Bee Well mead & Cider and Short’s Brewery in Bellaire, Antrim creek Natural Area (beach); Bolt art studio and Bolt sweet corn, Mushroom houses, The landing by Ironton ferry (charlevoix)

This Airbnb is truly a hilltop hideaway, as advertised and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s up a winding road from the town of Bellaire, set off by itself in a clearing in the woods, one of those places that’s someones’s little piece of paradise, a labor of love to create and sustain. I generally like staying at these kinds of places.

Bellaire turned out to be a pleasant small town, enlivened by a Cidery (Bee well) and a brew pub (Short’s) plus an ice cream shop/fried chicken place. Much sleepier (and less expensive to stay in) than a major tourist town like Charlevoix, which is what we were looking for.

Our Airbnb guidebook highly recommended Antrim Creek natural area and we immediately saw why. It’s a wild feeling beach that has been remarkably unpopulated. Great place to take a dip in the water. The bottom is a combination of sand and rocks, and there are some big rocks too, so it’s a little tricky swimming, but great for cooling off, and again, only a handful of other people.

A highlight was seeing my “aunt” Sue Bolt, an old family friend and well known artist Up North and beyond. Long ago, she and her late husband made an old grange hall into their studio and after a lot of hard work became fixtures here with their whimsical

ceramics, sculpture, paintings and prints. We dropped by the Bolt studio, where Sue’s daughter, also an artist, warmly greeted us and later we got to catch up with Sue. A real treat. Later, we chanced by Bolt sweet corn so we stopped to say hi to Sue’s two sons and get some corn which was indeed, very sweet. The best we’ve had this season, anywhere.

We had a late lunch at The Landing, a famous place with patio tables overlooking the quaint Ironton Ferry. Place was packed but it was fun to be part of the crowd, enjoying a day up north, the food was good and there were lots of young energetic servers. We stopped briefly in downtown Charlevoix to admire the famously eccentric “mushroom houses” designed by a local untrained (I believe) architect.

We also stopped briefly in Ernest Hemingway’s Charlevoix haunt, Horton Bay, but the cool old general store and Red Fox Inn (now a bookstore) weren’t open. We hope to return on Thursday when the general store may be open.