornton too; as you will anywhere that you see a sign in the area. Drop in and have a chat with the owner and discover all of the neat stuff you remember from Grandma’s house.

As you continue north out of Thornton, turn east (right) on Innisfil Beach Road to return to Highway 400. If the excitement of harness racing is more your idea of a good time, turn left (north) on the 5th Sideroad just before you get to Highway 400 and take a detour to Georgian Downs and Slots. The ponies race Tuesday and Saturday evenings and the slots are always available.

On the north side of Innisfil Beach Road on the east side of Highway 400 is the 400 Market with over 400 vendors in the farmers’ and flea markets and a wonderful selection of fresh produce, pastries and smoked meat as well as fantastic Jamaican food and samosas. On the same site you find yet another fabulous antique mall, Roadshow Antiques. This is the granddaddy of antique malls in the area boasting 32,000 square feet of showroom space. Whereas the 400 Market is only open Saturdays and Sundays, Roadshow Antiques is open every day. The road to the 400 Market is almost 1 km east of the 400. Also on this road are several interesting factory outlets and distributors for candles and gifts.

After picking up sandwiches, snacks and drinks at the market, continue east on Innisfil Beach Road to the end of the road to spend some time relaxing at Innisfil Beach Park with your picnic lunch on the shores of beautiful Lake Simcoe. The park has beaches, picnic areas, a children’s playground, a nature trail, forest and wide open spaces.

For an alternate route back to Barrie from Cookstown, go east on Highway 89 out of town to County Road 4 (previously Highway 11). Along the way, note the turn off at Reive Boulevard just past the bridge over Highway 400 to KOA North Toronto / Cookstown Campground. This site has all the amenities, trailer and RV camping that KOA is famous for. Turn left (north) at County Road 4 and you will be driving parallel to and east of Highway 400. This will take you to Barkley Square located on the right just north of Highway 89, for a gracious evening of fine dining. If it is too early for dinner, continue to travel north to the Hamlet of Churchill and just before you get to the top of the hill, turn left for a visit Steeples for wonderful and clever gifts and home decorating ideas. North of Churchill, you can turn right (east) at Innisfil Beach Road to explore the village of Alcona and still pick up a picnic lunch to enjoy at Innisfil Beach Park. Alternatively you could continue north on County Road 11 and take advantage of the trail riding through the picturesque rural countryside at Innisfree Valley Farm (available by appointment). If you have run out of time, turn left (west) at Innisfil Beach Road to return to Highway 400.

As you travel through this beautiful part of the province, keep an eye out for the lush tidy farms, gently rolling countryside, gorgeous rural vistas, abundant wildlife and behind it all, the lovely shores of Lake Simcoe.