Wolfville

Wolfville stands on rising ground above the Minas Basin, with the Cornwallis River flats to the north and a ridge of orchard land behind. The Mi'kmaq lived and travelled in this country long before European settlement, and the nearby headland of Cape Blomidon figures in their stories about the giant Glooscap. Acadian farmers arrived in the seventeenth century and built dykes and aboiteaux to turn salt marsh into rich hayfields. After the Acadians were deported in 1755, New England Planters took up the cleared lands in the 1760s, and the settlement that grew here was long known as Mud Creek. It took the name Wolfville in the 1830s, after the local DeWolf family, and was incorporated as a town in 1893.

Acadia University, founded in 1838 as Queen's College and later renamed, shaped the town more than any industry. Its campus of brick halls and old trees spreads along the hillside above Main Street, and the school's students and staff account for much of the life of the place. Term time brings full cafe tables, live music and public events; summer is quieter, which many visitors prefer. Wolfville also has a small art gallery on campus and a theatre scene tied to the university.

The Wolfville Waterfront Park is the easiest introduction to the setting. A path follows the dyke where the basin opens out, and the view over the flats changes with the tide. At low water the seabed lies exposed to the horizon, with the red-brown colour of Fundy mud and channels left winding through it. At high water the basin fills almost to the top of the dyke. Check the tide tables before you go: the difference between the two states is the main sight here.

Grand-Pré is the other essential stop. The Landscape of Grand Pré was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2012 for the system of dykes and farmland built by the Acadians, and the adjacent Grand-Pré National Historic Site tells the story of the community and its removal in 1755 through a memorial church, gardens and a statue of Evangeline. The site is a short drive east of Wolfville and fits easily into a half day.

Cape Blomidon and Blomidon Provincial Park lie to the north, on the far side of the farmland, a drive of roughly half an hour. The cape is a basalt headland with red sandstone cliffs below it, and the park has a beach where you can look for pebbles and fossil-bearing rock at low tide, a day-use area and a campground, and a network of trails through hardwood forest with lookouts over the basin. The viewpoints give a long view across the Minas Basin to the Parrsboro shore. Come prepared for weather that changes quickly on the headland, and stay off the cliff edges.

Food and drink are a draw. The Annapolis Valley is Nova Scotia's main wine region, and the Wolfville area has a cluster of wineries, among them estates that make L'Acadie Blanc, the hybrid grape that suits the cool climate, and sparkling wines that have won awards in Canada. Tidal Bay, a crisp white appellation created for the province in 2012, is a good first order. Local cideries and craft breweries operate nearby, and restaurants in town lean on regional produce, seafood and lamb. The Wolfville Farmers' Market runs on Saturdays through the main season and sells vegetables, baking and prepared foods from valley producers.

Wolfville is easy to walk. Main Street has most of the places to eat and shop within a few blocks, and the former railway corridor is now part of the Harvest Moon Trailway, a flat path suitable for bicycles and walkers that links valley communities. A short drive takes you to apple orchards that open in autumn for picking, and there are roadside stands from summer onward.

The best time to visit is from late May to October. June and July bring long days, gardens in bloom and open patios; September and early October add the grape and apple harvests and mild days for walking. Winter is quiet and cold, with snow that varies from year to year, and some seasonal businesses close, but the university keeps the town lively.

Wolfville lies on Highway 101, the main road between Halifax and Yarmouth, which makes it straightforward to reach by car from Halifax in a bit over an hour. Allow time to see the villages along the valley as well; Port Williams, Kentville and Canning are all within a short drive.