The Town of Brome Lake is big. Very big. Surrounding the lake of the same name, its territory includes more than a dozen villages and hamlets. To get to know them, their landscapes and their gourmet offerings, nothing beats a good old-fashioned road trip.
My Brome Lake discovery tour starts in Knowlton, a picturesque village oozing with Anglo-Saxon charm. We park the car and off we go! Everything here is just a flip-flop stroll away. We start with a visit to the Pettes Memorial Library, the first free public library in rural Québec and a fixture on the local scene since 1894.
All around it’s one shop after another, beckoning us to browse. How about picking up something to eat? We head straight to l’Épicerie d’Émilie With a nice baguette tucked under our arm, we stop for a bit in Coldbrook Park, taking advantage of the picnic areas and watching the herons that have made their home near the marsh.
A little further up Lakeside Road, we pay a visit to the Brome County Historical Society museum to brush up on local history thanks to an extensive collection of historical artefacts. A true star of the show is a Fokker D.VII airplane—one of the last three aircraft of its kind in the world!
Before getting back on the road, we make a last stop at Theatre Lac Brome to check out the season’s lineup and take in the exhibitions in progress.
Time for some refreshment!
Back on Lakeside Road and heading north, we make a quick detour to Foster to try the best espresso in town. Complete with a shop, tasting counter and little wooden tables that create an indoor courtyard ambience, Virgin Hill Coffee Roasters is a great place for a coffee break.
Continuing our tour to the heights of Fulford, the scenery is breathtaking. The fields fly past, stretching as far as the eye can see, while the beautiful mountains of Sutton and Vermont, farther off, rise above the horizon. With its 18 hectares and stunning views out over Brome Lake, Léon Courville’s vineyard—also known as Domaine Les Bromes—is one of my favourites. It’s impossible not to fall under the spell of the beautiful storehouse and wooden buildings that serve as the production and tasting facility. For a few dollars, you can sample the best of what the vineyard has to offer.
Just a few minutes further on, we arrive in Bondville. Feeling a little peckish, we opt to try Chez moi chez toi. Ever since it appeared on the program Coup de Food, this restaurant specializing in the tastes of India is constantly hopping. Want a tip? Their curries are to die for! And here’s another: We strongly suggest reservations!
Elderberries and alpacas: Here we come!
Our next stop is West Brome, where Andréa grows and makes lovely things with elderberries that are chock full of healthy properties. At Vitalité Sureau, you can have a bite on a patio bordering fields of flowers (in July) or even pick your own elderberries, in season. The elderflower lemonade alone is well worth the detour!
Next on our itinerary is a chance to stretch our legs at Domaine des Nobles Alpagas. We take advantage of the guided—and free!—tour of the farm before checking out the shop. I challenge anyone to resist the pretty alpaca-wool tuques and socks: they’re as colourful as the owners themselves!
Call’s Mills, Naturally!
Just before returning to our starting point at Knowlton, we stop at Call’s Mills Park at the intersection of Stagecoach and Sole roads. I love the wooded 1-kilometre circuit that you can walk or cycle. Park visitors also have access to a body of water. If you’re a TV buff, it may interest you to know that the TV program La Vraie Nature was shot nearby!
Diane Laberge
The art of living holds no secrets for this wandering soul. Curious by nature, she loves the arts as much as the gourmet addresses and unusual destinations in the Brome-Missisquoi region where she recently settled. For the past 10 years, she has been blogging about her favorite places, here and elsewhere.