By Lori Bosworth
Getting away for a cottage vacation has become an essential on my to-do list each summer. The Haliburton area offers a stunning drive north on Hwy 35, as well as pine-swept shores, tranquil surroundings and warm lakes. I recently spent a week at Loralea Country Inn Resort at Cottage 7 on Halls Lake.
Loralea Country Inn Resort is right off of Hwy 35 and features two cottages and five cabins for weekly or weekend rentals. Cottage 7, which is $1,050 per week plus tax during the summer season, is located so close to the lake that you can throw a stone from the kitchen window and it would land in the water.
The cottage has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a four-piece bathroom, barbeque, enclosed picnic table and firepit. Free Wi-Fi is available, as well as a flat screen TV (local channel only) with VCR and DVD. You can pick up free DVDs for those thunder storm evenings from the Loralea Country Inn Resort office.
Cottage 7 also has its own private dock for enjoying your morning coffee, sunbathing, fishing, yoga poses, contemplating life or watching the water skiers, tubers, loons and ducks splash by.
If you’re a bird watcher, you’ll see many bird species at Halls Lake. This crane landed on our dock twice while we were there. We also saw woodpeckers pecking at a huge oak tree, hummingbirds stopping by the hostas beside the cottage, as well as blue jays and loons.
The sand beach is 50 feet left of Cottage 7: so close that it felt like our own private beach. The bottom of the lake is sandy and the water drops off gradually so it’s quite suitable for young children. There are free canoe and pedal boats that you can take out on Halls Lake.
Or you can just relax on the grounds with a good book.
The sun blasts through the windows in the morning at Cottage 7 and you also get a lot of sun in the early afternoon on the southern side of the cottage. Halls Lake is a good-sized, sandy bottom lake, with no weeds and deep sections for fishing for lake trout and small mouth bass. The other cottages and cabins at Loralea Country Inn Resort are located much further back from Cottage 7. Cabin 6 is the next closest to the lake while the other cottages and cabins are further up the hill.
Carnarvon is about 10 minutes south where you can pick up food basics while the larger Town of Minden is 20 minutes south for full grocery shopping, dining and other errands. Bonus: There is a chip shop right beside Loralea Country Inn Resort where you can purchase Kawartha Dairy Ice Cream.
With such close access to the lake and unobtrusive hosting by the owners, Bill and Heather, Loralea Country Inn Resort is a cottage resort I would definitely return to for a tranquil Ontario summer vacation.
Loralea Country Inn Resort, Halls Lake 17560, Hwy 35, Algonquin Highlands, 1-800-461-6557
