Review: Maple Sugar Bush, Bruce's Mill Conservation Area

Address: 3291 Stouffville Road, Stouffville, ON L4A 7X5

Today, Dan and I went to Bruce's Mill Conservation Area, one of two locations of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's (TRCA) Maple Syrup Festival. We both love maple products, so we were excited to go.

When we got there, we had to pay $8 each for admission. I wasn't surprised by this as it was on their website, and the other location (Kortright Centre) also cost $8, but you also had to pay $4 for parking).

Once we parked, we walked down to where the action was. First thing we did was go to the pancake house for breakfast. I expected food to be free/cheap, but it wasn’t. Pancakes and sausage for 2 cost us around $14. The food was good and the pancakes were massive, but that was a bit silly.

Next we went to visit the petting zoo (my favourite thing ever). There were some goats, sheep, a fat pig, a llama, a pony and a donkey. They also had some chickens and a couple of bunnies. I bought a cone of feed and fed some animals and I was happy!

After that we went on a wagon ride. It was really lame. We went around a little loop, and the whole thing lasted less than 5 minutes. We had some time to kill, so we went to the sugar shack and did a little shopping (maple syrup, maple candies, maple butter). It was more costly than I thought, but still cheaper than in store.

The last thing we did was do a tour of the sugar bush, seeing how maple syrup is made.

Showing us how the First Nations made maple syrup.  This is only mildly offensive, right??

However, much to our disappointment, the maple sugar bush is for demonstration purposes only…they don’t make their own maple syrup. This made me wonder what exactly my $8 didn’t really give me much…I got a tiny sample of syrup (produced elsewhere) for my $8.

Overall, it was a pretty disappointing experience (despite having a very fun time with Dan and spending time together). If we go again next year, we’ll try to find a different maple sugar bush to visit.