Toronto to Prince Edward County by chauffeur: wineries, Sandbanks, the County's towns

The County

Prince Edward County is an island in Lake Ontario two hundred and ten kilometres east of Toronto, joined to the mainland by a bridge at Belleville and a causeway at Carrying Place, and in the last twenty years it has become Ontario's other wine country: forty-odd small wineries on limestone, the Sandbanks' dunes and beaches, the towns of Picton, Wellington and Bloomfield with their inns and restaurants, and a Toronto crowd that fills it from June to October. A chauffeured County day is an hourly booking of ten to twelve hours: the drive down the 401, the wineries or the beach, dinner, the drive home. A County weekend is a one-way flat fare each way to an inn. Either way, the car waits at every winery and the cases ride home in the boot. The wine-tour page is the Niagara version; this page is the County, which is smaller, slower and further.

The drive

The 401 east past Oshawa, Bowmanville, Port Hope and Cobourg to Belleville, then Highway 62 south over the Bay of Quinte bridge to Bloomfield and Picton, or the 33 (the Loyalist Parkway) from Trenton along the north shore through Wellington. Two and a half hours off-peak; three on a Friday afternoon in July; the 401 at Oshawa at 5 pm on a Sunday is the reason to leave the County by 3. No tolls unless you take the 407 across the top of the city to reach the 401 east, which from Vaughan or Markham is worth it. Ontario 511 for the 401's construction, which is permanent between Cobourg and Belleville.

The wineries

The County's wineries are small - a tasting bar, a barn, a few hectares - and clustered west of Picton around Hillier and Wellington: Norman Hardie, Closson Chase, Hinterland for the sparkling, Rosehall Run, Huff Estates with its inn and restaurant, The Grange, Karlo Estates, Stanners, Lighthall, Trail Estate, Keint-he, Harwood, Broken Stone. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on limestone, and a lot of good sparkling. Four in a day with lunch is the number; the County wine association maps them and the chauffeur has driven the concession roads that connect them, which is where a visitor's GPS gives up. Tasting fees apply; groups of six or more reserve; the Sprinter's twelve is booked at each a week ahead by the desk.

Sandbanks

Sandbanks Provincial Park is the largest freshwater dune system in the world and the County's beach: Outlet Beach for families, the Dunes Beach for the walk, and a day-use permit that sells out on summer weekends and must be booked on the Ontario Parks site in advance. A beach day is ten hours with the SUV at the lot and the picnic in the boot; a beach-and-winery day does two wineries in the morning and Sandbanks from 1, which is the day most Toronto families book.

Picton, Wellington and Bloomfield

Picton is the County's town: Main Street, the Regent Theatre, the Royal Hotel, the harbour, and dinner. Wellington on the north shore is the Drake Devonshire on the lake, the beach and the wineries at its back door. Bloomfield is antiques, the Slickers ice cream that has a queue, and the June Motel. The inns - the Drake, the Royal, the Merrill, the Waring House, Huff's inn - are where a County weekend stays, and a one-way flat fare to any of them from Toronto or Pearson is on the engine; the city-to-city page explains the pricing.

A County day, timed (book 11)

8:30 the Annex, the SUV, four friends. 11:00 Hinterland at Hillier for the sparkling, the car in the lot. 12:00 Norman Hardie, the tasting and the pizza from the wood oven for lunch. 1:45 Closson Chase. 2:45 Wellington, the Drake's lakeside patio for an hour. 4:00 Sandbanks' Dunes Beach for the walk, the permit booked. 5:30 Picton, dinner at the Royal. 7:00 the 62 and the 401. 9:30 the Annex, the cases carried in. Eleven hours; eleven billed; the drive home in the dark with the windows down.

