Discover hidden gems just outside Toronto! Explore Durham’s four scenic road trips featuring sunflower fields, lavender farms, wineries, and historic mills. Experience unforgettable day trips filled with local flavours, art, and pastoral charm. Your perfect Ontario adventure awaits!
I love it when my preconceptions of Ontario are mercilessly shredded. And that very experience happened on a recent road trip through the Durham Region with some of my friends from Toronto.
On this epic road trip from the town of Goodwood through to Port Perry, we discovered four incredible drives where we sipped on wine and hard cider, tiptoed through lavender fields, snuggled with baby goats next to acres of sunflowers, and tasted baked goods and delicious food straight from farm fields.
In a nutshell, my eyes were opened to just how magical the experiences that lie right on the borders of Ontario’s largest city are. After having another eye-opening drive last summer with my kids up Airport Road to the region of Mulmur, I’m sold that Ontarians don’t need to take a week off to travel up north or down south for unforgettable experiences. There are plenty of options that are just a hop, skip, and a jump away from home, whether you live in Toronto, Peterborough, or Niagara.
These four Durham road trips are part of their “Rural Routes” initiative, an innovative strategy by the Durham Tourism to diversify attention from the busy cities like Oshawa, Whitby, and Pickering to the picturesque countryside that stretches as far inland as Lake Ontario as beautiful Lake Simcoe in the Township of Brock.
So, if you’re looking for an unexpected local adventure, it’s perfect for a weekend getaway or quiet Sunday escape. A drive where the worst traffic might be a lonely tractor moving between fields. These four road trips in Durham might be the one you’ve been looking for.
And if you’d prefer to let someone else do the driving, companies like Rural Route Tour Co. and Town Trolley Tours offer families and small groups a catered experience along these back road drives.
A Country Path: Exploring The Clarington Countryside
Sipping on hard cider at Archibald’s Winery on Liberty St. in Bowmanville, owners Fred and Sandy drew me in with their infectious spirit, witty banter, and genuine passion for rural experiences between Peterborough and Toronto.
Fred poured tastings of their apple wine, hard ciders, and rich dessert wines while Sandy passionately raved about all of the incredible makers and artisans along the Country Path route. “There are so many amazing makers and farmers along the route,” she told us. Everything from pumpkin farms, organic beef farms, apiaries and beekeepers, herbalists, winemakers and apple farms.
One of the ways that the businesses along the Country Path have banded together is by creating a scavenger hunt where road-trippers can check off locations along the route and answer questions for a chance to win a gift basket supplied by all of the unique stops along the way.
One of my personal favourite stops along A Country Path road trip was my stop at Tyrone Mills. This historic 180-year-old wheat mill still uses water from a swan-filled pond to power its massive stone grinders, creating flour in modern times the same way that it was produced centuries ago.
The mill even uses the same hydropower to run the belts for its woodworking mill on the second floor, where owner Robert Shafer has spent the past 30 years crafting the mill’s popular Muskoka chairs.
The mill houses a wood-fired pizzeria and a bakery where road trippers can pick up delicious homemade goods to enjoy on the property’s Instagram-worthy patio or on a casual stroll around the lily-covered pond that powers the mill’s antique equipment.
Backroads of Brock: Sunflowers, Bees, and Adorable Animals
When our small group rolled up to The Sunflower Farm on Sideroad 17 in Beaverton, we were met with sunflower heaven. I’m talking about never-ending fields of bright yellow happiness in brilliant bloom. Each blossom was gazing hopefully toward a sun-filled sky.
The Sunflower Farm sprawls across 20 acres of farmland just minutes from central Beaverton. Owner Ursula Kressibucher has taken a plan that blooms for just two weeks per year and planted fields of multiple varieties, creating a floral paradise where sunflowers bloom throughout late summer and early fall. This creates one of the most beautiful and photo-friendly escapes in Central Ontario.
But it’s not just beautiful flowers and floral shops that make The Sunflower Farm one of the most memorable stops on this Durham road trip. It was Feta, an adorable and mischievous baby goat who lives in a goat condo near the end of the farm’s sunflower-shaped trail. After some baby goat snuggles, I was seriously searching for whether or not I could fit him into the car for a trip home.
The Backroads of Brock, situated between Sunderland and Blackwater, not far from Maple Beach on Lake Scugog, is the perfect Durham road trip for nature lovers and photographers. The Sunflower Farm isn’t the only floral stop on the route. Pinedale Patch is another Sunflower stop, offering a one-acre trail through the flowers.
