Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
THIS is Wasaga Beach, less than two hours drive north of Toronto, but a million miles from our preconceptions.
We've taken the easy 120km freeway drive with two children to escape the stifling heat of the city for a couple of days. Yes, heat. Temperatures in Toronto regularly reach 32C. But driving up Highway 400, past the city of Barrie, the roads get smaller, the malls disappear and we start to detect the lake breeze.
In 1934, a tiny single-engine biplane took off from here, making the first flight from Canada to England, landing in Middlesex, near London. The vast stretch, framed by the blue mountains in the far distance, would make a good runway: 14km of sand, hugging the shores of Georgian Bay, part of Lake Huron, the second-largest of the Great Lakes, so vast we can't see the other side or the end of the sand.
This is the world's longest freshwater beach and tipped by some of the more enterprising locals to become to Toronto what the Hamptons are to New York.
Wasaga Beach may be the fastest-growing town in Ontario, but that only seems in evidence at the top end, where Nancy Island (the site of the sinking of HMS Nancy in 1812) stands guard at the mouth of the Nottawasaga river. Beach One, as it is known, has shops, a giant Walmart and the famous boardwalk dating back to the 1920s, although many of the beachfront stores and shacks were destroyed in a fire last year.
But we're staying in the middle of more relaxed Beach Three at Adrian's, a small family resort of clapboard cottages run by Gloria and Brett Shaw, who quit Toronto for the good life out here. The resort is a minute from the beach and dunes, and the silence is punctuated only by the sounds of birds and the waves lapping against the shore.
The family resort is intimate, with seven simple self-catering cottages and two condos with air-conditioning, dotted around a pleasant wooded area.
There are gas-fired barbecues outside the cottages and a fire pit for chillier nights.
Gloria is accommodating when we first make contact, confirming she can supply a travel cot (called a pack and play in North America) for our seven month old, Jake, at no extra charge. And on arrival there's also a high chair waiting for us. "Well, we just had it in the house so I thought you could use it," says Gloria.
The water is shallow a long way from the edge of the beach and there is no tide. The firm, fine sand is perfect for building sand castles - although we have problems dragging four-year-old Ella away from the sandpit at the cottage where she has already made friends with another four-year-old Dora the Explorer-type, named Abi.
A few years ago, Wasaga was dominated by teens on spring break and summer holidays. But the local council is now encouraging family tourism, and it has quietened down in recent years. A local teenager working his summer job in a nearby convenience store says, "back in the day, the main drag was bumper to bumper and folks would hop out to buy stuff here while they were waiting."
Now it's a lot quieter with Beach One the place to go for teens and students while Beaches Three to Six are more laid back, almost deserted in parts.
At the smaller Beach Three, there is less choice of places to eat but there's a good Italian, the Little Marina, three minutes from the cabins. Nearby, at Mr Norm's Nephew, locals queue out of the door for the delicious homemade ice-cream and frozen yoghurt.
After feeding the giraffes at the wildlife park at Elmvale 20 minutes down the road - which also has antiques shops and a weekly farmers' market - we take the tiny lakeside road heading up toward Tiny (which is, well, tiny), past abandoned beaches and wooden shore homes. Keep going and you soon reach Georgian Bay proper, with its 30,000 islands and 2,000km of shoreline.
It is home to the world's largest freshwater island, Manitoulin Island, where an artistic community resides, continuing a tradition that started with the region's famous "Group of Seven" 1920s impressionists who were inspired by the beauty of the place.
We head further east into the Wasaga Beach provincial park. In winter this is a prime skiing location, as the 40m sand dunes get covered in perfect snow. For us, though, it's a chance to stroll along part of the 50km of hiking trails, accessed from the Wasaga Nordic Centre. It's one of the rarest ecosystems in Canada - the pine-oak savannah, an open forest of oak, pine and prairie plants such as butterfly weed, New Jersey tea, hoary puccoon and big and little bluestem.
The whole area is immaculate, and on Wasaga, the beach is raked every day by wardens from the nearby national park who patrol to keep its blue flag status. Back on the beach, Ella and Abi have almost finished their castle, with twigs for a bridge and leaves for flags. As the sun goes down over the bay, it is the perfect holiday scene. Only the mountains in the distance remind us where we are.
Where to stay:
Adrian's, 184 Dunkerron Ave, Wasaga Beach (+1 705 429 2913,
wasaga.com/adrians/) C$400 for two nights in a two-bedroom cabin.
Further information:
canadatravel.ca, ontariotravel.net. wasagabeach.com.
