About an hour and a half drive north of Toronto lies the town of Midland and its sister village of Penetanguishene.

This area was one of the first places in Ontario that was settled by Europeans. French missionaries from Quebec came back in 1639 to convert the local Huron population and a replica of their settlement, Sainte-Marie among the Hurons has been built close to the original site, just outside Midland.

In the early 1800s, the Royal Navy set up a base after the War of 1812 to prevent the Americans from dominating the Great Lakes. Some of the original buildings, mixed with more recent replica buildings and a couple of schooners can be seen in the living history museum of Discovery Harbour on the shores of Penetanguishene Bay.

Both Midland and Penetanguishene offer daytime and evening cruises of the Georgian Bay Islands National Park which pass close to some of the ritzy "cottages" perched on tiny rocky islands in Georgian Bay.

There is plenty else to do from seeing the huge murals painted on the silos and walls in Midland harbour and town centre to paddling a canoe or snowshoeing through the nature reserve at Wye Marsh.

Penetanguishene is one of the few parts of Ontario where there is still a strong French speaking presence and you can hear people chatting in French in the local shops.

Take Highway 400 North from Toronto to Barrie and then follow Highway 93. Midland is almost at the end of Highway 93, Penetanguishene is at the end of the road.

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