Along the drive is Villa Vida Loca, an apiary and glamping destination just outside of Sunderland, where owners Ann and Brian house a smokehouse, farm market and gardens. One of the route’s most popular getaways is Forget-Me-Not Alpacas, a sustainable farming experience where guests can enjoy farm tours and meet the adorable furry alpacas close-up.
Forget-Me-Not also has a farm shop where locally-made alpaca clothing and handicrafts allow you to take a bit of these furry friends home with you.
Leaskdale Loop: Pottery, Farm Markets, and Lucy Maud Montgomery
I loved the Leaskdale Loop for its accessibility and easy-to-drive experience as much as I did for the breadth of incredible attractions along the route. This beautiful Durham road trip covers artists workshops, music, orchards and farm markets all within minutes of each other near the city of Uxbridge, Ontario.
One of my first stops was Tindall Farms on Regional Road 1. Here, owner Ryan Tindall works in the fields, helping to produce market-ready veggies, including over one million heads of cauliflower. Inside the market shop, his wife and business partner, Karyn Tindall, is hard at work turning the farm yields of fruit into delicious homemade preserves.
Inside the shop, my group munched on cinnamon and sugar doughnuts while Karyn walked us through the creation and canning process for the shop’s delightful wild blueberry jam. This is a must-purchase if you stop at Tindall Farms. It’s so good!
The farm is just one of 11 stops on the Leaskdale Loop, each one in quick succession, so it’s easy to hit them all in an afternoon. Among them is the home of famed author Lucy Maud Montgomery, the brilliant mind behind Canada’s iconic Anne of Green Gables.
The Leaskdale Loop has a range of incredible stops, including Greenmantle Pottery, located in a 150-year-old log home, Montgomery Shire Orchard and Nursery, which produces one-of-a-kind Sea Buckthorn super berries, and the Thomas Foster Memorial, a brilliant and unique piece of Byzantine architecture modelled after the Taj Mahal. The building was built in honour of Thomas Foster, a local boy who went to the city to find his fortune., ultimately becoming an MP & Mayor of Toronto.
Sideroads of Scugog: Lavender Fields and Glassworks
As my crew stepped out into the parking lot at Lavender Blu, the rich floral scent sent us all into a blissfull state.
Created by Ludmila Haynos-Owen in 2007, Lavender Blu became fascinated by the multifaceted uses of lavender and wanted to create a space where she could pursue her passion and share the natural healing powers, aroma, flavour and colour of lavender with others.
We strolled through rows of lavender plants, organic gardens, and photo-friendly gazebos, paying visits to the property’s adorable “insect hotels,” mindfulness walks, and lavender shops along the way.
Our next stop was Willowtree Farm or Durham Regional Road 21 near Port Perry. This grand working farm combines a farm-friendly visit with the chance to see a genuine working farm in action. As we visited goats and tasted berries fresh from the vine, we were dodging tractors laden with farm workers shuttling baskets of goods back and forth from the fields to the warehouses. It was truly fascinating.
Inside the shop, Willowtree Farm has a butcher, a baker (although I couldn’t, for the life of me, find a candlestick maker), and all sorts of farm-fresh goodies to buy. I loaded up on fresh beans and sweet corn before continuing on our drive.
Sideroads of Scugog has 14 stops to enjoy, making it the perfect Durham road trip for those with a full day to explore. Stops like Bonnie Thomson Glass where owner Bonnie Thomson sells her glasswork and runs classes for those interested in learning more about the art makes for a truly unique experience.
More artwork can be found at Meta 4 Gallery in Port Perry, while those looking for something a little more active might want to try Dunny’s Divots Indoor Golf Experience.
These Durham Road Trips Are Waiting To Be Explored
It’s amazing what you can discover by getting off of the beaten path and exploring rural routes in Ontario, and these road trips in the Durham Region are a clear sign that there is so much more to Ontario than many of us can possibly imagine.
Whether you’re looking to explore honey farms, flower fields, or blown-glass artwork, many of these Ontario travel experiences are closer than you think. So what do you say? Are you ready to fuel up and try out one of these beautiful drives?
I’ll race you there!
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Disclaimer: I was invited to join Durham Tourism for a day of adventure through the Rural Routes. All opinions remain my own.
Kevin Wagar is a founder and editor of Ultimate Ontario. He has been working in the travel media industry since 2015 when he founded his family travel website Wandering Wagars – Adventure Family Travel.
Over the years Kevin has developed a deep love for his home province of Ontario and aims to showcase the incredible experiences and amazing small businesses found within it.