Wakefield

Within about half an hour's drive of where we live, on a bend in the River Gatineau, is a haven of restfulness called Wakefield, a town that's only ever crowded when the daily steam train drops carriages full of tourists for a few hours during the warmer months of the year.

Wakefield mill

We went for a relaxing stroll (short hike) around the edge of Wakefield last weekend, noticing the powerful sound of the present melt water in the Gatineau's tributary river, Rivière La Pêche, which flows through the hills past the former Wakefield Mill (once owned by the MacLarens, now an upmarket spa and guesthouse) and whose mouth is in the middle of the town. Standing there you can also see the covered bridge across the Gatineau, rebuilt by local volunteers not long ago after the previous one burned down.

Rivière Lapeche below the mill

Covered bridge, Wakefield

I must confess that Wakefield is one of our favourite places, especially in the off-season.

I guarantee, if you lean on the bridge by the mill to watch the water tumble by, it cannot fail to relax you.