Seasons

June to September is the season and the weekends are full - the wineries, the beach, the inns; a weekday is the answer. October is harvest and colour on the 33, the best month, and the County's Taste event. May is quiet and green. November to April the wineries keep shorter hours, the Drake stays open, Sandbanks is empty and beautiful, and the County is the quietest good winter day in Ontario. The chauffeur takes the SUV on the 401 in winter.

Groups

The County is the bachelorette's wine country when Niagara is too far or too grand, the birthday's, the office's. The Sprinter for seven to twelve with the cases in the bay and the reservations made; the Sprinter page has the checklist. For a wedding at a County barn - and there are many - the wedding-day page plans the couple's car and the guest shuttles from Toronto.

The car

The Luxury SUV for four to six with the cases and the beach bag, and for winter. The Executive Sprinter for a group, cheapest per seat. The Executive Sedan for a couple. The Mercedes S-Class for the anniversary weekend at the Drake. The fleet page has capacities. No alcohol is open in any of them; the bottles are sealed in the boot under Ontario's liquor laws.

What it costs

The class hourly rate for the date times the hours, or a flat fare each way, plus HST and the gratuity you set; the 407 only if chosen; Sandbanks' day-use permit is the passenger's; winery parking is free. The rates page explains the hourly number. The County is further than Niagara, so the block is an hour or two longer and the Sprinter's per-seat arithmetic is even better.

The County, in a table

Booking the County

Choose By the hour, the class, your address, the date, an 8:30 start and eleven hours; list the wineries or say "the County, you choose", and note Sandbanks if it is in the day so the permit is mentioned. For a weekend, Route each way to the inn. Summer Saturdays and the October harvest weekends book two weeks ahead; a weekday is quieter at every tasting bar and cheaper on the peak-date layer.

The County's wineries, in a list

Around Hillier and Wellington: Norman Hardie, Closson Chase, Hinterland, Rosehall Run, The Grange of Prince Edward, Karlo Estates, Stanners, Lighthall, Trail Estate, Keint-he, Harwood Estate, Broken Stone, Casa-Dea, Sandbanks Estate, Lacey Estates, Sugarbush, Exultet, Domaine Darius, Long Dog, Devils Wishbone. Around Picton and the east: Huff Estates, Waupoos Estates, Three Dog, County Cider (cider, and the best view in the County), Black Prince. The Base31 site at the old air-force base near Picton is the County's new arts and events venue and a stop on a summer evening.

On the way: Port Hope and Cobourg

The 401 east passes two of Ontario's prettiest lakeside towns, and a County day that leaves at 8 can stop for coffee on Port Hope's Walton Street - the antiques, the Capitol Theatre - or on Cobourg's beach at 9:30 and lose nothing. The chauffeur suggests it for a visitor; a local knows.

The Loyalist Parkway

Highway 33 from Trenton through Carrying Place, Consecon, Wellington and Bloomfield to Picton is the scenic route into the County along the north shore, twenty minutes slower than the 62 and worth it in October. The chauffeur takes it in one direction and the 62 in the other, so the day sees both.

The County for visitors

A visitor to Toronto with two free days does Niagara on one and the County on the other, and the County is the one they talk about: smaller, slower, less crowded, more like the Ontario they imagined. The desk plans it from the hotel with a 8:30 start and an 11-hour block, a table at Norman Hardie's oven, the Sandbanks permit booked, and a case of Hinterland in the boot for the flight home. Languages on request; the sightseeing page covers the city days either side.

Groups: the checklist

The count, the pickup point, the wineries or "you choose", lunch, Sandbanks or not, one organiser's phone, the cases expected. The desk makes the tasting reservations a week ahead for a Sprinter's twelve and confirms the running order the day before. The Sprinter page has the rest.

Booking, in one line

By the hour, eleven hours, an 8:30 start, the wineries or "you choose" in the notes and the Sandbanks permit booked; or Route each way to the inn for the weekend. Summer Saturdays and the harvest weekends in October need two weeks' notice; a Tuesday in June needs two days, and the desk will say honestly which is which.

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