The Date Almanac
A fall day around Winona
Pick-your-own pumpkins and a corn maze, Beamer's Falls, a local market, and a meadery
Begin with pick-your-own pumpkins and a corn maze at J.B. Puddicombe & Sons Ltd., then Beamer's Falls a few minutes on, taste mead at Rosewood Estates Winery & Meadery, and finish at the Grimsby market. 4 stops, none more than 12 km apart, all around Winona.
- 1
Pick the patch · Winona
J.B. Puddicombe & Sons Ltd.
A farm winery and cidery running since the 1790s, where a restored amusement-park train loops the vineyards and orchards. You can also pick fruit, taste cider and wine, and visit the animals.
- 2
See the falls
Beamer's Falls
Two falls on Forty Mile Creek and a lookout over Lake Ontario and the escarpment. In spring it is the Niagara Peninsula's prime spot to watch the hawk migration pass overhead.
- 3
Shop and refuel · Grimsby
Grimsby Farmers' Market
Thirty-odd local growers set up downtown with fruit, vegetables, honey, maple syrup, eggs, cheese, lamb and bread from organic grains. A straightforward stock-up in the heart of Niagara fruit country.
- 4
Mead tasting · Beamsville
Rosewood Estates Winery & Meadery
Niagara's original meadery, run by a beekeeping family with hives along the escarpment. You taste estate honey worked into the meads and wines, and the bee experiences in season explain where the flavour comes from.
Before you go
- Confirm J.B. Puddicombe & Sons Ltd. is open and in season the day you go; what is ready shifts week to week.
- The rock above Beamer's Falls gets slick and the edges are often unfenced, so wear grippy shoes and keep children close.
- The Grimsby market runs limited days and hours, so check its schedule before you build the day around it, and bring cash.
- Tastings at Rosewood Estates Winery & Meadery pour real mead, so settle who is driving before you go.
A free day out from the Home Almanac. Every stop is a verified place; days change with the season, so print it the week you go. Data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, openstreetmap.org/copyright.