Let The Games Begin
No matter the season, this classic Ontario resort, just 90 minutes from Toronto, has enough activities to stage your own Olympic Games. Discover gold-medal-worthy fun at Fern Resort.
By Jim Byers
On the eastern shore of Lake Couchiching, just outside Orillia, Fern Resort occupies nearly two kilometres of waterfront, with cottages and guest rooms tucked among mature trees and a long list of things to do spread across the property.
The resort is known as family-friendly (and then some). Families can choose packages with early dinner hours, year-round children's activities, and even book rooms with step stools in the bathroom so little ones can more easily wash up and brush their teeth.
It would be a fabulous place to visit with our grandchildren, but they were all busy the weekend my wife and I headed up, so it was just the two of us. Within an hour of arriving, however, I realized the fun at Fern isn't reserved for kids.
In fact, looking over the sheer number of activities available, I decided there was only one reasonable thing to do: create my own Fern Resort Olympic Games.
Winter Games
Had I arrived in winter, I would have had plenty of events to choose from. The resort's 1.5-kilometre skating trail winds through the forest, while cross-country skiing and snowshoeing offer two more ways to cover the snowy property.
Then there are some particularly Canadian game contenders: outdoor hockey and broomball, ice fishing, and even curling on Lake Couchiching.
Put them together and you have the makings of a pretty respectable Winter Grames.
There are also horse-drawn sleigh rides on select winter weekends for anyone ready to retire from competition and simply enjoy the snow.
And when cold fingers and toes finally call time on the day's events, the indoor pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room offer a warm place to recover.
Summer Games
In the warmer months, the list of activities is just as long. Fern's waterfront opens up for swimming, kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding, while back on land, there is golf, tennis, pickleball, basketball, bocce, shuffleboard, mini golf and cycling.
Add in a package that includes the high ropes course, zip line, archery, and other organized activities and you could easily fill a week with different events.
On my visit in May, I found more activities than I could possibly pack into a weekend.
I had the five-hole resort golf course to myself on a sunny Saturday afternoon on the weekend. The sports desk had kindly given me a bag with good clubs, a whack of tees and several new-looking Titleist and Taylor Made golf balls to keep me entertained.
Having not played for a year, the initial results weren’t pretty. But I enjoyed my walk in the park and came to the fifth hole determined to do better. My tee shot came up 20 yards short of the green but I chipped onto the green and sunk a 16-foot putt.
On the way back to our building, where we had a fine room overlooking a pretty, quiet bay, I spotted a bocce court.
I couldn’t resist rolling a few balls in the sand, channeling my inner Italian self. A few feet away was a shuffleboard pad, where I launched a few discs into the numbered panels at the other end in honour of the games I used to play with my Mom at a beach resort in Hawaii when I was a kid.
The weekend events continued: paddling to the shores of a nearby island, stopping to admire loons, Canada geese and a pair of regal, white swans bobbing in the lake; cycling the gentle, flat trails through a thick forest, where I spotted frogs, a brilliant, scarlet tanager and black and yellow butterflies dancing on the breeze.
My wife and I had brought a bottle of wine, so we sat out on our balcony prior to our Saturday night dinner.
I gazed down at the hammock I had occupied a few minutes before and found a trio of three young girls, perhaps 10 or 11 years old, giggling as they swung back and forth. A few feet away, a little boy and his mom were dropping a fishing line into the lake in the hopes of landing a rock bass. It was nice to see that kids can still be entertained without a device in their hand.
Looking back on our two-day stay, I can recall a good deal of similar moments; a group of young boys playing ball hockey on the outdoor rink, a pack of little ones rolling down the bright yellow slides in the extensive toddler village, and a couple of young boys tumbling on the trampoline with what looked like their dad.
I have stayed at many lakefront resorts over the years, but I can’t think of any that come close to the variety of activities that Fern Resort offers.
In addition to the sports and activities, the resort has packages that offer night-time entertainment, including comedians, musicians and illusionists. They have both watercolour and oil painting classes, as well as paintball, archery and much, much more.
In season, they offer sunset cruises several nights a week, which would be magical.
There’s an on-site spa that can set up facials, manicures, pedicures, massage treatments, and more.
One of the things I quite enjoyed about the resort is that it’s all-inclusive.
We were at the resort for six meals and came away quite happy with the food offerings. We enjoyed a perfect strip loin steak one night, a very good chicken Caesar wrap at lunch, good tex Mex chicken soup with black beans and corn, tasty shrimp tacos with a decent kick of spice, and more.
The breakfast buffet has most of what you want; bacon, sausage, potatoes, eggs, fruit, cereals, bagels, toast. My wife had a very good veggie omelette one morning, and they also offer a tofu scramble and smoothies with yogurt. One of the pride and joys of the resort is their homemade rolls, which are a touch sweet and very fluffy. The recipe is a closely-guarded family secret.
Read more about Fern's century-old rolls tradition.
The butter tarts are to die for; wide and shallow and super rich. We also sampled a blueberry sweet roll bread pudding with caramel sauce; a rich and filling dessert almost guaranteed to help you nap.
The menu listed nut free and vegan alternatives.
They have a long cocktail and cocktail list, many for around $12, and very good glasses of wine from $10 or so.
The lobby also has a coffee station and a bar.
The resort has been in the Downing family for five generations, and the main dining room is filled with lovely family photos that give the place a nice, homey feel. Many family members work at the resort.
Our Fireside Inn room was on the second flood and had a king bed, bright wallpaper, a big screen TV, sofa bed, nice carpeting and a fireplace, as well as a large bathroom with a tub and sizeable shower. There was also a patio with chairs and a nice view of the lake, with pretty sunsets to match.
Whether you’re coming with your family or intent on practicing for the next Olympic Games, you’re bound to find a very long list of great things to see and do on your visit to Fern Resort.
Great Escapes Magazine is a publication of Resorts of Ontario, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for resorts, lodges and inns of Ontario's tourism industry.
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