Quaint town charms visitors

Niagara-on-the Lakeis a quiet cousin toNiagara Falls.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ontario, Canada -- If there were ever a town that looked like a postcard, this would be it: shady streets, charming Regency homes and inns edged with white picket fences, quaint storefronts selling homemade artichoke spread, mincemeat tarts and local wines. Petunias, pansies, geraniums and marigolds spill from baskets that swing from vintage-style lampposts.
Niagara-on-the-Lake is everything its frenzied cousin just down the road, Niagara Falls, isn't. Want to stay out all night? Stay down at the falls. Want to linger over a glass of wine, play North America's oldest golf course and catch a performance at the Shaw Festival, the renowned theater festival? Come to the lake.
The road winds north from the falls, past a riverside greenway dotted with cyclists and walkers and picnickers taking their sandwiches overlooking the water. Fruit stands sell shiny cherries just off the tree; markers herald the two dozen wineries within biking distance of the town.
Plenty of shopping
The town's name is vaguely misleading. Though one edge of it does nudge up against Lake Ontario, its center lies a few blocks inland, along Queen Street, where 150-old storefronts promise so many things you don't need but may well find irresistible: fresh-baked pastries, one-of-a-kind decorative items, housewares, clothes that you won't be wearing to an office.
Since 1864, the nexus of town (population 13,000) has been the Prince of Wales Hotel, an elegant, clubby brick hostelry with a traditional dining room, cafe and wine-and-tapas bar. Agewise, the intimate Oban Inn has it beat. Opened in 1824, the country-house-style hotel was burned in a Christmas Eve fire in 1992 but was rebuilt to retain its original appearance.
Such remnants from colonial days lend an Old World feeling to the place. Modern trappings -- cheery pubs, lounges decked with tartan carpet, shops promising Scottish woolens -- continue the theme, and you shouldn't be surprised to hear proper British accents from the many UK residents who flock here.
They are joined by visitors from Japan and the United States, and weekenders from Toronto who turn up on summer Fridays in their Mercedeses and Jags.
Decided to stay
Some become so beguiled that they simply stay. So it was with Ruth Aspinall, who came here 12 years ago with her husband, a corporate dropout, and opened two shops and the Epicurean Restaurant, widely considered one of the best in town.
"People give two days to Niagara Falls and 20 minutes here, and then they decide they have to come back," she said.
For all its history and ambience, one of the biggest draws here is theater. Since 1962, the Shaw Festival has presented plays by Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries; today the theater season stretches from April to November and features more than a dozen productions.
"We've come every year since 1989," said Stephen Zinn, a Cleveland physician, with wife Wendy. "We go to as many plays as we can in a weekend, then we also play golf or go bike riding. We like to take picnics."
Wineries
And increasingly, says Allen Gelberg, marketing director for Vintage Inns, guests come for wine.
Some 14 wineries within bicycling reach of the town open their doors to visitors for tastings, tours and, at some, meals. Though some are small farming operations, others -- such as Jackson-Triggs, Inniskillin and Reif -- produce table wines and vintages served internationally.
Especially prized is ice wine, made from grapes that have been frozen and left on the vine to finish. The pricey wine is celebrated at a festival each January.