Travel with kids, maintain sanity: Ontario’s serene Wander Resort offers a win-win

If you’ve ever visited a family resort with kids, you may be familiar with this scene: “Everything is painted in a primary colour, cartoon characters are shouting at you through megaphones, and there’s non-stop loud music,” says Shannon Hunter. As the founder of Wander, a serene recently opened 10-cabin retreat on Prince Edward County’s West Lake, Hunter has created a different kind of family-friendly destination: one where the design doesn’t involve Disney princesses, and the activities — from ice fishing and campfires, to board games and movie nights — are kid-compatible but curated with adults in mind.

Parents themselves, Hunter and her husband (who is also her business partner) have taken plenty of family trips. “We didn’t come back more relaxed — in fact we were probably more stressed — but the kids had fun,” she says. That’s how the idea for Wander came to be. “We thought: it shouldn’t be one or the other — the kids have fun or you enjoy yourself — it should be both.” The pair already had several rental properties in the county, but when the owners of the 40-year-old Sunrise Cottage Resort in Bloomfield decided to sell, Hunter says their vision came into focus. “We’re not hoteliers, but we were looking at the numbers of families we were hosting every year, and in a lot of ways, we had already basically been running a resort.”

They set to work creating a design that would delight year-round, turning to the Scandinavian way of embracing winter as the inspiration for the Nordic esthetic. “In Canada, half the year is cold, even if we want to pretend that’s not the case,” says Hunter. So, despite the proximity to the shores of Lake Ontario, something too beachy wouldn’t have been right. In the end, each cabin is bathed in natural light and earth tones, sleeps six on sustainably made mattresses and organic linens, and has a kitchen furnished with Miele appliances and a dishwasher — because a sink full of dirty plates isn’t a vacation. Nearly everything is sourced locally, whether that’s Cherry Bomb’s fresh roasted beans supplied for your morning coffee, or Ye11ow Studio’s handmade pottery that punctuates the space.

While they don’t consider themselves the Ian Schrager of PEC, they did do something the hotelier is famous for: they created a signature scent for the property. Local apothecary Sunday’s Company designed a “nostalgic” blend with notes of campfire, cedar, pine, and a hint of vanilla to evoke roasting marshmallows. And if you’re craving the real thing, s’mores kits are stashed in rooms along with another reminder of the past: Polaroid cameras.

With the renewed interest in local travel, it’s not surprising that Wander is already sold out for July and August. After all, lakeside yoga, sunset wine tastings on the sandy beach, complimentary bikes to ride on winery tours are on the menu for summer visitors. But booking in the winter has its perks too: restaurants are quieter, as are warm-weather tourist draws like Sandbanks Provincial Park. “The sand dunes are beautiful when they are covered in the snow,” says Hunter. You can also skate, snowshoe or take one of Wander’s guided ice walks under the stars while listening to the sounds of the frozen lake shifting, a phenomenon known as “singing ice.” Then retreat to your cabin where the heated floors will make you sigh every time you head to the kitchen to get another craft beer picked up from a visit to Parsons Brewing Company.

And if you somehow can’t decide what to do, Wander’s director of experience has curated several day trip itineraries (perhaps a visit to the alpaca farm in the morning and Vietnamese for lunch at the nearby Idle Wild PEC) and will help procure a picnic basket for a beach day or arrange a vetted babysitter for a night out. Even the in-room check-in is designed to be completely stress-free. It’s all designed to be a reminder of why Hunter fell in love with the county back when she and her husband first visited from Toronto. “The moment we pulled off Highway 401,” she says, “our heart rates instantly lowered.”

Wander Resort, 15841 Loyalist Parkway, Prince Edward County, Ontario

Wandertheresort.com @wandertheresort

The Star understands the restrictions on travel during the coronavirus pandemic. But like you, we dream of travelling again, and we’re publishing this story with future trips in mind.