disclosure: We received a complimentary stay with Fern Resort, however, all opinions expressed are my own.
We refused to let summer go. We soaked up the sun, squished sand in our toes. We swam in the pool and caught fish in the lake and ate until our bellies were full. We collapsed each night into bed exhausted and did it all again in the morning. This was a Fern Summer!
At the end of August we took one last road trip of the summer in an attempt to make the most of our time off and to really make family time count and we couldn’t have picked a better destination. With over 120 years experience Fern Resort knows a thing or two about catering to the family.
Located on the shores of Lake Couchiching, just 90 minutes from Toronto Fern Resort offers a getaway the whole family will enjoy. There’s an endless list of activities to choose from throughout the day, supervised kids camp, all inclusive dining and evening entertainment. You can plan to do it all or do nothing more than lounge by the pool with a book.
With a family of 3 active boys, we planned to do it all!
Fern Resort Activities
Each evening at dinner you will receive a copy of The Daily Buzz which will give you an overview of the next days activities so you can plan ahead. Activities that are run by staff such as zorbing and the ropes course run on a schedule, while others such as basketball or mini golf can be done at your leisure. This was a great opportunity for us to try new sports we had never tried before! The boys were brave to climb the rock wall and make it all the way to top and mom and dad gave archery a try for the first time too! It turned out that fishing on the dock was the favourite activity by far, those fish were eager to bite and the boys had a blast catching and returning sun fish and searching the lake bottom for turtles! We also got a good leg work in as we toured the forest in some peddlecars.
Fern Resort Entertainment
After the dinner hour many of the sports are closed for the day but there is still fun to be had for the family. We joined in on a few games of Candy Bingo one night and headed over to Bergwen’s Theatre each evening at 8:30 for some fun. On Monday night, we watched Dueling Pianos and on Tuesday the boys were delighted to attend Force of the Fern, a Star Wars themed gathering where they trained and perfected their Jedi skills. It was a super fun night and the boys brought home their Jedi training certificates.
Fern Resort Dining
Fern is an all-inclusive resort, meaning that all your meals and non alcoholic beverages are included during your stay and meal times are at set times throughout the day. Food and drink outside of these times are not included but there is a small fridge in your room to keep extra beverages on hand. Your table is set up for you in the dining room your first visit and each meal of your stay you eat at that same spot with usually the same waiter/waitress. The menu is broken down into Starters, Salads, Entrees and Desserts and there are new additions for each night of the week so you won’t get bored. Children can choose from the children’s menu or the buffet, as well, any entree from the adult menu can be requested in child sized portions as well. Basically, even the pickiest of eaters will be just fine here! For lunch you may choose to eat outside at the grill set up by the pool or inside the dining room. My favourite items were the soups and salads, I think I chose the caesar salad for almost every meal. One thing Fern Resort does really well is desserts, you can’t go wrong with any of them! They do not hold back on all the goodies like whip cream and icing, they simply make the best sundaes you’ve ever seen and the chocolate lava cake and orange sorbet was to die for. Breakfast was also a popular meal for our crew.
Check out our short video review to see even more fun activities and a tour of our room
Oh my goodness look at that sundae!! I have been wanting to get here for some time now. Maybe next spring will work out for us. It’s one that seems to generate a fair amount of buzz and looks like you all had a great time too.
Isn’t it amazing? their eyes nearly popped out of their heads!
That looks like a great place! Thanks for sharing!!!
Omy goodness gracious! That looks like so much fun! I bet my boys would <3 it so much!
Your boys would totally love it!
This place looks amazing for families! All those neat activities?? My boys would be thrilled. Off to check out their site!
It’s a very cool place for a family full of boys!
Oh gosh, I had no idea this place existed and it’s not far from home at all! I’ve added Fern Resort to our list of places we must visit, especially when we need a quick getaway. <3 So much LOVE for their Jedi training, LOL. 😀
Jedi training was such a hit!
Amazing! Looks like a great place for families to hang out. My kids would love it there
Your teens would have a lot of fun, there’s so much for the whole family to do
Oh man! Now I wish we still lived out east. This place looks A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!!!
Wow,sure sounds like an inviting place!
It really is!
Good heavens, what a fabulous place to spend some time. I’ve always fancied trying archery, probably due to the stories of Robin Hood and William Tell but somehow never have. There’s lots to do or not do as you choose and I can see you all had a lot of fun.
It was quite difficult to pull it back, they make it look so easy on tv!
looks like a wonderful time , with lots of great food and fun , thanks for sharing 🙂
Looks like a great place to hang out with the family!
Looks like an awesome place to go and spend time with the family!!
I love that your kids are playing board games and it looks like your family had a great time, this place is awesome
Looks like so much fun and a lot of activities for the boys. I also loved that sundae 🙂
Aren’t those sundaes incredible!? So big!
What a wonderful place! Can tell just by the looks on the boys faces!
They had a blast!
Wow! What a fun looking place! The archery looks like a blast!
It was harder than I imagined it would be, but really fun!
Looks like a gem — and so close to Toronto!
Beautiful resort!! Would definitely love to visit!!
Looks like so much fun for the kids
When I see the pictures it reminds me of the movie Dirty Dancing!!
yes! Totally has that feel!
That looks fantastic! And my kind of “roughing it”
It sure does look like a great spot for a family vacation. 🙂
The best part is no cooking and always ordering dessert!
I would love a getaway with my hubby here. It’s beautiful
This looks like a lovely resort.
We are going back again soon!
I love places like this that absolutely cater to kids / families right down to the food! What an awesome place for some adventure & good eats!
This Resort seems to be a great place to visit with tour family on Family Day for sure.
OMG,the boys are growing so fast….enjoy enjoy before you know it they will be all grownup
Beautiful place
This looks like such an awesome place to visit!
Wow just looking at that Sundae made me hungry. This sounds like a beautiful place to spend with family. I will have to check it out for our Summer vacation,
Sounds like a place we could have a great time at. We should plan a trip there.
Fern resort looks like a lovely place to stay.
This looks like a fun place for family to go and have quality time with family and kids…..not far from where we live here in Oshawa. Been to that area many times over and back. When we were kids, we would get to go with our parents to Lake Erie and to other lakes for a week vacation and we did lots of fishing which was my mum and dads hobby. We would stay in a cabin and sometimes a hotel where we would go swimming and also to local ice cream shops etc. It was always so much fun and is always remembered as good fun and times spent together. It’s great to have these places available and also affordable for families to do these things together…. love all your pics above….happy times!!
Sounds like some good memories!
This place seems to have everything and that makes for a great vacation
This place looks awesome and so perfect for the whole family. I love all the different activities you can do while you are there, the food looks delish and the views are beautiful! looks like a very relaxing and tranquil place