My husband and I just stayed at the Grand Victorian. It is a beautiful home! Eva and her family are very nice and welcoming, and I loved their cat and dog :) The porch is awesome, beautiful flowers all around and very fragrant!
We stayed in the Jackson Room, very nice. It is on the ground floor, so the only downside to this was the noise upstairs. Heard every footstep! We sleep with a sound machine so it drowned out some of the noise, but in the morning with everyone clunking down the steps for breakfast it was pretty noisy.
We did not use the tennis court, and the swimming pool was empty. Too cold for swimming anyway-but if you are looking fwd to swimming-make sure the pool is in commission before you go!
Location:
About 2.5 miles into Old Town-cutest town ever!! I would have liked to be within walking distance, but the few minutes that it takes to drive there was fine. And in the opposite direction, about a 20 min drive to the Falls.
TIP: If you are driving to the Falls, Eva gave us a great tip on where to park! Turn Right onto Clifton (where all of the museums are) and then Right onto Ellen. There is a parking lot there for $7 all day. Other lots were asking $10 or $15. The $7 rate was around 2-2:30pm but had gone up to $10 by the time we got back to our car a couple of hours later. Or there is metered parking (not a lot), but if you dont want to stress about getting back to the meter Id do an all day lot.
Shopping:
Tons of great shops in Old Town, bakeries, ice cream shops. If you want antiques, I highly recommend Europa Antiques, in a former church. Beautiful pieces of furniture-not the junky stuff that you can find at some antique shops. Pick up a map at one of the stores to find this shop-it is not in town, you'll need to drive. We found a great map at a pharmacy on King Street, but I bet most of the shops offer the same detailed map.
We had a picnic across the street from the Falls in a little park. We picked up made to order sandwiches at Rest To Go Go (part of Stone Road Grille)-water was only $1 and big cookies were only $1-reasonably priced compared to reviews I had read on dining AT the Falls! We did walk to Rest To Go Go from town-but I was in heels...and wouldn't do it again :) It was a good walk!
Niagara-on-the-Lake was truly a special little place. Wineries everywhere. And Eva offers tickets to their winery next door for a complimentary tasting.
