Carriage Hills

Last year, when we were at the Toronto International Wedding Show, a smooth-talking lady from Carriage Hills Resort tried to convince us to buy a night at the resort for only $50. Also, they would throw in a $50 voucher for a meal at a fine local restaurant. What?  The catch? We had to go up to Barrie at some point before our stay to sit though a condo interview and promotional tour.  In return, we would get our promised overnight stay at the resort and dinner. Though we had some reservations when we first booked with the lovely lady (it sounded like a too-good-to-be-true package deal) let us be the first to say that it was totally worth it!

One day in March, we decided to book our tour of Carriage Hills Resort.  Essentially, it is a Shell vacation property that offers time-shares not only at this resort but at resorts around the world.  The presentation was pretty interesting and we were practically convinced to buy their vacation packages—until we remembered that we’re looking for a house and still have school loans to pay off.  We were terrified that they were going to hard-sell and pressure us into buying and that we would have to fend them off with crying and depressed faces.  Though, we were pleasantly surprised that they were very understanding and proceeded to give us the grand tour of the property regardless of the fact that we wouldn’t be buying one of their

We had some great hiking around the area of the resort.  The trails were quite easy and bordered a golf course at some points but were still a peaceful way to see the area.  One of the trails across the street from the Carriage House (the large recreation centre, complete with pool, sauna, exercise room and dvd rentals) was essentially a walk through a small forest and field along a mowed path.  We felt that we were trespassing on private property at some points, but given the fact that this path existed in the middle of the field, we felt reassured that we were on the right track.  The other major hike in the area is right across from the main buildings at the Horseshoe resort.  This hike takes you on more of an up and down, back and around, kind of journey through the forest. 

Once the sun was beginning to set, we decided to take advantage of the modernly ornamented bathroom to clean up for our “free” dinner at Abbott’s of Craighurst. We weren’t sure what to expect (after all, it was “free”) but were so very impressed with the food, the ambiance and the service.  There were unique food options, an impressive wine list and local artwork on the walls of the warm and ornately decorated restaurant. It was such a nice experience and we’d highly recommend everything about this place!  Abbott’s is at the corner of Horseshoe Valley Road and Highway 93, just up the road from the resort.

After dinner, we decided to drive to Orillia to check out Casino Rama!  It was a quick half-hour drive from the resort and we welcomed the adventure (rather than camping out in the room).  As we drove up the main drive of the casino, we couldn’t help but feel like we were entering a kingdom of some sort.  Architecturally speaking, the casino is pretty grandiose.  The parking lot is HUGE and I lost count of the number of tour buses that were parked outside.  Inside, the casino has restaurants, a concert hall, a hotel and, of course, a copious number of gambling opportunities.  Unfortunately, the casino also allows smoking so there is a copious amount of that too.  Being non-gamblers (pretty much due to the fact that we don’t know how to play most of the table games), we tried our luck at the slots, enjoyed a drink and then headed back to the resort.

Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by our stay at Carriage Hills—though we aren’t the resort types, it was nice to experience resort-lifestyle, if only for two days!