When you leave Montreal and drive for a few hours in any direction, you can easily come across picture-postcard villages, fields of golden wheat, rivers gurgling under tall trees, small mountains, orchards… And sometimes, it all looks the same, and you can get lost in the regions – especially if you’re touring Quebec by bike.
And in summer, you’re afraid you won’t be able to do it all. There’s kayaking, lobster po-boys, walks in the woods, swimming on sandy beaches (!), hiking, Saturday morning markets… But unfortunately, we don’t all have a month’s vacation, and we’re going to have to choose where to spend long weekends with friends, family or lovers.
A 1h30 drive from Montreal, we know a village that’s as if preserved in the amber of 1900s loyalists, on the shores of Lake Massawippi, with a general store, a market, a café that’s just bobo enough not to disorient city dwellers (too much), a sports club and a restaurant on the water that makes the best cocktails around… And the sunsets…
North Hatley
The village of North Hatley is located in the Eastern Townships, near the U.S. border with Vermont, and was founded by Loyalists – mostly farmers – who left New England after the U.S. declaration of independence in 1776.
North Hatley was established in 1803, and the municipality was founded in 1897. It’s a village with a very chic architecture – big houses withwraparound porches, white, green, huge between hundred-year-old trees. They were built by Americans (the American aristocracy, to be precise), mainly fromWest Virginia.
The village borders Lake Massawippi, one of the deepest and most beautiful in Quebec…
There’s still an old-fashioned country club in the village, especially active in summer, and as you stroll through the village you can see members playing tennis dressed in white with shiny hair and an Arnold Palmer in hand…
And if you’re really lucky, you can see the Clintons on the terrace of Hovey Manor. Hint: it’s when the village is mysteriously full of men in black who look way too serious, surrounded by kids eating ice cream and clicking their clogs on the asphalt leading to the beach.
It’s a little Desperate Housewives, a little Twin Peaks and a little Québécois – and it’s this timeless spirit that may have inspired crime thriller writer Louise Penny to create the fictional village of Three Pines (an amalgam of the region’s most beautiful villages, including Knowlton, where she lives).
In the books…
The books by Louise Penny (our local Agatha Christie) that refer to specific (and iconic) North Hatley locations are Defence to Kill – for the Hovey Manor, which she renames the “Bellechasse Manor” – and Brutal Revelation, for J.B. LeBaron’s General Store.
Visit Manoir Hovey a Relais Château with all the charm of the village and two Michelin stars, is a hotel, restaurant and spa. We love the Tap Room and its mouth-watering burgers, the view of the lake, which is completely slack at night, the sauna, and the history within the walls of this old-fashioned institution.
Be careful, though, because if you go in high heels, valet parking is almost compulsory (the parking lots are high up in the forest, and the gravel is treacherous) – and watch out for the deer that live in the property’s woods, which you come across at every turn…
J.B. LeBaron’s General Store has been the beating heart of North Hatley since 1888!
The LeBaron family is one of the municipality’s founding families; Plum LeBaron owned one of the steamboats that sailed up from Virginia to Lake Massawippi – transporting goods and vacationers, and Emily LeBaron was one of Quebec’s first antique dealers to promote local folk art.
Today, LeBaron descendants run the Magasin Général (which has everything, even gluten-free English muffins that you can’t even find in Montreal).
And also…
In addition to a setting that’s just old-school classy enough to be the scene of Louise Penny’s bloody intrigues, the village of North Hatley is a real resort and comes alive in summer.
It’s a beautiful stop when you’re cycling in the region, and our favorite ride is the one between North Hatley and Ayer’s Cliff.
As well as soft ice cream and lobster rolls at Casawippi, the snack bar between the public beach and the club beach, you can enjoy a drink at Pilsen, or a coffee and yoga class at Massawippi Mercantile.
For fans of history, architecture and Louise Penny thrillers, we recommend a visit to North Hatley as soon as possible…