GETAWAYS • Quebec
On the shores of Lake Massawippi in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Manoir Hovey isn’t really an NYC getaway. Montreal, definitely (1:30 by car). Quebec City (2:30), too. Tucked just over the Vermont border, it also qualifies for Burlington (two hours) and probably Boston and Portland (both four hours).
But summer circumstances had us pointed in that direction last month, and we took advantage by taking three nights at the 51-room, family-owned resort. Sometimes, to really get away, a trip to someone else’s getaway is what’s called for.
Blissfully, we didn’t recognize anyone at the pool. Many of them were speaking French, and so we couldn’t even recognize whatever troubles back home they may have been trying to leave behind. Instead, we focused on the scenery and accommodations, both spectacular.
Home to most of the rooms, the classic main house opens onto the meticulous gardens and the pool, which in turn reveal a panorama of the lake below. Newer structures on the property include Le Spa, thoroughly modern and exceptional, and the Lakeside Pavilion, which opened last year with a dozen rooms and suites. There’s a clay tennis court on-site, and paddleboards and kayaks launch from a small beachfront onto the seven-square-mile lake.
Our room’s comforts, particularly the spacious bathroom, belied the manoir’s lived-in bearing. French doors in the back revealed a small patio steps from the garden, and just to the right, Le Tap Room Bistro, the more casual of the two onsite restaurants. We ate dinner there on the deck, and inside at the more formal Le Hatley, too. Both were far better than required, though in the glory of the lake summer in this part of the world, we preferred to be outside.
In the afternoon, we made it to the town of North Hatley, just down the road, for lunch at La Cie Vilandré. It, too, was better than it needed to be. But having gotten this far, we didn’t really need it at all. –Josh Albertson
→ Manoir Hovey (North Hatley, Quebec) • 575 Rue Hovey • Rooms from $700 (Sept wknd).