The fishermen must have got a shock. For years, The Sportsman Motel just outside Picton, Ontario, has been a cheap and reliable place to stay. It even had a trough in the back car park where they could do the messy stuff you need to do with fish.
“No Gutting Fish in Room”, said a sign. Then, one day, The Sportsman was under new management. They hung floral wallpaper in the rooms and neon signs saying “Rosé all day”.
The doors were painted what the new owners call “a bright, sun-faded millennial pink”. The reception area, which used to make The Rosebud motel in Schitt’s Creek look like the Savoy, now had Persian rugs, indoor palms, squashy sofas and another neon sign saying “peace, love, wine”. Read Next Autumn is the best time to travel – eight cheaper, quieter holidays to book now The Sportsman had been taken over by two young women from Toronto and renamed the June Motel .
And instead of fellow anglers, the hotel had a new, largely female client base. Bachelorette parties were a big thing in The June’s early days. I’m not sure where the fishermen went, or what they said when they showed up at the check-in desk.
But it must have been a bit like booking a ticket to see The Revenant only to find they are showing Barbie instead. The June is in Prince Edward County on the shores of Lake Ontario in south-eastern Ontario. For foreigners, it’s all too easily confused with Prince Edward Island, 930 miles to the west, where Anne of Green Gables is set.
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