Merrickville Merits a Visit

 A very enthusiastic TWO THUMBS UP for Merrickville, a cozy little village located forty minutes southwest of Ottawa, and a place where I had the chance to spend last Sunday afternoon. As I had read that it boasts the title of Canada’s Prettiest Village, I decided to give it a try, making it the first stop of my OFFICIAL winter daytripping tour and indeed, it lived up to its title.

Word of Caution: Don't forget to pack your cds when leaving for an extended car ride the way I did. I had to rely on the radio and couldn’t get the frequency on most of the half--decent music stations out there. In a cruel twist of fate, the only one that came in clearly was 101.1 FM, a country music station! I was forced to turn the radio off and had to ask my four year old niece to sing for me for the duration of our ride.  It was so much easier to listen to the sweet, angelic voice of a child than any sort of yodeling hell coming over my loudspeakers.

Upon arriving there, I was disarmed by their hometown friendliness; for example, I stopped at the local gas station where the attendant immediately came out to pump my gas for me.  Later, the first shop we walked into called Hidden Treasures, we were offered a hot chocolate and a cup of coffee. As it turned out, most service staff I encountered along the way had all the time in the world to chat with me, offering advice as to the "must-sees" of their village and where to find these places.  

One of the highlights for me was visiting Mrs. McGarrigle’s Fine Foods which is definitely a MUST SEE if you happen to be in the area. The store specializes in mustards, sauces and other seasonings of the condiment persuasion. There you can find wall to wall bottles of a variety of homemade mustards, chutneys and jams -–plus, they conveniently have samples laid out for you to try. I ended up buying a bottle of Garlic Sweet Red Pepper Jelly, (now try putting that on your breakfast toast)! I also purchased three delicious bottles of mustard, each for $5.99.

 We had supper at the Main Street Restaurant, a cozy, family-friendly restaurant where I shared a plate of fries with my niece. (Our bill came to a whopping $5.95 for fries, orange juice and coffee).

To sum up: Merrickville features unique 19^th century style boutiques and stores that would be appealing for city dwellers. Its unique artisan shops, such as glassblowing and pottery-making, giving it an overall provincial feel.  It’s basically every good cliché that you can think of, i.e. a rustic, colonial-style village….. frozen in time ……one-of-a-kind shops etc. It’s definitely worth visiting and it’s a lot better than the other weekend alternative: watching terrible Sunday afternoon television programming.  



Comments

[Stephanie Furlan]

Cute pictures with your niece, Linda!
Also, you're making me want to trek over to Merrickville to have a see.
Sounds like a cute little place.