From the main road you may have to squint to see Forest Glen Herb Farm. It’s hidden from sight behind a row of tall, thick bushes, but as you drive up the entrance your eyes will get bigger and bigger as each beautiful garden unfolds. Owner Cynthia Cooks’ 8-acre farm is like an English princesses’ garden – it’s magnificent! The combination of flowers and herbs meander up to and around the romantic, 140-year old, stone and board barn repurposed into a retail store. The barns original features have been left intact, and it’s bursting full of beauty. Hanging from beams are bouquets of dried flowers, rafters hold fall wreaths, dried herbs dangle from hooks and shelves are lined with fragrant sachets and herb jellies. Cynthia makes dozens of varieties of herbed and pepper jellies and grows over 1500 different culinary herbs organically to fill the barn. When I spoke to Cynthia earlier this week, she had just harvested her peppers. She described mounds of different pepper varieties inside the barn. “Tomorrow we begin making our red pepper jellies. It’s a marathon every year and I swear I’ll never do it again. But, look at me now,” laments Cynthia. Inside the barn the aromas and sights are intoxicating. With barely a path to walk, dried Sea Lavender hangs from the rafters; Straw Flowers reach out from the stone walls; Golden Marguerite cover the posts; baskets of fuzzy Amaranth line the floor; and Flowering Onions spill themselves across antique tables. It’s a Willy Wonka wonderland of beautiful dried herbs, flowers, and mesmerizing aromas. Cynthia runs many in-demand culinary classes where she shares the best way to incorporate nutritious herbs into your favourite dishes, her craft classes assist you to make or enhance a beautiful wreath and her popular afternoon herbal teas are a romantically relaxing treat. In the summer the gardens draw nature lovers from the four corners of the province, the fall harvest is swarming with customers anxious for the aromas and flavours of just picked Ontario herbs and in the winter people linger around the romantic snow covered grounds and warm themselves in the cozy, natural surroundings of the antique barn. Forest Glen Herb Farm is one of Ontario’s most beautiful destinations at any time of year but especially in the autumn when the brilliance of the foliage is tonic for the soul. Cynthia is a warm and welcoming host and if you’re looking to fill your holiday with more local food and local food activities, this is the place to get to know. Decorate your door with a beautiful wreath, buy a culinary class for a loved one or pick up some culinary or health and beauty gifts from the retail store. They’re all made by Cynthia and it’s all grown in her beautiful gardens. Owner, Cynthia Cook Forest Glen Herb Farm Open 7 days a week, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 8333 Glendale Drive, Lambton Shores