Quebec’s Nearby Eastern Townships and Magog are Full of Food and Fun

By Max Hartshorne
GoNOMAD Editor

Once again, readers, the north is where you should travel this summer for the best bargains. Canada offers you a 70-cent dollar and more attractions, vistas, beaches, lakes, oceans, and wineries than anywhere.

The fun part is that you will feel like you’re in Europe with the French road signs, yet your high school French will be met with perfect English.

Last week my partner and I explored the region of Quebec (Canada’s largest province) just over the border from Vermont.  

These are the 15 Eastern Townships, neatly divided, mostly square regions with names like Dunham, Austin, and Magog. 

Each township offers its charms… from well-established vineyards with luxurious tasting rooms to small roadside farms specializing in the finest cheese.  Twenty miles north of the United States Vermont border, you’ll come upon charming Sutton, located in the Brome-Missisquoi Township, with 3488 inhabitants and a ski mountain as a tourist anchor. 

Quebec’s Eastern Townships attract tourists from Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, as well as the U.S.  The border crossings are easy and friendly but don’t try to bring back those joints you bought in the state-run Quebec marijuana stores or any house plants. 

Easy Drive up Interstate 91

Getting to the townships is an easy drive up Interstate 91, and what a contrast between the trip north and what awaits you when you drive south on this interstate. Smooth sailing and greenery, all the way to the border at Derby Line, Vermont. And zero traffic jams and road rage. 

I first heard about the town of Magog when I visited the other end of Lake Memphremagog, which is 31 miles long, and 43 Km from tip to tip. Newport Vermont is at the bottom and Magog Quebec is the town at the very top. 

The locals in Newport pointed north to Magog to make a point. The Canadians have done a lot to make their part of the lake a thriving tourist destination with marinas, a deluxe booze cruise vessel called Grand Cru that plies the lake, and many family-friendly beaches dotting the shore.

In Newport, there is a dock and a little tourist boat but not much more.  The Townships have developed an extensive wine route from vineyard to vineyard, and many activities unique to this area.

Velo Volant is one of them, and unique it is!  This is a series of yellow recumbent bicycles strung up on a wire that you pedal through a 2-kilometer woodland aerial path.

You’re up high, and slowly propel yourself along the track.  It’s quiet and the sounds of the birds mix with the burbling stream below for a calm feeling as you move through the forest. It’s the opposite of a zip line and that was just perfect for us!

History Lessons in Magog

I enjoy adding some history lessons to give me some context about where we are traveling. Quebec was once controlled by the French, and then by the English.

In the town of Magog, the Maison Merry is the oldest house in town, and today it’s a museum with docents in costume who share the tales of five generations of the Merry family who first squatted, and then properly bought the land and settled here in 1799 after coming from the United States.

Another historic place here that we visited is a Benedictine Abbey called Abbaye St-Benoit-du-lac. It is not as old as the Maision Merry, but the story of the 25 monks who live there is fascinating.

It all started in the 1930s. As we toured the beautiful monastery, we learned that the monks’ lives are made up of prayer, chanting, reflection on the bible, and early to bed early to rise. It’s a disciplined and simple life that’s not for everyone. 

These monks make delicious cheeses, apple sauces, and other food products right at the abbey, and their products are sold in the gift shop. 

Quebec is full of food producers and this part of the province resembles Vermont with its rolling hills and red barns with tall silos around every bend. 

Working FarmStay

We stayed on a real working farm too, just outside of Magog in Fitch Bay.  At Au Pied Levé, owner Madame Marie-Thérèse Bonnichon, a charming white-haired farmer,  explained that the animals dictate many of the schedules here, and the B&B works around it, whether it’s the cows, the thousand noisy guinea hens the geese or the chickens.

They have five rooms for guests and in the morning she brings out enormous farm breakfasts with many items sourced from the back 40.

Their farm products make up the six-course dinner Madame Bonnichon served us at the farm that night. 

The farm can sleep twenty guests and there are big comfortable tables for dining.  Outside, you can hear the geese honking and the birds chirping. 

Bleu Lavande

One attraction in the Townships that’s imported from France is Bleu Lavande, where lavender is the star attraction.

The sprawling, sparkling complex offers multitudes of ways to ingest, taste or just be around the purple plant, from their soaps to chocolates, candles, and many many other products.

We visited on a very rainy day, so we toured the rows and rows of young lavender under our umbrellas.

Eclectic Farm Tastes

Dining was a big part of the fun up here, with an eclectic tasting menu or a vineyard with fine dining restaurants, it’s common and the bounty is all local. 

One rainy evening we ducked into the three-season courtyard of Au comptoir MarCel in Magog, a cozy downtown establishment where they have a six-course tasting menu with intriguing items like this wafer-thin slice of octopus garnished with tiny local vegetables and pesto. 

Espace Old Mill

At a farm on a country road, we found Espace Old Mill, which is another dining surprise. A real mill grinding wheel spins along a stream just across from the dining room that overlooks a big field where everything on the menu is grown. 

The menu is intriguing with a minimal amount of info, just a hint of what makes up the dish.

It all makes the long dining experience here memorable with the long descriptions in English or French. The food here in the Eastern Townships feels authentic and the chefs are happy to take a few risks.

Our trip was sponsored by our hosts in the tourism Eastern Townships of Quebec www.easterntownships.org, but the opinions are ours alone.

Au Pied Levé   farm stay www.aupiedleve.ca

Grand Cru luxury lunch cruise on Lake Memphremagog in Magog

https://escapadesmemphremagog.com/nos-croisieres/