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Highway 7 · KM 240 from Ottawa
Norwood
Quiet most of the year, enormous on Thanksgiving weekend.
↳ Hastings beaches · 15 min south on Cty Rd 45
Why stop
Norwood is the corridor’s last village before Peterborough, and for most of the year it’s a pleasant, blink-and-breathe kind of place — a mill pond, a main street, and a genuine roadside find: the Mill Pond Butterfly Garden, a sheltered picnic table right on Highway 7 itself. Stretch your legs without even leaving the road.
Then Thanksgiving weekend arrives, and with it the Norwood Fall Fair — running since the 1860s and one of the best classic fall fairs in Ontario. Midway, livestock barns, demolition derby, pie: the full canon. It’s the traditional close of the corridor’s season, and the one weekend a year Norwood outdraws every other town on the route.
The detour south — Rice Lake water
Fifteen minutes down County Road 45, the village of Hastings sits where the Trent leaves Rice Lake, with two sandy public beaches (Front Street West, and by the marina on Dit Clapper Drive) — warm river-mouth swimming with a real village attached. Further along the lake at Roseneath, Sandy Bay Public Beach is the small-kid favourite: swings, shallow warm water, easy afternoon.
Running since 1868 — livestock and equestrian shows, midway, antique cars and tractors, lawn mower racing, and the full classic-fair canon. The traditional close of the corridor's season.
See & Do
Hastings village beaches
Two sandy public beaches where the Trent flows out of Rice Lake — Hastings North on Front Street West, Hastings South by the marina. Warm water, working village, 15 minutes south of Norwood.
Hastings, 15 min south on Cty Rd 45 · Checked Jul 2026 · municipal sources
Sandy Bay Public Beach (Rice Lake)
The little-kid special on Rice Lake's south shore — a parkette with swings and a small sandy beach where the water stays warm and shallow.
Roseneath, on Rice Lake · Checked Jul 2026 · tourism sources
Lions Park
A small, sheltered picnic spot right in downtown Norwood — accessible tables, benches, and parking, an easy walk from the main street.
23 Alma St · Checked Jul 2026 · municipal sources
Mill Pond Butterfly Garden
A genuine roadside find — right on Highway 7 through Norwood, with a sheltered picnic table, benches, parking, and summer washrooms. Stretch your legs without even leaving the highway.
Norwood's sports hub — ball diamond, skate park, basketball and pickleball courts, splash pad, playground, and a walking trail. Everything a family road trip needs to burn off an hour.